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I ducked and rolled at the sound of her first shot, anticipating the moment she’d finally pull the trigger. I could see the decision in her eyes. The hate. Her resentment had been coming to a boiling point since we were teenagers, and now it was finally erupting. She hated me for forcing her into the shadows of obscurity. For stealing the attention and leaving her nothing except the vapid role of the rich but abandoned daughter of the underboss. In our world, Gemma had been seen as nothing important, but she believed she had more to offer.
And she’d proved that. I could see it now. She’d played her part so well that she was right. I hadn’t realized it until it was too late. I’d confided in her over the years—things that I couldn’t share with anyone else. She knew my darkest secrets. She knew the kills I’ve made, the targets I’d gone after, my frustration with my father, and secrets about our family that no one else could possibly know. And now I finally realized how she could have used all of it to help her own father.
There were times when my intended marks would go off-grid, and I couldn’t find them. There had been accountants that specialized in skimming funds and funneling money into off-shore accounts, bookkeepers that had worked for my father until they fucked up in one way or another, associates who had to be dealt with, and they’d somehow gotten away. I had no doubt she played a role in that. Gemma had an in that no one else did, and she’d been too obscure for anyone to ever suspect her.
I pressed my back around the corner of the deck, breathing hard. I could hear her around the corner, laughing. Her voice sent chills down my spine.
“You should thank me,” Gemma called out. It sounded as if she were on the other side. “I was the one who tipped Marcus off about Marco. It was because of me that you and Dante went to that club the first night you met. Honestly, I was hoping you two would end up killing each other and starting a civil war. It pissed me off when you got married instead, but it all worked out, didn’t it?”
I didn’t bother with a response. Instead, I checked the corner, immediately pulling back as soon as she let off another shot. When she paused, I sent a few rounds her way before ducking back behind the wall.
“I couldn’t have planned it better if I’d tried,” she continued. “Both sides hated the idea of your marriage. It made recruiting easier. In fact, that was the fucking tipping point. It gave us everything we needed to take down both your families. And, with me as your loyal best friend, I could keep my eye on both families.”
We turned around the corner at the same time, our fingers pulling the triggers. The guns blanked, both out of ammo. We stood there, glaring at each other, chests heaving with barely-contained fury. I moved first, tossing the rifle to the ground before launching myself across the deck. She met me halfway, blocking my strike before countering with one of her own.
She was fast. And clearly trained. The surprise knocked me off balance, and I faltered. Her leg swept out, catching me in the side. The wind was knocked from my lungs, leaving me gasping. I ducked her hook, barreling into her side to take her down. She hit the deck hard, nails scrabbling at my back, my arms, anywhere she could reach. Her claws caught the stitches along my arm, tearing them open, and I cried out in pain. I could feel the hot stickiness of blood trickling along my skin. We leaped apart, panting.
“I fucking trusted you!” I screamed, unable to hold back any longer. “I loved you like a sister! And you betrayed me!” I lashed out, trying to catch her face with my fist.
She used my momentum against me, twisting my arm back. Leaning forward, her lips brushed my ear. “You betrayed yourself, Sienna. In this world, there is no trust. Only fools.”
I screamed again, hooking my foot around her ankle. She crashed back to the deck, the back of her head hitting the wood. A dazed expression crossed her face, but I didn’t hesitate. I couldn’t. Pinning her down, the palm of my hand crashed against her nose, sending her head snapping backward once again. Her eyes rolled back, the whites flashing.
She rolled, bucking me off of her before crouching low. Pouncing forward, she swung. I dodged and, with a slight feint of my right hand, I fired a fast jab of my own. She was a second too slow to react, her hands flying to her face before my elbow crashed against her nose. Gemma’s body thudded against the deck.
Unable to hold myself up, I fell to the floor beside her, laying flat on the deck, trying to catch my breath. Stars dotted my vision, the pain in my arm unbearable. I turned my head, and my eyes scanned the face of the girl I’d loved like my own flesh and blood, the girl who had betrayed me.
Sobbing, I stood on shaky legs just as Killian raced around the corner, gun up. He froze when he saw Gemma at my feet and me standing over her, panting. But all I could do was stare at her. I knew what I had to do, what I’ve always had to do the minute she’d betrayed me. In this life, there were no second chances. No mercy.
“Killian,” I held out my hand, fingers shaking, “give me your gun.” His eyes flicked between my best friend and me, hesitating.
“Give me your gun. Now,” I snarled.
“Sienna…you don’t have to do this.”
“Yes. I do.” I stalked towards him, wrenching the gun from his hands. Turning back, I lifted the gun, trying to breathe. Trying to get all these stupid fucking memories out of my head.
They weren’t real. They had never been real. All this time, she’d been playing me. Spying on me for her father to take my family and me down.
My finger rested on the trigger. And then I fired.
35
DANTE
Ireached the bottom of the steps leading to the cabin when I heard the gunshots above me. I froze, straining to hear where they were coming from, whether it was the first deck or the third. Killian or Sienna. I couldn’t tell, even as I tried to listen to the fading echoes of the shots. They were close, probably right above me, but I couldn’t tell exactly where.
I shouldn’t have told them to split. I shouldn’t have told Sienna that she could come. The adrenaline of the fight had my brain fucked up. Even if we did have the upper hand right now, anything could change that in a split second. And I had more to lose than Mateo.
I couldn’t stay down here. I needed to find Sienna. I needed to protect her, to make sure that both she and the child were safe. My eyes quickly scanned the cabin’s short hallway. I doubted there were any more men down here, and I couldn’t risk wasting any more time. Slipping the strap of the rifle over my shoulder, I made the final decision.
Turning on my heel, I nearly crashed right into the man waiting on the steps behind me. David. He stood on the middle step, gun raised, and pointed straight at me. There was a wildness to his eyes, a craziness I recognized. Circles clung beneath his eyes, his skin already looking sickly and yellow from the obsession that had been secretly eating away at his soul over the past few weeks.
“I knew we shouldn’t have trusted you,” I growled, eyeing the weapon in his hands. He’d slipped away in the warehouse. That wouldn’t be happening again.
It was either him or me. And I wasn’t about to go down without a fucking fight.
His head cocked to the side as he watched me. “You have no idea how difficult it was to sit in the same room as you two—the children of the men who took my own child. Married when my own wife rotted in her grave.”
