Page 86 of Vicious Redemption

“Please, don’t do this,” I plead, tears stinging my eyes as my hands shake visibly. I’ve never held a gun before, but I’ve lived in this violent life long enough to know how to use one. Taking an unsteady breath, I try to settle my frantic pulse.

I don’t dare look around to see if we’ve caught anyone’s notice. I can’t imagine my sisters or mother are oblivious to the exchange. My heart stutters at the thought of them in such close proximity to a loaded gun. But I don’t see what I can do to change this situation.

I can’t believe my father. After everything, after weeks of pretending that the storm had passed, it turns out he’s just been biding his time. Again. He’s just been waiting for the right moment to pounce. And he couldn’t have done so if I weren’t so ready to defend him. Once again, I’ve become an unwitting accomplice in my father’s devious plans.

Because I was hellbent on trusting him, despite the evidence warning me not to.

I chose to give him another chance.

And Leo did, too. Because he trusts me.

What a fool I’ve been.

Not anymore. Never again.

“Tia,” Leo says calmly beside me, his voice gentle as he urges me to consider what I’m doing. But at the same time, he seems frozen in space, unable to move because the slightest twitch might trigger an unwanted result. His hands splay in surrender as he keeps his motions slow and steady. “Tia, love, it’s okay. Just give me the gun,” he soothes, reaching slowly for his weapon one inch at a time.

But the determined look in my father’s eyes tells me Leo’s dead as soon as my finger leaves the trigger.

“No!” I scream, my arms trembling beneath the unexpected weight of the gun and my body’s determination to sabotage me. “Not until he puts his gun down?—”

I can see the decision in my father’s eyes, the fierce set of his jaw. Either he dies tonight, or Leo does. That’s what his face tells me.

It was always going to come to this, wasn’t it?

An ultimate choice.

A month ago, I might have found the decision agonizing. But tonight, the answer comes to me as easy as breathing.

And though I know I shouldn’t, I can’t help but squeeze my eyes shut as I make my choice.

Shots echo through the theater, creating a strange, haunting silence that steadily builds into chaos. Screams of recognition start to spread like wildfire through the crowd.

There’s a delay between the violent sound and the music tapering off. Then panic blasts through the crowd as people duck from their chairs and start to flee the room. Only our personal box seems to remain frozen, no one daring to move or speak as we stand suspended in a moment.

As I open my eyes, all I can seem to stare at is the large and rather grizzly hole staining the center of my father’s chest. Crimson blood swells out of it, saturating the fabric of his shirt and suit.

I shot him.

I shot my own father.

He looks as stunned as I feel. Lips suddenly chalky white, my father slowly lowers his gun to his side, his eyes wide. They track down, following the same steady arc as his gun’s descent to land on his bloody chest. His lips part in astonishment, and for a fleeting moment, a soul-crushing guilt comes crashing down on top of me.

Then I think about the alternative ending, and my eyes track toward Leo, desperate to see that he’s okay, that I didn’t act too late. He’s still standing, his face gloriously free of bullet holes as he watches my father in stunned amazement.

“Giuseppe!” my mother shrieks, launching her body toward my father as he sinks back in his chair.

Leo’s two guards burst through the curtains, utterly useless in this circumstance, though they’re here to stop this very thing from happening in the first place. But none of us knew. None of us even suspected…

The gun falls from my numb fingertips, hitting the floor with a heavy thud as sudden, dizzying revulsion sweeps through me. I shot my father. I can’t tell if I’m going to be sick or faint. But as I watch the life drain from his eyes, I wonder if it might not be both.

His head slumps forward, his chin hitting his chest as he releases one last rattling breath. An innocent trickle of blood runs from the corner of his mouth. And suddenly, the world spins around me. A kaleidoscope of color and sounds as the floor tips beneath my feet.

“Tia!” Leo’s deep, horrified voice calls to me, inviting me to stick around just a little longer.

But I can’t seem to determine what way’s up and what way’s down. My head lolls dangerously, growing heavy in an instant, and my brows press into a frown as I find I have a surprising lack of control over my senses.

I must be going into shock.

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