Page 44 of Desperately Delicate Viper

“You spoiled, disgusting, fa—”

“Wrong answer,” I hiss, raising the gun and pulling the trigger without even a second of hesitation.

Time seems to slow down. I don’t actuallyhearthe pop of the gun going off, but my ears ring all the same. A dark spot appears in the middle of his forehead and his eyes go wide like he can’t believe I shot him. His body crumples like a building toppling, his knees giving out first before he keels forward. The back of his head is a mangled mess compared to the hole between his eyes, and just like that, everything feels real. Sound returns to the world, time finds the correct pace, and it hits me that I just shot my father.

“Holy fuck, holy fuck, holy fuck,” Finn pants behind me.

I drop the gun and whirl around, opening my arms for him. He falls into me instantly, burying his face against my shoulder and trembling from head to toe as he drags in gasping breaths. I make soothing noises, stroking his back in slow circles as I wait for guilt or fear oranythingto descend on me. But the only thing I feel is relief.

Finn is safe. I’m safe. That’s all that matters.

I don’t flinch at the sound of the door opening a few minutes later, but my brother tenses in my arms.

“In here,” I say calmly.

Steady footsteps approach, and seconds later, a high, almost manic laugh that definitely doesn’t belong to Luca breaks through the tension in the air.

“Well, shit, it looks like I missed the fun.”

Chapter 17

LUCA

Myhearthammersasthe ring of the phone echoes in my ear.

“This is Anders. Leave a message if you want, but let’s be real, who listens to their voicemail anymore?”The beep sounds and I end the call, growling out a curse.

I’m in a full-out sprint as I round the corner towards my building, redialing Anders for the umpteenth time since I saw his text.

Ring.

I jog up the steps towards the main building door.

Ring.

I wedge my phone between my ear and shoulder and fumble for my keys with shaking hands.

Ring.

I ram the key blindly around the edges of the keyhole, grumbling every time I miss it. I’ve faced down the barrel of countless guns myself, watched the life drain out of the eyes of men, seen my own life flash before my eyes, but I’ve never beenscared like I am right now not knowing what’s happening to Anders right now outside of his vague text message about “shit going down.”

Ri—

I hold my breath as the ringing abruptly cuts off, finally managing to get my key into the lock so I can fling the door open.

“Anders’s phone, who may I say is calling?” a snarky voice answers, followed by a grunt.

“Sparrow,” I growl with a mixture of relief and frustration. If he’s with Anders, that’s probably good news, but why isn’t my little viper answering his own phone? “Where’s Anders?”

I take the stairs two at a time up to my floor.

“His brother looked like he was going to hurl, so Anders is with him in the bathroom while I deal with the… aftermath.” He grunts again.

I end the call without formalities and shove my phone back into my pocket. My apartment door is ajar when I reach the landing. I hurry through it and swing it closed behind me. The metallic smell of blood and the distinct odor of gunpowder hit me immediately. A thump and grunt from the living room have me hurrying down the hallway, prepared to deal with whateveraftermathSparrow alluded to.

I round the corner to find my living room furniture all pushed back, a spray of crimson painting one wall, with a distinct bullet hole right in the middle, leaving no room to wonder what the hell happened. Sparrow is bent over my rolled-up area rug, a dark stain soaking through on one end.

“I hope you weren’t too attached to this rug. It wasn’t exactly salvageable,” he says without turning around. He gets his hands under one side of the lumpy shape that I’m assuming is Anders’s father, rolling it over with anotherthumpand a final grunt before straightening up and swiping the back of his arm over hisforehead. “I always thought Xav was being kind of a priss about cleanup, but he’s right, it’s a huge pain in the ass.”

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