Page 14 of Between Dusk and Dawn

I reveled in maintaining the upper hand in any situation. Even when faced with an unforeseen glitch, like this minor hiccup, my mind seamlessly crafted backup plans. My old man's advice? Anticipate the execution of plan A but meticulously map out contingencies for plans B, C, and D.

What caught me off guard in this scenario was the blonde hair blowing in the wind as a figure sprinted toward me in my peripheral vision.

Mother. Fucker.

Practice exactly what you’ve been taught.

"I’ll release Ash!" I shouted as the figure got closer. "Just take him and go."

I raised my hands, then went inside the back door where I’d stuffed him in the hallway. As I shoved Ash out the door, Rain looked at me pointedly before shaking his head and grabbing him. Then he ran into the woods, thankfully in the opposite direction Cagen was emerging from.

"Don't shoot," she wailed as she approached. Cagen shrieked again, then I whipped around to one of my men rushing out the back door with their gun trained on the screaming. I couldn’t tell who it was at first because everything was shrouded in darkness.

"Fuck!" I shouted at the same time the gun went off. I pulled my weapon, pointing it at whoever was shooting in a frenzy. Suddenly, I realized it was Luca. His eyes were narrowed, he was breathing heavily, and I could smell the booze even though I was feet away from him.

"Stop!" I screamed. My brain was trying to process where the bullets were coming from and why he was stumbling before I realized the feminine screams had stopped.

When Luca realized it was just me and no one else, he lowered his weapon. I ran over toward Cagen on the ground with a gaping hole in her chest, blood pooling around her.

"What did you do?" I said through gritted teeth at our so-called leader. It wasn’t the same sadness swimming in me that I had witnessed from my dad when Mom was murdered. He was completely broken, his heart shattered when I walked in on them in the living room. Then I watched him relive that same pain when he found out she was cheating on him with her family's mortal enemy.

"You killed her," I stated.

"I heard screaming. I thought someone was hurt, one of our men?—"

"So you just came out and started to shoot?"

Cagen didn't deserve it, and dealing with the aftermath would be an absolute clusterfuck.

I turned toward Luca, lifted my weapon to his face, and clicked the trigger. It all happened too fast.

A resounding shot echoed through the night before I holstered the weapon. It wasn’t a kill shot but was enough to take him down and ensure the rest of the house knew who was incontrol. I’d tell my dad it was the Den who hurt her, so he wasn’t killed. Eventually, when Luca healed, he’d go live a quiet life in Seattle, far away from the Mafia where everyone who pissed us off went.

Then I yelled for help from the guys inside. It took a few moments, but eventually a few came from the house and saw me with her lifeless body in my arms and their leader on the ground, wailing in pain.

"Fuck," one of my men muttered, returning back inside for a moment before coming out with a few more guys. A couple of them grabbed Luca to take him to the hospital.

The power that I so desperately craved was slipping out of my fingers as the minutes ticked by. None of this was a part of my plan.

"We gotta—"Fuck.My entire plan was unraveling before me, and it wasn’t just the body growing cold in my arms.

I had seen many dead bodies and helped my father clean up my mother’s killer. Yet an unsettling sensation churned inside my chest.

Part of me wondered if my fuck up would somehow make me second-in-command next year instead of the leader position I deserved. Staring down at Cagen, I thought this must have been what kings felt when their thrones were crumbling before them.

Get a grip, for fuck's sake.There was no time or space in my life for this, especially not right now.

"Lemme take care of the body and handle the family," Andrea, a large guy who constantly wore white tanks and jorts, offered. He would now be my second-in-command.

I nodded. "Do it fast. Call her parents, the cops, and anyone else who needs to know. Tell them she's been missing."

Andrea nodded. Somehow, those cracks in my control were fusing together. I was giving out instructions and handling this like a true leader.

Andrea disappeared into the woods with Cagen.

"I cannot find Cagen. Where is she?" A soft voice emerged from the house.

"Muse," I murmured, looking down shamefully.

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