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Winston
I looked at the text from Autumn and smiled. Cool. The team was together again. Everything was going to be okay. Right after this little disaster happened.
“I don’t understand.” Thalia looked at me as we stood near the edge of the cliff near the ocean. The full moon was shining and providing quite a bit of light. That was not to my advantage. “I don’t see anything out there.”
“Keep looking.” I pointed at a light in the distance, but it was dim.
She took another step closer to the edge. Fearless. Ignorant. Her father had really fucked-up recently. Unfortunately, that meant someone had to pay. Since it was a family feud and the target was a member of Apollo’s family, the decision was made to go old school eye-for-an-eye style.
“It’s right there.” I needed her to see it. I wasn’t killing her. Probably. Apollo agreed that she needed to disappear and immediately, but he had a greater fear that if they killed this one, there would be other family to target. I had no idea who he had left other than Harpy or maybe they would consider Rip, Ripley’s son, a target since Apollo was part of his harem of dads now.
Her expression lit up a bit and she said, “I see it. I see it.”
“Good.” I nodded. “You can swim, right?”
“Of course—”
I pushed her at the same time I fired the shot. I knew the bullet wouldn't hit her, but this had to look real. I stepped forward to watch and once she hit that water, I nodded. I didn’t shout it, but as I waited for her to come back to the surface, I said in a whisper no one but me could hear, “Then swim to that light.”
I thought she would never come back up for air, but she did. I breathed a sigh of relief. I could only see her head bobbing in the water. I turned and said loudly so she, too, could hear me, “She was crazy. Attacked me. She’s gone.”
The guys coming to take her away from this meeting, to kill her and send her body as a message to her father, ran toward me. I turned and looked for her. No sign. Good girl. I started walking away from the cliff and one of them followed me. The others stood there talking, but not looking. I hoped she made it to the light. I never cared much for Thalia, but it seemed really shitty that she would have to die a virgin, with only me for a boyfriend, just because her father took a hit job from the wrong people.
It was all too Godfather for me, but despite Apollo’s efforts to evolve and change the life, there were people who just wanted to live like the movies. Or die like the movies. I often wonder if any of these idiots ever watched any of the docuseries on crime bosses.
The goon to my right asks, “Why here?”
“Privacy, romance.” I shrug.
“You tell her?” he asked.
“No.” I shake my head. “I messed up. I was trying to say something romantic, keep her distracted, but she…thought I was breaking up with her and she…just freaked out.” I had discretely cut my hand with a pocket knife and held that up for him to see. The slash. "I…defended myself. She said she was going to kill me."
“You believed her?” he stopped.
I turned and looked at him. He was twice my size and maybe three times my age. “Believe? She came at me with a knige. Why the fuck would I let someone stab me a second time?" I was bandaging my hand with the bottom part of her shirt I had ripped by accident trying to make sure I held her out of the way of the bullet. I did not shoot her. I did make sure she was clear of it. I hoped. I gulped and kept to my part in this. “Maybe I knew you guys were coming to pick her up, but I didn’t... expect it to go down like that. I cared about her, okay?”
I mustered up some fake emotions that I hoped were convincing and added, “She was my girlfriend.”
“Oh, shit. Yeah.” He tilted his head and then shocked me by saying. “You’re right. Bullet is definitly kinder for someone you care about.”
I looked down then up at him. “What now?”
He shrugged a big shoulder and said, “Now, I tell the boss she didn't trust you and tried to kill you. We'll just say she…jumped. They would probably rather you be the one with the bullet, not her. Value and all." I had no idea what he was talking about. "Now…he will decide what happens next. They didn’t plan to be kind to her and give her a bullet. Her father owed a debt. One he can’t pay with money. One that wasn’t going to be paid in blood. Not that kind anyway.”
I was so fucking confused by that. “What?”
“You think a virgin is going to be sacrificed to a piece of lead? Come on, kid. Think. She’s worth more alive. And to the highest bidder.” He patted my shoulder and whistled. The two other guys passed me without a word.
I had to tell Apollo. This was…news. I hoped it was news anyway. If not, then…was his brother dealing in flesh now, too? Fuck. I had bigger things to worry about now than the Team Holly Thanksgiving reunion.
Autumn
“Hey.” I looked at Winston and frowned. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Long night.” He tapped a few more keys on the keyboard and then looked up at me. “What’s up?”
“Just checking in. We have a game tonight.” I was worried about him. He nodded. “You ready?”
