Page 84 of Die for You
Lewis doesn’t speak.
He turns, about to lead the way, when Gianna purses her mouth before smacking her lips together. The pop echoes loudly.
“You said you’d do anything,” she ponders while I remain still. “You’d do anything to prove your loyalty to me, and that I can trust you.”
“Yes.”
“All right then, shall we put that theory to the test?”
This is her show, so I wait.
She looks at Lewis, and I see her disgust. He’s merely a pawn like we all are. She knew he’d come in handy one day.
“Prove your loyalty to me, then. You’ve had ample opportunity to kill Lenny, but failed. So to make amends…I want you to kill Lewis.” Her order is like she’s discussing the weather, not taking someone’s life.
In her mind, I guess it’s one and the same.
She knows if I kill Lewis, this will destroy Lenny. The woman he loves would be responsible for his brother’s death.
But if I don’t do this, then Gianna will guess this is a ruse, and we’re all dead.
At first, Lewis believes Gianna is joking, but when neither of us laughs, he soon realizes his life means nothing to her.
Or to me.
I reach for my gun in the small of my back and point it at Lewis.
He instantly interlaces his hands, begging. “Please, no. I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Well, that’s not entirely true,” I rebuke. “You betrayed your brother.”
Gianna watches her plan unfold with a smile on her face.
“I made a mistake!” Lewis says, his panic rising. “Lenny wants me to be him! But all I see is disappointment when he looks at me. I’m nothing but a failure in his eyes.”
All I hear are excuses. Lewis is weak and nothing like his brother.
To think Lenny sacrificed so much for him makes pointing a gun at him easy. But I know Lenny doesn’t want him dead.
Gianna, however, does. “I know you like it messy,” she says, placing a large hunting knife on the altar.
The silver blade catches the flickering candlelight.
Lewis screams and runs for the door.
This is a test I can’t fail. It’s either me or him.
I fail, and Lettie suffers.
I am Gianna’s perfect killing machine because I’ll do anything to save my daughter.
Reaching for the knife, I throw it with precision. It embeds into Lewis’s back between his shoulder blades. He drops to the floor.
Gianna arches a brow, indicating we’re not done.
I switch off any emotion and walk to where Lewis crawls toward the door. It’s merely a flesh wound, but he’s weak because of the shit he injects daily into his body to survive.
I yank out the blade from his back and use my foot to turn him over. Tears stream down his cheeks as he begs me to stop.
