Page 110 of Dangerous Deceit

“There is no act!” she shouts. “Give it up! The Endo-kai are coming!”

I put up a hand, making sure Vi stays back. Jay steps closer to the door, trying the handle to the storage facility, but it doesn’t budge.

“You can’t get in,” I shout.

“But Ican,” he says. He pulls out a different smartphone, a wide smirk on his face. “This is all I need.”

He presses it to the lock. A small light at the top of the keypad flashes red, then turns off. He wrinkles his nose. “What the?—”

I catapult my body toward him, pressing my gun to his temple, but he elbows me in the nose. I swing back, then connect my fist with his jaw. His teeth snap together, trying to bite me, but I crush his windpipe with my arm, and he kicks me.

“Give me your phone!” Jay shouts.

He rams toward me, and we roll on the ground, covered in dirt, trying to kill each other. Vi made me promise not to hurt him, but I can’t keep the promise now. Even if I don’t kill him, hehasto die. The Endo-kai won’t let him go.

He punches my ear, and the red and brown rocks spin around me. I find my gun, but before I can aim, he lunges forward and pulls Vi into a headlock, keeping her imprisoned between the crook of his elbow and his other hand. Her face pools red, and with the way his hands are positioned, all it will take is one jerking movement, and he’ll break her neck.

“Drop the gun,” Jay says. “Fight me like a man. Isn’t that the honorable way to do this? The yakuza way? Fairness. Equality. Honor.”

I don’t care about honor, but when I aim the gun at Jay’s forehead, he shoves Vi in front of him, using her as his human shield.

“How good are you at shooting?” he asks. “Because Vivian here is pretty good at being my armor. I’ve been using her for a long time now.”

A tear slips down her cheek. She pulls at his arm, and he loosens the grip around her neck, giving her a small taste of air before he goes back to choking her again.

“Drop the gun, or I’ll kill her right now,” he says.

I don’t have time to think. I lower the gun to the ground, then lift both hands in the air. Jay shoves Vi out of his way as he leaps toward me. Vi loses balance, tripping over a rock and landing inthe dirt. My heart stops. She coughs, struggling to breathe, but she pulls herself up to her hands and knees.She’s okay.Still, I race toward her.

Jay’s fists hit me at full force. He caught me off guard, using Vi to distract me, and it worked. I fall, hitting my head on a rock. I punch back, but I’m disoriented and everything shifts around like I’m slogging through mud. Jay pins me to the ground. I try using my legs to sling him off of me, but his punches rail into me. Blood trickles down my lips, and I’m on my back again.

I should have brought backup. I should’ve done a lot of things, but I couldn’t risk what Dice and Ronin could have done to Vi. I look around for her, but my vision is blurry. I can’t see her anywhere. I hope she took my car and ran.

Jay picks up a large rock in his hand, the size of a football, and raises it up in the air. I keep my eyes open, waiting for the last moment to strike. He’s playing dirty, using a rock. The damn hypocrite.

“Thanks for taking such good care of her,” he says. Then he swings the rock.

A gunshot snaps through the air, and the rock crashes next to my head, then breaks in two. The bullet echoes, mixing with the thunder booming over us.

A red hole paints Jay’s head. He locks eyes with me for a second, his expression blank, before he collapses on top of me.

Vi stands behind him, her elbows locked as she holds the gun, still aiming at Jay’s corpse.

CHAPTER 49

VI

Thunder bellows overhead,making me jump out of my skin, but I keep my hands around the gun, the muzzle still aimed at the back of Jay’s head. Kenzo slides out from under him, leaving Jay face down in the dirt. I can’t look at Jay anymore.

He’s not coming back.

I close my eyes, giving the gun to Kenzo. My whole body quivers. I know I’m in the desert. I know I’m with Kenzo. But the gunshot replays in my mind, and I’m back in my six-year-old body, sitting in the driveway, waiting for my parents to come out of the house, to tell me everything is alright.

But nothing is alright. I scream through my sobs, and the emotion tears through my soul. The thunder rumbles above us again, and I spin around, finding my balance. It was my fault my parents died back then, and now it feels like the same thing all over again.

But I know the truth now. Jay hired someone to kill my parents. And now, I’ve killed him.

“It’s okay,” Kenzo whispers into my ear. He clutches me against his chest, dirt and blood smearing my face. His gait wavers—hitting his head on the rock must have disoriented him—but he still holds me like he’ll do anything to keep me safe. “It’s okay,” he says again. “I’m here. No one’s going to hurt you.”

---