Page 21 of Flames of Ruin

Turning toward me, he smirks. “There’s nothing you can do now, except watch the destruction.” He pauses thoughtfully before continuing, “You can join me in my endeavors, Draco. Take up my mantle, power, and wealth.”

I cringe at his given name for me. “No. I will never be associated with someone as vile as you.”

“You’ll never escape me, son. And soon, I will own all of Raventown and everyone in it.”

Pulling my Glock out of my belt holster, aiming at his face. “No, Dad, you won’t.”

Cocking the bullet into the chamber, my father stares at the barrel of the gun, waiting.

He smiles his evil grin, “Well go on th-...”

CRACK!

The sound of the bullet exiting the gun echoes through the tunnels as my father’s brains splatter against the wall behind him. His body falls limp to the ground, his head hanging off the pavement into the flowing waterway.

Returning my gun to its holster, I turn on my heel and begin running the length of the tunnel to the stairs.

As I exit the underground tunnel, pushing the metal drain grate to the side, I walk the two blocks back to Vanguard Enterprises. Looking around the streets, it seems eerily calm.

Until I hear the first screams of pain.

Looking to my right, I see a man gripping his stomach in pain before he vomits the contents of his stomach out. His wife crouches down next to him, screaming for help as he collapses to the ground, convulsing.

I try calling the emergency line, but it beeps three times, and the line goes dead.

As the hours pass, the screams grow louder around me in the streets. Feeling helpless, I run back to my father’s company. Stopping in front of a window of an electronics store, a TV is flashing headline news in captions across the screen as the reporter speaks, “There is a suspected poisoning in Raventown. Source unknown. This story is developing.”

Behind the reporter is a picture of a black-haired teenage girl with emerald green eyes staring into the camera as tears fall down her face.

Falling to my knees in front of the window, I feel the bile rise in my throat seconds before I lose the contents of my own stomach.

I will never forget this moment. The night I was responsible for three hundred and eighty-three innocent lives stolen.

Chapter ten

Drake

CiCi: Me and Miranda have a plan.

Drake: I told you no.

CiCi: Well. If you told me no, then take this as me not giving a fuck.

Drake: CiCi, don’t do something you’ll regret.

CiCi: Or what?

She’s challenging me. This woman is the most frustrating woman I have ever met. If she doesn’t back down, she is going to get herself killed.

“You ever going to tell me why you dragged me out of the bar the other night?” Shado’s voice penetrates my thoughts as I clean my gun.

“You ever going to tell me why you almost passed out at the mention of Demassi’s name?” I retort as I pop the magazine back in its place and cock the gun, placing a bullet in the chamber.

He hesitates for a moment. “He’s an old friend.”

I arch a brow at him. This kid is a horrible liar, but I’ll let it go for now.

“We need to go back to Raven’s tonight. If Dimitri is planning something, I need to know what it is.”

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