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They’re loud, deafening.
I can’t hear myself screaming over the ringing in my ears.
Then Burian’s stumbling back, his weapon smoking.
Blood gushes from wounds in Grandpop’s stomach. His hands come up red, his face pale from shock. Burian raises the gun to finish him off.
“No!” I scream, throwing myself to my feet. I rush the assassin, howling death, ready to dig my claws into his eyeballs. Ready to do whatever I can to save Grandpop.
Burian casually punches me in the face, knocking me sideways. Lights explode in my vision like dying stars. I writhe on the floor, groaning.
“Bad decision,” Burian says with a sigh.
Then the door bursts open and my world goes to hell.
Chapter42
Lanzo
Ihear the screaming from the truck. “Renata,” I say, throwing open the door.
“Lanzo, hold on!” Carmine tries to stop me but I rip myself away from him, sprinting to the door. My heart’s racing into my throat, my gun’s in my hand, and two shots go off as I kick in the front door.
Earlier, after dropping her off, I called Carmine. We met up outside of Craig’s house. The agent was supposed to meet us there with his buddies, but there was nothing, no sign of any of them. Eventually, I broke into Craig’s house and found his body lying on the floor, his arms crossed over his chest. Like someone posed him there.
I knew it was Burian. Now I see the game. Now I understand how he played us all from the start.
I thought the feds would be enough. I was wrong.
I was a fool.
Maybe blinded by my own desperate need to right the sins of my past. Burian’s always been the one ghost I haven’t been able to purge from my soul, and I’ve been stalking him for years, hoping that by catching him, my life might change.
Renata showed me I don’t need forgiveness.
Change is here, right here, at my fingertips. Change is being with Renata, moving back home, settling down for once in my life. Change is building a life with this woman, this amazing, intelligent, beautiful, funny, challenging woman. Change is growing, finally, after all this time.
But it’s being stolen from me.
I crash into her house. The foyer’s empty. There’s another scream, curdling my blood, making me sick. I pound toward the living room, burst into the space, and raise my gun.
Burian shoots first. I throw myself sideways, but the bullet tears into my shoulder. I grunt in pain, firing back. Burian’s already ducking down behind a chair. Behind Renata’s grandfather, slumped to the side, looking sickly. Blood spills down around him, onto the floor.
“Ren!” I shout, crawling to where she’s sprawled nearby. I can’t tell if she’s hurt, if she’s hit, if she’s alive or dead. My world’s been sucked into a pinprick, and I can’t think about Burian. I can’t think about anything but her.
I have a choice to make.
Barely ten feet away, Burian’s hiding behind a dead old man. I could focus on him, catch him, finally purge him from my soul. I could help the world by ending his life here and now.
Burian’s been everything to me.
But he’s not any longer.
Instead, I can’t bring myself to pay any attention to him. There’s only Renata for me now.
“Lanzo,” she whispers as I cradle her into my lap. “You’re here.”
“You’re okay,” I say, pulling her to my chest.
