Page 63 of Straight, No Chaser
Finally she seems to understand, flinching from me screaming at her. Nodding and scurrying in the right direction. We’re engulfed in darkness just as she turns the corner. Glass shattering and voices yelling still able to ring through the shrieking alarms. Letting the intruders know we are on to them, and they will not fucking survive.
Machine gun fire synchronizes with my rapid steps as I race through the foyer. So fucking grateful my guys have already organized a defense. I get off two bullets, hitting the bastards rushing through the door way before I slide into the dining room, banging my thigh against the black serving buffet.
Adrenaline pounds through me, and I swipe at the sweat dripping into my eyes. Catching a glimpse of a stubby bastard coming in from the back deck, I floor him with a shot to the forehead. His buddy comes from the other side and slams into my jaw, hurting like a son of a bitch. Bitter metallic liquid filling my mouth.
I heave off the cabinets he rams me into and shove my Glock into his jiggly belly. His beady eyes widening in surprise as the slug rips through his intestines. One more bullet to the back of the head after he slumps to the hard wood just to make sure.
“Luc?”
Ty staggers in, hunched and clutching his stomach, his huge hand glistening from the bright red streaks coating his fingers. As much as I fucking hate my brother sometimes, ice races through my veins from the sheen of perspiration glossing his ashen skin. I jerk him into the pantry to check his wound.
“It just grazed me.” He twists away. Unwilling to let me examine him. “I’m fine.”
He fucking better be. I don’t have time to babysit his stupid ass. Not when I’ve got to fucking find Molly and Eli. “You sure?”
“Yeah, I’m fucking sure.” Bolting out of the alcove, he glances back at me right on his heels. “Upstairs and outside are clear. Mason’s sweeping this floor now.”
We dodge corpses strewn across the floor, an ocean of red swirled on the beige tile. Leaving scarlet footprints on the carpet as I follow her path. I kick open Eli’s door. Glass sparkles on the caramel carpet like diamonds. God fucking damn it. Motherfuckers have been in here.
I fall to my knees in his closet. With shaking hands, I yank off the false floor. Ty’s flashlight sweeps through the darkness, and it feels like a fucking bullet ripping through my own chest. Eli’s small body wraps around hers, their faces pressed together. Clinging to each other in terror and solace.
Neither moves. Or speaks. Or breathes.
Dead.
They’re dead.
My angel and my brother are dead.
“Look what those motherfuckers did. Look what they’ve done to them.”
Ty’s crazed shriek echoes in the sparse space. Broken and angry and helpless. But I’ve got nothing. Unable to fucking yell or scream or curse.
I am dead now too.
The light they created extinguished. The joy they instilled stolen. Now only evil remains. Without their goodness, the demon inside of me surges back to life. Desperate and hungry for revenge. Thirsty to revel in the broken bones and mangled guts of the man responsible for this. Swearing to avenge both of them, he will be tormented for as long as we both live.
“Luc?”
A perplexed whisper breaks the silence before Eli’s head bobs, lifting a few inches. Blinking in the bright stream of light after hiding in the blackness for so long.
Fucking shit. I yank him out of the hole and crush his body against mine. Relief and torture mixing in a bitter avalanche. He cries too. Hard and erratic. For her. For himself. For me.
“She…told me…to be…really quiet. That you’d…come for us.” He sputters and sniffs, fighting to get the words out. Searching for reprieve from his turmoil. “That if I…was quiet you would…save us.”
He trembles as I stroke his hair. Just like she used to. The sobs die down, and hiccups wrack his convulsing body. Clutching onto Ty after he drags our little brother away from me. Shielding him from the woman we both love. Now truly an angel.
Wisps of her beautiful long hair flutter from the breeze of me dropping down onto the carpet. Once a solid smooth beige. Now dappled with crimson from her and my baby’s blood. Fuck me. She’s still warm against my skin. Her limp body easily curls to mine without protest or complaint. I tuck my face into her neck, pressing my lips against her delicate throat.
“I’m sorry angel.” I shake with tears I haven’t shed since I was a fucking kid. My heart never ripped apart as brutally as this. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
My chest pounds from the hint of movement under my mouth. A pulse. Weak but there. So god damn fucking there. Fucking Jesus Christ. She’s alive.
Epilogue
Cora’stiny legs kick against her bouncy seat, her bright blue eyes as inquisitive as her father's. Always studying, almost calculating. Absolutely no doubt she's Luciano's daughter. Eli wiggles with excitement on the stool next to me. Even more eager than she is to fill her hungry little tummy. "Okay, what do you think she'll like better, bananas or pears?"
His head tilts, deep in thoughtful consideration. Making me laugh to myself. Thinking once again that he should be an engineer when he grows up as much as he loves to conduct a thorough analysis of every situation.
