Page 98 of Caged Bird

His gaze focused on Guerra, surprise and recognition filtering across his expression simultaneously. He held up his hands. “Hey. It was nothing personal. Your wife hired me to kill you.”

Guerra cocked his head to one side, considering Eddie’s plea. “So you won’t consider it personal when I kill you then?” He raised his gun and shot a shower of bullets into the bathroom door and wall.

I cringed at the muffled cry from the other side, and then the heavy slump of a body hitting the floor.

Eddie’s fear finally broke through the tough-guy exterior, sweat beads appearing on his forehead as he stared at the wall full of bullet holes. We all knew Audrina was very likely dead on the other side, lying in a pool of her own blood for betraying her husband.

Eddie might have given second chances, but apparently Guerra did not.

Eddie’s voice shook as he scrambled back on the bed. “Look, this wasn’t my idea. I barely even knew your wife. I don’t deserve to die because she’s a greedy bitch.”

Some sick part of me enjoyed watching my brother squirm. Enjoyed the fear in his rounded face. That dark part wanted to cross the space between us, put my gun in his mouth, and squeeze the trigger.

All while I stared into his eyes, eating up every last bit of his fear.

But it would never be enough to avenge what he’d done to Fawn. No number of bullets or quick deaths would repay the torture he’d inflicted on her day after day.

Fawn was owed revenge. Slow, painful, agonizing revenge.

We all moved in like a pack of wolves stalking its prey, and Eddie squirmed back on the bed. His shout echoed around the room when he realized there was no escape. “Just fucking kill me then! Get on with it!”

But none of us pulled a trigger. None of us lunged with a knife.

Fawn’s voice didn’t tremble. Her fingers didn’t shake. “Nobody is going to kill you.”

She smiled, and it was one I’d never seen on her before. One that suddenly made her look so much more like her siblings than I’d realized she could.

Her gaze never left his. “I made a deal for your life, Eddie. And you’ll get to live out the rest of yours, however long I decide that might be, in a cage. The same kind you kept me in for the past five years. You’ll be starved. Raped. Beaten. And then you’ll be left to die, scared, and without a single person by your side. Because that’s what you deserve.”

All that was left in her eyes was the satisfaction of seeing their roles reversed and knowing she’d won. “Mr. Guerra here owes me a favor. So he’s going to see that it happens.”

Guerra cracked his knuckles. “Did my wife tell you all about the cages in my basement, Eddie? Or did she forget to mention that while you were fucking and planning my death?” He glanced at Fawn. “Don’t worry about your husband.” His eyes darkened as they focused on Eddie. “Taking care of him is going to be my pleasure.”

27

FAWN

It had been my idea to have a welcome home party. I’d spent all week helping Eve and Lyric and Ophelia organize it, spending hours poring over unimportant details like the color of the balloons and whether we should have plain or barbecue-flavored potato chips. I’d driven Eve mad by changing my mind a thousand times on whether the kids should have their own table or if we should even have a sit-down meal at all. We’d changed from a barbeque to a Thanksgiving dinner style formal event to a potluck and back again so many times that by the day of the party, I had no idea what was going on, until Eve took me aside and gave me that motherly look I remembered all too well.

She rubbed my hand briskly. “Talk to me.”

I shook my head. I didn’t know how to explain the mass of confusion inside me that hadn’t settled in the week since the showdown at the motel.

But she saw through my protests. “You do know. Just say it.”

Except it wasn’t her I needed to say things to. I glanced over at Zane across the yard, and my heart squeezed painfully.

Like she always had, Eve seemed to know exactly what I was thinking. Her shoulders slumped as she drew me into what had to be the hundredth hug of the week. “Oh, Fawn.”

I stepped back, shaking my head, trying to brush off the impending feeling of doom that settled in the pit of my stomach every time I looked at Zane.

Which was exactly why I’d thrown myself into planning this party.

Because without it, I had nothing to distract me from feelings and memories I didn’t know what to do with.

My body electrified in his presence, his broad shoulders tapering down to his narrow waist. He laughed at Augie, who handed him another balloon to attach to the bundle he was tying around a pole of their backyard deck.

Zane caught me watching him, and he smiled easily, in a way I so desperately wanted to return, except the confusion in my head had me questioning even the simplest of things. Especially when it came to him.

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