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“I gave you something to help you. You were hysterical,” he snarls, his mask slipping momentarily before he smiles at her again. “Everything I do is for you, printsessa. But you betray me by lying with these dogs. These men who were willing to sell you to the highest bidder. They know who you really are, Jessica, and why you are so valuable to me.”
“And who is that?”
“My daughter. Your mother’s daughter.”
“My parents are dead,” she snaps. “So, who the hell are you?”
He steps closer to her with a cruel grin on his face and I suck in a breath as my fingers squeeze the handle of my gun. Just give me a reason to shoot you in the head right now, Alexei.
“I am your father. I have been looking for you for twenty-six years,” he snarls. “They stole you from me. My own brother. It wasn’t enough that he took my wife. He had to take you too. And they poisoned you against me. But you belong to me, Jessica.”
“You paid the Wolf to kill my family?”
“I paid him to return what was mine.”
“But my brothers? They were just children,” she says. I hear the crack in her voice and wonder how much longer she’s going to be able to distract him for. Glancing up to where Mikey and Liam are, I give them a subtle nod.
“Their existence was an insult to me,” Alexei spits.
She moves quickly, pulling the gun from the waistband of her jeans and pressing it against his forehead, and it’s clear this isn’t the first time she’s handled a gun like that. An unexpected surge of anger wells up in my chest as I’m forced to think about the life that Jessie has lived. Always running. Never being able to trust anyone. One of Alexei’s men runs toward him, but Liam takes him out with a clean shot through the neck.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t kill you right now?” she says, the tremor in her voice clearly audible.
“Because, whether or not you approve of my methods, I am your father, Jessica. One does not simply shoot their own father in the head. It is a burden I would not wish on my greatest enemy.”
I step out from behind the bar. She’s not going to kill him. She doesn’t have it in her right now. I’m aware how much it hurts to hate your father so much you want him dead, but be unable to pull that trigger yourself.
Another of Alexei’s men moves toward him and Liam takes him out too. I sense the tension in my own men creeping around the room and I hold up my hand to signal they should keep their weapons low. Not until Jessie is safe. I step closer to her, but I hold my hands up in surrender as Alexei’s men eye me suspiciously.
“I hate you,” Jessie says to him as the tears run down her face.
“Regardless, you are my daughter. You belong to me. I will never stop looking for you. I will never rest until you are at my side where you should have been all along.”
“Never,” she spits
“Then you should shoot me.” He looks her in the eyes and her hands tremble as she squeezes the handle but she doesn’t pull the trigger.
“Jessie,” I say as I approach. “Put the gun down. You don’t have to do this right now.”
“I do have to, Shane. Because he will never let me go. And you’ll always be in danger if I stay here.”
“Come here and give me the gun.” I hold out my hand to her before I turn to her father. “There is a rifle aimed at your head right now, Alexei. Make a move and you’re dead. Do you hear that?” I shout the last part to his men. “Any shots are fired and your boss is dead.”
Jessie lowers her weapon and walks backwards toward me until she's in my arms. I want to hold on tight to her and never let her go again. I want to savor the sensation of her body pressed against mine. There is so much I need to say to her. But I have to get her out of here. I press my lips against her ear. “You remember that freedom I offered you, sweetheart? The one you told me to stick up my ass?”
“Yes,” she breathes.
“It’s still waiting for you. The keys are where we left them. All you have to do is run.”
“What about you, and Conor and the twins?” she sniffs.
“It will never be the same after all this,” I tell her, even though it damn near kills me to do it. But this is the only way I see out of this right now. Alexei will never stop looking for her, and if she’s here, he knows exactly where to find her. “You’re not one of us. But you’re not one of them either. Run, little hacker. Take your freedom. You deserve it more than anyone. Now go.”
She turns to me and plants a soft kiss on my cheek. Then we both look up at Conor and she hesitates. I know this will be breaking his heart, but I also know that he trusts me. He nods his head, and that’s all the permission she needs. She runs out of the nightclub and toward the silver SUV in the garage, and straight out of our lives.
I don’t have time to watch her go as Alexei shouts to his men to go after her. But they’re not quick enough for Liam’s sniper rifle and none of them make it anywhere near her. Alexei realizes he's not going to win this particular battle, and he uses two of his men as human shields as he makes a run for the nearest exit. I drop one of them, and Liam takes the other one out just as they reach the door, but Alexei makes it out unscathed while the rest of his men scramble for the side door.
Fuck! Another day, Alexei.
