AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I push the worry to the back of my mind and try to ignore it, even though it still eats away at me. Aria shouldn’t be here, but if I hadn’t said she could come, she would’ve followed me in anyway, and at least this way I know she has some level of protection and she won’t be a surprise later on.
“I was wondering how long it would be before you found me,” Antonio says as I turn a corner into a long hallway.
He stands in front of me with his hands in his pockets and a man flanking him on either side. I fire off two shots, both men flanking him falling to the ground as blood spreads from their foreheads.
“Impressive,” Antonio says, grinning as he looks at the dead men. “What would your boss say if he knew you killed two people who hadn’t yet made themselves known as a threat?”
“Anyone associated with you is a threat, whether they’re pointing a gun at me or not. Now get on the ground. You’re under arrest.”
Antonio chuckles and takes a step forward. I aim the gun at his head. There’s a part of me – the dark part I try to hide – that urges me to shoot him where he stands. If Antonio dies, then he’s no longer a threat to my family.
“You know, “ he says as he pulls out a gun. “I’ve been doing this a long time. I knew that you and my daughter would bring the fight to me eventually, but I wasn’t anticipating that you’d do it this early.”
“What can I say?” I take a step back from him, never taking my eyes off the gun in his hand. “I like to be early to the party.”
“There’s beauty in patience. In stalling for enough time for another to move into the perfect position.”
It’s in that moment that I know I’m fucked.
The gunshot echoes seconds before burning pain slices through my body. Antonio laughs as I stumble, blood oozing from me. Aria screams and my heart stops in my chest.
“Stay back!” I shout, hoping that this will be the one time she chooses to listen to me.
Quick footsteps echo through the warehouse. I know she’s racing to me and I try to will her to stay away. The warehouse isn’t safe. She needs to leave me and get back to the car. There must be someone around who can tell Jameson what happened.
Antonio grins. “My daughter was never good at listening. Especially to men. She seems to think that people need to be equals. I don’t know where she got that thinking from. Her mother certainly didn’t have it. Perhaps I should have taught her to be more submissive instead of teaching her how to kill.”
“You’re a bastard,” I say as blood drips onto the ground. I feel sick as pain consumes me, my world becoming hazy around the edges. I sway in place, my gun dropping. The ground rushes up to meet me as my head spins.
“Yes, but I’ll be walking free while you die. Although, there’s still the matter of my traitorous daughter to deal with. I never thought that she’d be the one to turn against me.”
He sounds mildly impressed by what his daughter is doing.
“This is going to hurt her a lot more than it’s going to hurt you.” Antonio crouches down and puts his gun against my temple. “You know, I really did like you in the beginning.”
“I can’t say the same.”
He flicks the safety off and shrugs, giving me a small smile. “It really is a shame that you have to die this way. I would have liked to take my time with you.”
27
ARIA
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I ask as I press the barrel of my gun against my father’s head.
All I see is red. Tyson is on the ground and blood is pouring out of his torso. The vest didn’t do enough to protect him. The bullet slipped past all his defenses. Guilt tears through me. I should have been with him. I should have been watching his back.
Dad grabs my wrist and bends it back. I bite down on a scream, keeping the gun firmly in my grasp. I might not have the advantage right now, but I'm not going to let go of the only weapon I have either.
In a warehouse surrounded by his men, I would be a fool to let him take my gun from me.
“Aria,” Dad says, grinning as he flicks the safety on and stands up. “I thought that you might be joining the party.”
Anger floods through me at his smile. First, he kills my best friend, and now he’s trying to kill the man I love.
I’m tired of the control he thinks he has over my life. There’s no way that he’s going to take another person from me. I won’t let it happen.
I nudge Tyson gently with my foot, hoping that he’ll move. When he doesn’t respond, a pit opens in the bottom of my stomach. There’s no way this is happening. I nudge him again but he still doesn’t do anything.
