Page 67 of Toy

16

Jolie

“Drop your weapon,Mason. Jolie, put your hands on your head.” My father stepped closer, his pistol still aimed directly at my forehead. I gulped and slowly raised my hands.

“This gun is the reason the term ‘hair trigger’ was invented. If you try to shoot me or do any sort of tricks, you’ll get me, but you’ll also make sure this goes off at the same time. I’m sure you don’t want to see Jolie’s head explode,” he went on, narrowing his eyes at Mason as his finger hovered on the trigger.

Mason’s jaw clenched. He crouched and set his gun on the floor. My lips twitched as I caught sight of his back pocket. After I shot some distraction rounds with a spare pistol earlier, I gave it back to him for safekeeping as there were no pockets in my dress. He’d stashed it in that back pocket. If I could just do something to distract my father for a few seconds, he’d be able to grab it before either of us got shot.

As Mason stood up, he flashed me a brief look and nodded his head ever-so-slightly. I knew he was thinking along the same lines as me.

“So,” my father said, lips curving into a cold smirk. “You thought you’d come here and try to ruin my life’s work. Again.”

“Look around you,” I replied, waving my hand at the large table where all the Elders were slumped with bullets in their skulls. “It’s already ruined. You’re the only one left.”

He didn’t fall for the bait and turn around. He simply raised one brow and kept the gun level with my face. “Perhaps. But once you two are dead, it won’t matter. I’ll survive. I still have money, and that’s really all you need in this world, isn’t it?” He let out a sinister chuckle. “I applaud your effort, but I’ll be able to—”

“Oh, shut the fuck up, asshole. We’re so fucking done with your shit.”

I snapped my eyes to the right at the sound of the voice. Beck was limping into the room, a thunderous expression on her face. Before my father could do anything, she shot him in the hand. He let out a shocked howl and dropped his gun. With a deafening pop, a bullet shot out and lodged in the wall by the bay window.

As my father moaned and gasped in agony, looking down at his mangled hand, Beck twisted his left arm behind his back and dragged him to the floor. She planted one boot on his throat and grinned at Mason and me. “Sorry. I know you had it handled, but I’ve always wanted to shoot this fucker.”

Mason whipped out the spare gun from his back pocket and aimed it down at my father’s reddening face. “How the hell are you here right now?” he asked, glancing at Beck.

“I felt bad for letting you go on your own, so I strapped my ankle up and went after you. Took about a million years, because I had to hop half the way, but I got here in the end.” She wiped a thin sheen of perspiration from her forehead and let out a yawn. “Nice body count, by the way. I’m impressed.”

“How’s your ankle feeling?” I asked, brows knitted with concern.

“Hurts like hell, but it’ll be okay. Plus, it feels a lot better when I do this.” She smiled and pressed her left foot down on my father’s throat even harder. He let out a strangled gurgle and reached his uninjured hand up to her boot in an attempt to wrench it away.

“Anyway, I’m sure you want to do the honors,” Beck went on, waving a hand at Mason. “Go ahead. Shoot the bastard.”

“Wait,” my father croaked, raising his good hand in the air like a white flag of surrender. “Please…”

Mason smirked. “What is it? Got some last words?”

“I... I can’t…”

I waved my hand at Beck, and she lifted her foot off his throat. He rubbed it and gasped down several deep breaths before looking up at Mason again. “Don’t kill me,” he rasped. “I want to explain something first.”

“I think you’ve done enough explaining already.”

He shook his head wildly. “No. Your family… let me tell you why I had them killed. Please…”

Mason stiffened. “Don’t fucking talk about my family.”

My father pressed onward anyway. “I can’t die without telling you, Mason,” he said, still holding one hand up. “I always wanted a son, but it didn’t happen. Then you came to New Eden. You weren’t like the other young men. You were better. So devout and dedicated, and we had so much in common. I let my guard down when it came to you. I even started to view you as the son I never had. I was excited for you to marry my daughter and become one of my closest family members.”

Mason sneered. “You know I was playing you, right? Or did you lose half your memory when Beck knocked you down?”

“Of course I know,” he replied. “But I was hurt. So badly hurt. Your betrayal… it felt like I was losing a son as well as a daughter. I admit, I overreacted. I wanted you to feel the same sort of pain I was feeling.”

“So having my car blown up and my family burned alive was just an overreaction because you felt like you lost a son?” Mason shook his head. “Am I supposed to believe that? Why the fuck are you even telling me?”

My father’s hand shook. “I want you to understand. You’re a good man, Mason. If you could find it in your heart to forgive me, we could start again. We could—”

Mason jammed his foot down on my father’s right kneecap, making him wince with pain. “Nice try. Not gonna happen.”

---