Page 40 of The Queen
“Pull up here,” he whispers, and I silently nestle the Merc against the curb as I stare at a bungalow set back from the road with nothing else around it.
Good.
Felix and I get out, and I glare at the guys to stay where they are.
We creep forward through the hedges, knowing that security will come at us any moment now. But we need to see what we’re dealing with.
“There,” I murmur.
It happens fast, like ripping off a bandage. Two shots ring out almost in perfect unison. They hit their marks, and the guards crumple to the ground without so much as a groan. My pulse doesn’t spike; there’s no room for adrenaline when every moment counts.
“Clear,” Felix says, and I move forward, stepping over the bodies with an indifference born from necessity.
The front door is locked, but that’s nothing a well-placed kick can’t fix. It bursts open under the force, and we’re inside before the echo of splintered wood fades. The hallway stretches before us. “Not a very safe house, is it?”
“You know what that means?”
“Trouble.”
We creep forward, and I shove a door open without stealth. It’s just us and whatever waits on the other side. My hearthammers in my chest as I step into the room, the blood in my veins roars like the tide, fury and sorrow choking me.
Lila is sitting at a desk, and she looks up.
“Eliza.”
“Hello, Lila,” I say, voice steady as a rockslide. My hand grips the cold metal of my gun, steadied by rage.
Her hand comes up, holding a pistol, but mine’s already aimed and ready.
“Bad move,” I say as I squeeze the trigger. I miss my target as she ducks, shattering the vase behind her into a shower of porcelain and water.
She fires back from behind her desk, causing Felix and me to dive apart.
“You little shit,” she screams, I think at Felix. “Fucking traitor!”
“You’re the fucking traitor!” I yell back from behind an armchair before I peek out and fire, and she fires back.
“Just like your mother, such a little bitch. I’ll kill you like I did her!”
If I needed a confession, which I didn’t, her current actions have been enough to warrant this, she just made sure I won’t fail.
The room blurs into a haze of gun smoke and adrenaline as bullets fly about.
“Give it up, Lila,” I shout. “You’re not walking away from this.”
She fires back a laugh, cruel and void of any warmth. “Neither are you, darling!”
Felix catches my eye as he crawls down the back of the sofa. He stares at me and then tilts his head. I know. I just know.
We rise as one from behind our furniture barriers, and he draws her fire. She has no hesitation in trying to kill her son, and it enrages me past anything I’ve ever felt before. The world narrows to the space between my gun and Lila. She’s fast, hershots slicing too close for comfort, but I’m faster. My finger squeezes the trigger once, twice…
A shot lands home.
Lila staggers, disbelief etched onto her face, a crimson stain spreading across her chest.
“Eliza...” she chokes out, her gun slipping from limp fingers.
My grip on the gun tightens, and with each breath, I draw sharp and cold as I lock eyes with Lila. Her gaze is a wild scramble of fear and defiance, but it’s too late for her now.
