Page 118 of Love Bleeds Red
“That’s impossible. My security team would never?—”
As I’m about to make my move a familiar voice sounds behind me. “Drop the weapon.”
Damon steps into the light, gun trained on Alfred’s head, with Jasper right behind him, both of them bloodied but very much alive.
“Now,” Damon adds, his voice deadly calm.
Alfred’s gun wavers between my head and the new threat. “You’re supposed to be dead.”
“Disappointed?” Jasper asks, moving to get a better angle. “Your security team wasn’t as good as advertised.”
I can see Alfred calculating, weighing his options. He’s outnumbered, but he still has me as a shield.
“Let him go, Alfred,” Damon says. “It’s over.”
“Is it?” Alfred’s voice returns to that cold, controlled tone. “Because from where I’m standing, I still hold all the cards. One wrong move and your friend here gets a bullet in the brain.”
“And then you get two bullets,” Jasper points out. “Simple math.”
Alfred laughs, but there’s hysteria creeping into the sound. “You think I care about dying? You’ve already destroyed everything I worked for. Everything I built. I’m a dead man anyway.”
“Good,” I say, finding my voice again. “That was the point.”
The gun presses harder against my temple. “Ungrateful. Ungrateful to the end.”
“Alfred.” Damon’s voice cuts through the tension. “Look around. You’re in a basement. You’re outnumbered. Your empire is gone. It’s over. The question is: do you want to die here, or do you want to spend the rest of your life behind bars thinking about what you’ve lost?”
I can feel Alfred’s hand shaking slightly where it grips the gun. He’s breaking down, coming apart at the seams.
“Your choice,” Jasper adds. “But you’ve got five seconds to decide.”
The silence stretches between us, heavy and thick. Then Alfred speaks, his voice barely above a whisper.
“You were supposed to be mine. My legacy. My heir.”
“I was never yours,” I tell him. “I never will be.”
Then faster than I can register, he swings his weapon toward Damon and fires.
I move fast, elbowing him in the ribs. He stumbles backward, and I catch his wrist, slamming it against the concrete wall until he drops the weapon. “D? You okay?” I yell.
“He missed,” Damon replies, breathing heavy.
“Fucking barely,” Jasper adds.
Alfred staggers, dazed, as I kick the gun away from him. Damon and Jasper move in, weapons still trained on him, but he’s not fighting anymore. He’s just standing there, swaying, looking lost.
“Well?” Damon asks, glancing at me. “What do you want to do with him?”
I look at Alfred—really look at him. This man who terrorized me, who hurt Bailey, who destroyed countless lives. The rage I’ve been holding back finally breaks free.
“You know what?” I say, my voice low and dangerous. “Before we lock him up, I think he needs to understand what he put people through.”
Damon’s eyes light up with dark understanding. “I like where this is going.”
Alfred tries to back away but there’s nowhere to go. “Leon, please. I’m your father?—”
“No.” I cut him off. “A father protects his child. You’re nothing but a predator who shares my DNA.”
