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I throw my head back in a bellowing laugh. Everyone gives me a look as if I’ve gone insane. Maybe I have. The pain is pretty unbearable.
“My father has taken Shelby to the local chapel, and he plans to force her to marry him. I’m going there now to stop him. I’m going to end my father for good, and I’m going to make sure everyone knows I’m in charge now. His reign is over.”
Diego nods his agreement.
We all make our way to the cars that have been assembled, ready and waiting, and travel in silence to the chapel. I gather my thoughts on the journey. My anger overwhelmed me when I realized my father had killed my mother, but now he’s taken the woman I love. This time I’m focused, cold, and calculating. I’m the man my father made me with years of training, violence, and neglect. He made a mistake telling me that Shelby was mine. Because I always protect what is mine!
When we arrive at the chapel, I bark out my orders. “Diego, you and your men deal with my father’s guards. Max, Lena, you’re with me. Lena, once we’re inside, you go for Shelby and protect her. We don’t know what state she’ll be in. My father had been using her as a punching bag when I last saw her. I alone will deliver the death blow to my father.”
Diego and his men advance on the front of the chapel while Max, Lena, and I head to the side entrance. A few of my most loyal men follow behind us. Taking a couple of guards out, we make it easily into the chapel, and Max disappears into the shadows. I don’t need to tell him how this will play out. He and I have worked together for a long now. We’ve been trained as lethal weapons. We’ve killed a lot of men, but this time, the motivation is the strongest it’s ever been.
Shelby is standing next to my father with his gun pointed at her head. She’s half naked, bruised, battered, and terrified.
“Eaton,” she screams when she sees me. The relief in her voice is palpable. She thought I was dead. I can’t imagine what that felt like for her.
I push forward. Lena flanking me on my left, still wearing her t-shirt covered in blood. My own shirt is splattered as well.
“This will only end one way. The entire underworld of Vegas is outside. They’ve turned against you. We’re all done with your lies. Let Shelby go and surrender.”
“A few idiots don’t make an army, Eaton. When this is all over, I’ll reminded them of their place in society. I’m still in control here. As long I possess the queen on this chessboard, I will be victorious,” my father taunts back.
His face is inches from Shelby’s, and he licks the length of her cheek. She shuts her eyes to block him out.
A few more gunshots sound out in the church, and two of my father’s men fall to the floor. The priest screams and starts to recite the Lord’s Prayer. He’s sitting on the floor by a pew, blood seeping from a wound to his foot.
“Make sure the priest is all right as soon as you can,” I instruct one of my men who is standing to my right. I turn my attention to the guards protecting my father. “If any of you want to save your lives, then lay down your weapons and walk away now. You can leave by the door over there.” I point to where I came in. “Don’t try to be heroes. You all know as well as I do that you won’t see Max before he shoots you dead.”
Several of the men look at each other, fear etched on their faces. They are family men. They don’t want to die. Laying down their arms, they make their way to the exit. Max uses the distraction to take out a couple more of my father’s men who refuse to surrender, leaving only two guards protecting him.
“Last chance,” I offer.
“Shoot him. Take a shot,” my father orders, but the men aren’t stupid. They know they are horribly outnumbered. They place their guns down and join the others leaving the chapel.
My father is alone at the front of the church with Shelby as his only bargaining chip now. I don’t know where Max is, but he’s somewhere in the chapel. Lena peels off to my left, her gun trained on my father. The man on my right does the same until he reaches the priest. He checks him over, all the while watching my father retreat farther and farther away until he reaches the alter itself. The cross standing on it falls to the ground with a thunderous crash.
“An omen.” I smirk as a gunshot sounds.
Max hits my father in the shoulder, on the side he’s holding the gun. He can no longer grip the weapon, which means it’s my turn to pounce. I’m on him in an instant.
My punches rain down on his face, and I hear his nose crack. I allow years of repressed anger to flow from my body in revenge. This isn’t how he’s going to die, though. No. Not yet. Standing up, I turn to check on Shelby as Max continues to point his gun at my father, making sure he doesn’t try to move.
“You all right, Shelby?” I question as Lena holds her in her arms.
“I thought you were dead,” Shelby cries. “He told me I was his.”
“You were never his. You’ve always been mine.” I bring Shelby into my arms. “Lena, he shot you. You get to fire the first bullet.”
“Second,” she counters. “I think Max has already got his bullet in as revenge for shooting me.”
“Shame I couldn’t get it in his groin,” Max growls. He’s furious with my father for hurting the woman he loves.
Lena steps toward my father. “You’ve always treated me as a punching bag, an inferior woman. You’re no different from the man I was unfortunate enough to call my father. And now you’re about to end up in the same place as him. Rotting with the worms.”
My father pleads for his life, but it falls on deaf ears. Lena shoots him in the leg, and he screams in pain. Then she stands to the left of my father, mirroring Max’s position on the right.
I nod to the guy attending to the priest. “You should probably take him outside for this one.” I step forward.
“Wait.” Shelby taps me on the shoulder. “It’s my turn. I need to do something for my father and mother. Avenge what he did to them.”
