Page 57 of Cruel Charming Psychos (Necessary Evils 2)

The shorter man approaches and rips off the tape at the corner. “It appears you have something to say.”

Emily gasps for air before raising her head to meet his gaze. “I promise I won’t say anything. I just don’t want to die.”

“Time will tell.” The shorter man places the tape back over her mouth and presses it down to seal it tightly. “What do you think, Ethan?”

The taller man, Ethan, arches his back and lets out an aggravated scream. “Are you fucking kidding me?” He wags the gun at me. “Why the fuck would you tell her my name, Jason?”

“You just told her mine!”

“Exactly because if I go down for this, you’re going down with me.”

I look over to Nick while the two brothers continue to argue. His mouth is taped shut too, but there’s more emotion in his eyes. He shakes his head gently from side to side and I know exactly what he’s saying.

Ethan clears his throat and looks back to me. “Here’s the thing. This has gotten completely out of hand and unfortunately, I’ve made some promises that I’m unable to keep. The problem is that you have all seen my face and now you know my name, so I can’t let you walk out of here.”

I drop the duffel from my shoulder and kick it over to Ethan. “All the money you asked for, it’s in there. Now, count it if you wish, but I’m going to tell you something else. I killed their brother in cold blood. Emily almost killed my mother when she burned my house to the ground and I’m pretty sure Nick has tried to kill me too. Nobody in this room is innocent, but the real enemies are their parents. The only way we will get justice is if everyone here walks away and pretends as if it never happened. Since you have their mouths taped shut, they can’t promise you these same things but I’m speaking for them.”

Ethan drops his arm to his side, the gun smacking against his thigh. He arches a brow. “That is some fucked-up family drama. Please tell me more.”

“I faked a pregnancy to get close enough to Nick to destroy his family.”

“That’s really fucked up but unfortunately, I was being sarcastic.” He aims the gun at me once more. “I do not care. Your crimes do not affect me, and they certainly don’t protect me. Maybe it’s not the law I’m worried about. I’m not stupid. I know how powerful this family is. I’ve heard stories about Senor Callaway having his enemies whacked.” He approaches me and whispers in my ear. “I’m not getting whacked.” He shifts the gun to his other hand and points it at Nick first, “First I’m going to shoot him in the head and then…” He moves his aim to Emily, who squints her eyes closed, “I’m going to kill her and after you’ve watched them suffer, I might have a little fun with you before killing you too.”

“You’re right,” I lean forward and whisper to him.

He chose a very poor choice of words considering what I’ve learned today.

I reach for the gun in my waistband and shoot him in the head.

Jason, across the room, raises his gun but he’s too late.

I pull the trigger again, missing his head but hitting him in the chest. He stumbles backwards as he fires one shot, and then another.

I empty my clip into his chest. He falls to the ground, his legs kicked out beneath him. Dead. It didn’t have to be this way. I gave them a way out. Obviously, there wasn’t a million dollars in the bag. Probably closer to fifty thousand, but fifty thousand is better than being dead.

Choices, in life, we all make them. Good and bad, I’ve made my share of both, but mostly the latter. I breathe a quick sigh of relief before rushing to Emily and unbinding her first. I gently remove the tape from her lips as she stands and throws her arms around me, embracing me like the sister I used to have, the sister I always wanted.

Nick groans from underneath the tape on his mouth, clearly impatient to be freed but I can’t let go of Emily, not just yet. A part of me wants to be honest with her, the way I haven’t always been. The other part of me wants to protect her by keeping her father’s perversions a secret. One way or the other, karma is about to bite him in the ass.

I turn to Nick and rip the tape off his mouth.

“Damn,” he grinds out. “Why weren’t you gentle with me the way you were with her?”

I can’t help but to smile a little. “Because I know you like pain.”

“I did not need to hear that,” Emily scoffs as she frees his limbs from behind.

He’s shaking as he stands, holding onto me for support. “We can’t stay here for long. Gunshots at five in the morning? The police will be here any minute.”

“I know, and that’s why I need you to trust me,” I say.

I retrieve the phones of the two men and stuff them into the duffel. I sling the bag over my shoulder before leading Nick and Emily upstairs and into the kitchen. I grab rubber gloves for each of us and hand them out and then explain the plan as we carefully pull them over our hands.

It’s total catharsis as we grab as many liquor bottles as we can, tossing them against the counters, walls, and floors. The sound of shattering glass is like a bittersweet symphony of rage and poetic justice. When the bar is adequately primed, Nick and Emily head out the front door while I stand in the entryway.

I take one last good look at the bar I grew up in. Burning this place to the ground is like closing the door on the only part of my past that ever made me happy. I will forever relish the memories of my father, but this is exactly what he would want. He’s the angel on my shoulder telling me that it’s okay to raze everything to the ground because that’s the only way a phoenix emerges from the ashes. I flick open the lighter, spin the spark wheel and toss the lit fuse behind the bar.

We watch the fire engulf the building from the pier, embers burning into the last remnants of the night sky as the sun rises over the horizon behind us. Sirens scream in the distance, growing closer and closer.

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