Emery was the first thing I saw, her body curled up on the floor as she held her face. Giant raindrop-shaped tears were cascading down her cheeks, her eyes were open wide, glossed over like she tried to removed herself mentally from what was happening.
Marcos growled as his lids thinned and his eyes met mine. “You're suppose to be dead.”
“Looks like your guys failed again. Now it's your turn.”
I knew what I had said before, and to be honest, even I didn't believe myself. There was no way in hell I was going to get this far and not kill the fucker. He deserved to die, he deserved to die over and over for each life that had been lost at his hand.
I wanted him to feel it, I wanted him to suffer. There was a difference between innocent, stupid, and just plain evil. My brother was innocent, Emery was innocent. The men who worked and died for Marcos were stupid.
But he was just an evil bastard.
“Porter, what don't you understand about how this works?” Marcos stepped up beside Emery and started playing with her hair. “You need to just die like every other asshole who fucked me over. Stop avoiding the inevitable.”
“I can't do that, Marcos. I'm not that type of asshole, I won't just let you kill me.” The crowbar was still in my hand, so I held it out to the side like a baseball bat. “Let her go, and then we can talk about what's going to happen to me.”
“And if I don't?”
“If you don't, I'll have no choice but to kill you.”
Laughing, he wiped his face and looked down at Emery. “He's funny, I don't remember him being so funny. Why don't you ask Emery what she wants, ask her if she wants to be saved by a murderer.”
Emery's eyes glistened like glass, her lips turning down into a heavy frown. “Is it true? Did you really kill that family?”
“What? No, of course I didn't.” Taking a step forward, I softened my voice. “Don't believe what he tells you, Emery, he's a liar.”
“It was in the paper, Porter. The police said you killed an entire family, kids and all. Why would they say that if it wasn't true?”
“That's what he wants everyone to think. He wants everyone to believe I did that, but I didn't!” Yelling, I kept my eyes on hers, hoping she could feel I was telling her the truth.
Marcos let out another hard laugh. “She doesn't want you anymore, Porter. You're fighting for nothing.” Pulling a gun out from behind his back, he smirked. “It's time, it's time for you to just let go. You don't want anyone else to die, do you? Because I can kill her, it won't bother me.” Keeping his eyes on me, he placed his gun against her head and smiled.
Emery's eyes grew to the size of saucers, skin turning ghost white as he pulled back the hammer. She was shaking, trembling from head to toe as sweat dripped down her temples, and she tried to curl even deeper into herself. She looked like a porcelain doll, so fragile and breakable.
“You're making me do this, you know that, right?” Glancing down at her, Marcos brushed some of her hair out of her face with the tip of the gun. “I was hoping to fuck her before I had to kill her.” Biting his bottom lip, he eyed her like she was nothing more than a whore.
“You got this all wrong, Marcos.” Slipping my hand behind my back, I tipped my head.
“Is that right?” His smirk widened, eyes growing black as hell.
I could hear the faint ring of sirens in the distance. There was only so much time left before the place would be crawling with cops. If I was going to end this, I'd have to do it now.
“It is.” Yanking the gun out from behind my back, I pulled the trigger.
Emery was worth all of this. My life meant nothing if she died.
Pulling that trigger was the only option I had.