Page 122 of Indigo Sky

"Fuck," I hissed. "Fuck, fuck, fuck …"

"Donny, look at me. Look at me, all right? There you go. Keep looking at me. Put down the fuckin' gun, man, okay? What the hell is going on, huh?" Nate asked, his voice tense but steady.

"Isn't it fucking obvious?!"

"No, man, it really isn't. Why don’t you explain it to me? Let's sit down. Put the gun down—"

"Don't you fucking tell me what to do! You cocky motherfucking asshole! All you do is tell me what to do! All anyone ever does is tell me what to fucking do!"

As Donny screamed, I gritted my teeth and took the moment to swing the crowbar at the back-door window. Broken glass scattered everywhere, and I hurried to duck behind the bush.

"That's what this is about?" Nate asked. "You're looking for, what? Control? A power trip or something?"

"I'm taking what's fucking mine—that's what I'm fucking doing!"

I blew out a quivering breath and tiptoed back to the door, crunching over glass shards and reaching through the broken window to unlock the door. I turned the knob, quietly swung the door open, and blew out a breath from my aching lungs.

"What in this room is yours, Donny? You're fuckin' terrorizing these people who did nothing to you—"

"Nothing?! Nothing! Let me tell you whatnothingthey've done, Nathan. This bitch! This bitch and her father! Theystolefrom me! Sheliedto me!"

I squeezed my eye shut, inhaled deeply, and emptied my lungs before walking into the kitchen, lit only by the night light above the stove. From where I stood, I saw Howard and Angela, sitting in chairs from the kitchen, their hands tied in their laps,their ankles tied to the chair legs, and their mouths taped shut. There were moving shadows, darkening the horror on their faces. Donny. Nate maybe.

Where's Kate?

I took solace in knowing Donny hadn't killed anyone. They were all alive. But there was the silhouette of a gun shadowed on the wall, held in his waving hand. He was a loose cannon, and one of us—Nate or me—had to act now before he exploded.

When are the cops getting here?

"How did she lie to you, Donny?" Nate asked as I walked quietly toward the open doorway and pressed my back to the wall beside it.

Angela shifted her gaze, catching sight of me standing only three or four feet from where she sat. Her eyes barely widened with recognition, and I immediately pressed a finger to my lips. She diverted her attention once again to her bound hands resting in her lap, avoiding the eyes of the crazed man before her.

“She told me she wanted me! She always said she wanted me!”

“W-w-wha-what?” Kate stammered through tears.

She’s alive, she’s alive, she’s alive …

“Oh, don’t you play fuckin’ stupid with me, you goddamn whore,” Donny growled, low and menacing. “You were always telling me how we were gonna be together.Oh, Donny, we’regoing to get married. We’re going to have babies,” he mocked in a high-pitched tone.

“Donny,” Kate whispered, so meek and small, “w-w-w-we werekids—"

Donny’s shadow moved fast, and Angela jolted. I took a chance and peeked around the wall to find him leaning over Kate, his back to me. Nate was standing near the door, the gun raised. He met my eye.

Shoot him, I mouthed, but Nate held up a finger, signaling for me to wait.

Wait? Wait for what?!

“You promised me! You fucking promised me, you cunt! Just like your mother promised my dad! All of you—you’re all full of fucking promises, and you break every”—he hit Kate in the shoulder with the butt of his gun—“single”—again—“one!”

“Stop! P-p-please! Stop!” she screamed.

“Just like this asshole.” His attention turned to Howard, and I quickly hid behind the wall again, pressing my back against it. “Promised he’d get out of the business after his wife—his sweetPatty—fucked my dad, that he’d sign it over. But you didn’t, did you, you piece of shit? You wanted to keep the fuckin’ money for yourself and your littleslut. Look at me. Look at me!”

There was another open doorway on the other side of the kitchen with a clear view of the hallway. I quietly moved in that direction as Donny stalked closer to where Howard sat, silent and shaking.

“What? You got nothing to say to me, asshole? You had a lot to say to my father though, didn’t you?”

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