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It’s all the distraction I need to get my head back together. I see her looking toward the phone and I realize this is my only chance.
I pick up my plate and hurl it at her. The roast meat hits her square in the face. The gun fires in her hand while she’s busy trying to bat away the flying beef. The bullet thuds harmlessly into the wall to my left.
I leap across the table, getting my hands to the gun and doing my best to wrestle it from her hands. The whole time, the phone keeps ringing.
“Get the fuck off me,” she spits, digging her teeth into my cheek, drawing blood as I continue to fight for control of the gun. It goes off again, this time the bullet flying past me, too close for comfort.
Adrenaline forces me on. If I lose now, I’m a dead woman. I manage to twist the gun halfway out of her hand as she wraps her legs around me. She tries to choke me like a boa constrictor with its prey.
I twist in place, shoving her hand to the ground.
“Let go,” I roar at the top of my voice, slamming her wrist into the ground before the air all gets squeezed out of my lungs.
A third bullet fires and all of a sudden her grip on me goes limp. I grab the gun from her hand and scramble back from her, ready to fire if she comes after me.
There’s no need. The bullet she just fired went up through her chin and came out the top of her head. Her eyes are open but there’s no light there. Blood is pouring out onto her chest.
She’s dead.
I keep moving backward, still pointing the gun at her. From far away I hear something over the ringing in my ears. It takes a while for me to tune into it before I work it out. The phone’s still ringing.
It clicks onto an answerphone and I hear Enzo’s voice. “Pick up the fucking phone, or I swear to God I’ll burn the fucking house down with you in it when I get there. If you’ve hurt Chloe, you son of a bitch, I’ll rip your fucking head off your neck with my bare hands. Pick up now you son of a bitch. You know what I do to those who fuck with me…”
I rush toward the phone, not letting her out of my sight, unable to believe she’s not faking.
I pick up the phone and notice her brain’s on the floor behind her. I relax my grip on the gun at last. She’s not getting up again.
“Enzo?” I ask, talking across him. “Is that you?”
“Oh thank God,” he replies. “I thought I was too late. Listen, are you safe to talk?”
“I guess so.”
“If you’re there, you must think you’re with my sister. That’snotImelda, Chloe, you’ve got to get out of there.”
“Yeah, I worked that out already.”
“What? Where is she? Is she still there?”
“Relax, she’s not going anywhere.”
“What happened, Chloe? What’s going on? Are you safe?”
“I’m safe now.” I look down at the gun in my hand. “I worked out it wasn’t your sister when she tried to put a bullet in me.”
“Fuck, I’m so sorry. The Don’s taken Imelda and he must have put an imposter in to try and get information out of you. Where is she now?”
“Dead on the floor next to a burned piece of beef and a broken plate.”
“Dead? What do you mean dead?”
“I mean she’s dead.”
“You’re sure?”
“I can see bits of her brain. I’m sure.”
“Shit, what happened?”
