Page 59 of Defy

From my spot around the house, I yank Mateo’s guard to his feet and yell at him to take those motherfuckers down. “You don’t stop shooting until they stop breathing. Am I clear?”

He nods and opens fire. I get two shots off and take the guard closest to my mother out. I crawl to her body to find she’s still breathing but I can see there’s no hope of saving her life. I cradle her in my arms as dust swirls around us. The world fades away as I stare into her eyes.

“Dom,” she whispers.

“Shh,” I try to soothe her.

“Please?” she asks and in that one word, I know what she wants. What she needs.

I close my eyes preparing to say the words. Words I never thought I’d say. It’s amazing how wrong you can be about someone, including yourself.

“I forgive you,” I whisper because I’m too choked up to say it with any force.

“I love you and I’m sorry.”

“I love you, too, Mom.”

She exhales her last breath with a sad smile on her lips just as I hear Diego yell. I lay mother down gently as I rush into the house to find that Mateo has another guard at gunpoint while Luis has Diego by the throat.

“Luis, let him go. This is over. Our parents are dead. What are you fighting for anymore?”

“Because Diego’s a traitor. Just like you.” His eyes are wild and he looks pale from the blood loss from the gash in his chest.

“Luis, this needs to end. I’ve already killed our sister and our father. Please don’t make me add another.” Watching my mother die in my arms made my trigger finger feel heavy. I once vowed to take Luis off this earth. He’s scum and I wouldn’t miss him. But I can’t shake the feeling that my mother would be sad to learn that I had killed her other son. It’s the only reason I hesitate but hesitating was the wrong move.

When I look back, Luis shoves Diego away from him to distract me as he levels his gun right at my chest.

“NOOO!” I hear Libby scream and it’s followed by a gunshot so loud my ears are ringing. I’m waiting for the impact of the bullet and the warmth to leave my body.

When it doesn’t come, I open my eyes to find Luis in a crumpled heap on the floor.

My eyes scan the room until they land on Libby who’s standing with a semi-automatic rifle pointed where Luis was just standing.

Her defiance is back. Her fire is back despite the ice in her eyes. A warrior queen stands before me.

Her eyes find mine as she lowers her weapon. “Now we’re even. You killed my sibling. I killed yours.” In that single moment, the weight of the last eighteen years lifts off my shoulders.

I finally feel free.

And somehow, I know that only she could make it that way.

Another scream rings out followed quickly by another gun shot and my eyes fly to Mateo who just dropped Irina. There’s so much blood.

It’s obvious Irina was reaching for a gun on the floor to end either my life or Libby’s. At this point, I don’t even know which of us she’d kill first.

But now it’s over.

Nineteen

ALMOST.

“They’ll have a backup car down the road,” Diego says. “A backup plan that will include orders to burn this house to the ground if Omar and Imelda don’t check in by a certain time. Given the amount of gunfire they undoubtedly heard, we don’t have much time left.”

I haven’t come this close to freedom just to lose it all now.

A couple of the guards are already cleaning up the mess as I follow Mateo and Libby into what looks like Mateo’s office shutting the door to block the overpowering stench of iron and death.

Mateo is starstruck, staring at his daughter. Not in a creepy-old-man kind of way but in an I-can’t-believe-she’s-really-here kind of way.

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