Page 58 of Charity's Redemption

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Nico said from behind me. He was never into this sort of stuff which made him being here all that more meaningful.

“Do you need to go to the car? I’ll meet you out there in a minute,” I asked, tearing myself away from the grisly scene to comfort him.

“I’ll be fine.”

I shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

Kandy’s screams echoed in the room, mixing with Owen’s cries. “Please stop, she’s innocent.” Owen reached out for her, but he couldn’t seem to bring himself any closer.

Luca eyed Owen over his shoulder. “If she’s innocent, imagine what I’m going to do to you?”

I turned my attention to Owen. His forehead glistened with sweat while he held his wounded shoulder. It dripped that beautiful crimson life onto his hands, making them shine in the old fluorescent lighting.

As if drawn to it like a moth to a flame, I kneeled down beside Owen and chuckled to myself as I pressed my thumb into his wound. He roared as my thumb slipped inside the bullet wound.

“It’s sort of ironic, you know?” I paused, waiting for him to catch his breath. “Because the last man I killed was a priest. I mean, he claimed to be one, and people followed him like he was, but really, he was just a cult leader….” Where was I going with this? Owen’s eyes bulged as I spoke. “Anyway, his followers confessed their sins to him… and well, I suppose people do the same with you.”

“While I never confessed to a sin nor to a crime because it was neither. It was self-defense.”

“The priest?” he asked with a skeptical look.

I tapped him on the face as though he wasn’t present in the moment. “No, my brother. Pay attention, would you?” I squeezed his shoulder. “I don’t think God would hold that one against me.” Not that I cared. I knew the Devil reserved a special seat just for me. “You were right on track with my involvement in my brother’s death, but with one major detail missing.” I came in close and ground my teeth as I recalled the betrayal. “Why do you think my DNA was in the trunk of his car? You didn’t suspect foul play or anything?”

“He took you?”

Straightening my back, I pulled away from him but kept my fingers on his shoulder. It was easier to control a man when you caused him debilitating pain. Just like you could bring them to their knees by bending their thumb. Well, you could do that with anyone that had thumbs, I guess.

“I wish I could say you win a prize, but the only thing you’re getting is a dirt bed with a rock under your back.” Smiling, I wiped the blood that tickled down my neck. “Yes, I killed Josh, but it was self-defense. So you get to take that to your grave and as far as the little girl goes… I saved her. It doesn’t redeem me, I’m beyond that, but you’re so far off base you couldn’t even see the target.”

Standing, I backed away from him. “Blind is the man who’s ruled by vengeance.”

I would know. I almost lost Max in my stupid pursuit. It was the wake-up call I needed, to slow down and start paying more attention to what’s around me—to not let my endeavors get in the way of what’s important.

Owen gripped his arm and hissed through his teeth as he shimmied up against the wall to a standing position. “It doesn’t mean you’re without fault.”

I shook my head and pulled my brows together. “I just fucking said that. God, didn’t you listen to anything I said?”

Kandy’s cries pulled me back to Luca as I watched him press his bloody knife to the underpart of her chin and press the knife in slowly until it disappeared at an upward angle into her neck, stopping as it sank to the hilt.

Her eyes bulged as her body twitched beneath him. Owen let out a sorrowful cry, then spun around the corner and raced down the hall.

My shoulders sagged as I exhaled. I was really hoping this would be an easy finish.

Max rushed towards the hall, but I grabbed his arm, stopping him. “I’ve got this.” Pulling my reclaimed pistol from my holster, I aimed it down the hallway and began my sweep.

“Come out, come out wherever you are.”

I kicked open the first door on the right, which showcased a pink-tiled bathroom, while Max disregarded my request and proceeded down the hall. My pulse thumped in my chest with a wild, chaotic beat as I inched forward and pulled the shower curtain to the side.

Empty.

Turning on a dime, I rushed down the hall, passing the room Max was in.

“You’re only making this worse for yourself.”

I hit a dead end with two rooms at the end, both with their doors closed. “Eeny, meeny,” I bounced my gun at each of the doors, “miny—” My foot crashed into the door on the left, leaving wooden shards flying into the air, “moe.”

A large object flew at me from my periphery. On instinct, I bent at the waist and ducked. Wind whirred in my ears as the lamppost blew past my head and thudded into the wall beside me.

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