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I assumed they’d strip us of our weapons and send us in with nothing but our fists to fight with.
I’d like to think it’s Donny being naïve, but that’s not how he works.
We might be walking in here without so much as a plan, but he’ll be the opposite. He’ll have preempted every single one of our moves.
He thinks he knows us, knows what we’re capable of. I really fucking hope that we’re about to prove hi
m wrong.
We both come to a stop outside Donny’s closed office door. We glance at each other briefly, the only communication we need to know that we’re in this together, before Ace raises his foot and slams his boot into the wood.
The door flies open, and we find exactly what we were expecting, Donny behind his desk, pretending to be the most powerful man in the world. Someone is sitting in the chair before him, but I pay him little mind as I walk into the room, Ace right beside me.
Donny shows no sign of being surprised to see us—Ace, who he left to burn. He barely even spares us a second glance. His eyes mostly remain on the man in the chair.
“Well, well, well, this really is a special occasion, isn’t it?” His eyes lift. “Good to see you’re safe and alive, son,” Donny says to Ace, his voice dripping with disappointment.
“I’m not your fucking son,” Ace spits.
“No, you’re right. You’re his.” Donny nods to his other visitor, and it’s only now that I pay him any attention.
Both Ace and I step forward, and my eyes widen when I discover that the man sitting in the black suit holding Donny’s attention is none other than James.
What the fuck?
“Boys, it’s good of you to join us,” James says, his voice hard, cold, totally unlike anything we’ve heard from him since moving to the Bay.
Movement behind us alerts me to the fact that Donny’s goons are hiding in the shadows, but I don’t turn. I don’t want them to be aware that I know they’re there, waiting to jump in to protect their boss.
“What are you—” Ace starts, but James doesn't let him finish.
“Protecting my own.” James looks from Ace directly to me. He nods once, and my lips curl.
He moves faster than I thought he was capable of, Ace and I do the exact same thing, and seconds after James’ gun sounds out, so do ours.
His two goons don’t stand a chance. Both of them hit the wall before slumping to the floor. One of them groans in pain, but the other is already dead. Donny, however, is staring at James with wide eyes as blood spews from his chest. His hand covers the gunshot wound, but it does nothing to keep him from bleeding to death.
“You think you hold all the power? Think you can run rings around my boys and hurt those they care about? You are fucking wrong,” James spits, standing from the chair he was still lounging in, tucking his gun back into his waistband. “You might think your name earns you respect, and I’m sure it does with some. But not as much as mine. This is over. You’re done, Lopez.”
Donny’s eyes still remain trained on James, the life is quickly draining out of them—although not quite quick enough, because his arm lifts, the flash of metal catching my eye a second before I fire off my second shot of the night, straight through Donny Lopez’s head.
That was for Hadley, you motherfucker.
“Boys,” James says, nodding at both of us. He moves toward the door, stepping over one of the bodies on his way out.
Ace and I fall into step behind him, but not before we exchange a confused look.
Why was he here? How did he know?
Nothing is said as the three of us make our way outside.
The goon who was at the entrance is long gone. It’s a shame. I can’t help feeling like I could add another body to the count we’ve already clocked up tonight.
James comes to a stop in the middle of the lot and turns to us. His eyes soften as he takes us both in, but they linger on Ace a little longer than me. It’s understandable—his face is black from the fire and he’s sporting a swollen eye and split lip.
“How’d you…”
“It doesn’t matter. All that matters right now is that it’s over. Fresh start from here on out, yeah?”
