Page 86 of Fight Me Daddy

"Stay here. The closer to the ground you are the better." He stopped to return fire before he panted. "I should have known better."

"Known better about what?"

He didn't answer me as he stood up and ran for the shed in the back. My heart wouldn't stop pounding. The world around me was muffled like I was underwater. But the one thing I could hear, the one thing I concentrated on, was the crackling behind me. I glanced back and saw the flames that now burned even brighter as they consumed my house. Everything I owned was being taken away and I was lying on the ground. Like a coward.

Gabriele stumbled back into view. He took a punch to the face before he kicked the man in the stomach. As they fought a flicker of movement caught my eye. I glanced to the right and there was another goddamn Russian. He raised a gun and leveled it at Gabriele.

I'm not going to lose him too.

I jumped to my feet and ran for the man who was too focused on Gabriele to even notice me. When he finally did, he tried to swing the gun in my direction, but it was too late. I slammed my shoulder into his body and he grunted as he went down hard. But I didn't stop. I climbed on top of him, my fists so tight they would have hurt if I could feel anything but the raging inferno in my belly.

My fist connected with his face and his head bounced off of the pavement. I took his wrist and slammed it down once, twice, three times until I heard the cracking of bones and he yelled as the gun fell out of his hand. I threw it away from me and punched him in the face again.

The heavy sound of blows became wet. His face was covered in blood and I knew deep down I'd split my knuckles on his teeth. But I didn't stop. He reached out, his hand around my throat as his nails clawed at my face and neck desperately.

"Fuck you!" I screamed.

Every hit filled me with something I'd never felt before. This wasn't the same as standing in the ring and fighting an opponent. And it wasn't like being in the underground fights and knowing that you might die. No, this was something completely different. It was pure rage filled with the need to see him take his last goddamn breath.

Why should I be the one to hold back when he was ready to end my life only moments before? Gabriele's words sank into me and I knew he'd been right all along. There were some people that just couldn't be saved, that needed to be put out of their misery. And this man that had taken everything from me in less than an hour was one of them.

"Calix."

I heard Gabriele's voice, but I didn't stop. The man beneath me was still struggling, still clinging to life. His nose broke under the force of my blows. A tooth slipped out of his mouth, jagged and broken. But I couldn't stop.

"Stop, Calix. Stop!" Gabriele grabbed me and tried to pull me off of him, but I wasn't done.

I turned long enough and shoved him away from me. He stared at me, his eyes wide. I looked down at the mess of a man in front of me. He dragged in a rasping breath and his face was nearly unrecognizable, but it still didn't feel like enough. When was I supposed to stop losing? Hadn't I suffered enough?

His lips moved and the switch flipped once more. I gripped his hair and slammed his head against the pavement. The sound of skull breaking against concrete was wetter than I'd thought it would be. Somewhere, someone let out a primal, guttural scream and I knew deep down that it was me as I bashed his brains over and over again. Finally, he stopped moving, not even a twitch, and the rage I'd felt began to calm.

"Calix."

A hand touched my shoulder and I jerked away. I stumbled over myself and off of the man that had been pinned underneath me. When I gazed up it was into confused, but familiar eyes. I shook and Gabriele pulled me up and into his arms.

"Hold it together," he told me urgently. "You can fall apart later, but not here." He dug his phone out of his pocket and hit a number as the sound of sirens filled the air. "Where are you? Come and- Shit. Are you serious? Fuck me!" he snapped. "Meet us on the next street over."

Gabriele hung up and took my hand. I let him drag me away as I turned back and stared at my house. Or what was left of it. The fire was upstairs, flames licking the sky as ash rained down on the yard.

"We can't stop!" Gabriele snapped. "Come on, Calix. Now!"

I turned around and followed him with the image of my home permanently burned into my brain. The sirens were closer now and pretty soon they would find dead bodies in my backyard. A car pulled up in front of us and Gabriele pushed me inside before he climbed in and slammed the door.

"Go. Ama's house." He turned to me. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fucked," I said as I stared through him. "My career, my goals...All gone. I'll never be able to fight again when they find out I'm a...a..." I stared at the blood on my hands and felt bile rise in my throat. "Jesucristo. I'm a murderer."

"No, you're not," Gabriele argued.

I focused on him. "You saw what I just did."

"And I know you had to do it," he countered as he typed away on his phone and pressed it against his ear. "Yeah, get in touch with officers Houston and Calmes. Have them clean the mess up in the backyard. No one else steps foot back there and if they do collect some names and addresses. I'll talk to them. Personally."

Gabriele put the phone down and reached out to me. I yanked away and pushed myself up against the opposite door. Killing people, bribing cops, more murder if people didn't comply; where did it end?

I had become everything that I hated.

"Pull over," I muttered as I wrapped an arm around my stomach. "Now."

"We have to-"

"Pull over!" I yelled.

Gabriele glanced into the rearview mirror and nodded. The car pulled to the side of the road and I threw my door open and stuck my head out as last night's dinner made a swift return. I trembled and finally sat back up in my seat before I closed the door.

"Are you okay?" Gabriele asked.

"No."

I laid my head against the door and closed my eyes. I was worlds away from being okay.

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