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Then she’s gone.
Yet I will live with this forever.
It plays in my head over and over, like I’m watching it on a TV screen, while I lie here dying, or wishing I was.
ADRIEL
After dropping Kayla off, I drove back to the party. Been watching my brothers, my mother with that fucking scarf on her neck, covering what I did to her. She didn’t tell them. If she had, they’d come after me. But things have been quiet except for them putting all their resources into finding the trafficking ring.
I hate seeing my mother’s face, that photo of me as a baby still burning a hole in my pocket. I don’t know why I still carry it. I don’t know why she did either. Her lies were exactly that. Maybe she feels some form of guilt for what she did, but it doesn’t excuse her not looking for me. She had her chance, and now it’s mine.
People have begun to leave, and I spot my twin, Raph, with his wife, Nicolette, his arms wrapped around her. He’s happy. It’s toobad I’m gonna take it all away.
Suddenly, Sophia jumps into his arms, her smile bright, making my lips twitch. From where I am, I can’t hear her, but she clearly loves her uncle. And I wonder what that feels like, to have a niece, to know her love.
She would never love me like that. I’m nothing like him. I don’t nurture. I don’t love. I’m this. A monster of my mother’s making.
Michael strides up beside them with Elsie, and Gio soon joins with a tall redhead, who I know as his wife, Iseult—my half sister.
If I wasn’t banking on the Marinos trying to kill me, I bet she would love to. But I have nothing against her. I don’t exactly have anything against my brothers, either. Not really. It’s always been about my mother and how I can hurt her. I know the way to do that is through her sons. Taking one of them from her would kill her.
Raph sets to go, while Nicolette pats him on the shoulder. She struts off with Elsie while he nods at his brothers and kisses his mother on the cheek before heading out. I follow him, watching as he gets into the car, and I get into mine.
He drives some distance while I stay far back, making sure he doesn’t get suspicious. I don’t know where the hell he’s going. I thought he’d be returning to his home. But it’s not his usual direction.
I slow down, the road empty. Dark. The remote in my hand is steady as I ready to press a button. In another life, maybe I would’ve actually liked him. He seems decent enough. But in this life, Raph dies, and I’ll be the one to do it.
As he turns right, I don’t wait another moment. Pressing the button, I anticipate the bomb in his car going off.
“Three. Two.”
The car swerves and stops.
“One.”
Boom.
It explodes like fucking fireworks, the vehicle lit up with a blaze so wide, I stare in awe at the vivid orange and yellow inferno, knowing he’s burning inside it. Knowing this will break my mother’s heart. I grin.
Needing to see him, I slip my mask back on and grab the fire extinguisher as I head out the door. The car burns, so close to exploding. As I reach it, I extinguish the fire inside the driver’s side, unable to stand my excitement at the thought of his charred body.
Except when I look inside…
“What the…”
He’s not here. There’s no one here.
I growl, staring out onto the open road.
How the hell did he escape?
The car swerved. Did he get out? Did he know? Did he hear something?
Fuck! My tech is undetectable. What did he use to find the fucking bomb?
Rushing for my car, I gun out of there, needing to figure out what went wrong.
But as I do, a notification pops on my phone. The cameras in Kayla’s home register extra bodies. I immediately turn on the app, and my heart completely stops beating.
