Chapter 22
“You expect me to do what? Kill him?” Liz asks, looking down at the gun in her possession. She shifts slightly under the weight of him pressing against her. Riley reaches up, moving a stray curl out of her face and tucking in gently behind her ear.
“When I lost my family, all I could think about was finding the men who murdered them. I know you’ve thought the same, you’re too much of a fighter to not think about ending him.
” He takes a breath, trying to figure out how to make her understand he knows what she’s going through.
“Everyone told me it wouldn’t bring them back.
That their lives weren’t mine to take, and if I did, I would just have the weight of murder on top of the weight of losing my family.
They were wrong. Taking a life stays with you forever.
Knowing those men will never be able to hurt another person makes me carry that weight with pride,” he says, the pain on his face visible, even with the mask covering most of it.
“So, what? Am I supposed to just strut over and put a bullet between his eyes? What happens after that, Ry? You are literally in the military, basically a super cop. I kill him and you lock me up for murder. If you don’t, one of your friends will,” Liz says, a slight tremble to her voice.
Riley takes a step back, freeing her from the truck.
“You think I would bring you all the way out here, risk everything, just to throw you in jail?”
Liz doesn’t know what to say to that. Never in her wildest dreams did she think he would be delivering her brother on a silver platter, offering her the revenge she has always dreamed about.
“Look, princess, you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. You can get back in the truck and wait, one of the guys can drive you back, hell, you can keep walking into the desert if you really need to, but he isn’t leaving here alive.”
Liz doesn’t know how long she spends pacing around the truck, thoughts racing about what she is going to do.
She thinks about everything that can go wrong, what will happen if Riley is lying about turning her in.
She thinks about the new members of his team she met, wondering if they will turn her in if he doesn’t.
Riley watches her, his eyes following every little move she makes. She stops dead in her tracks, turning to go back over to Riley, who’s now leaning on his truck, arms crossed, waiting for her to collect herself.
Liz simply nods her head at him and he pushes off, meeting her at the front of the truck.
They walk back, side by side. She looks over at her brother, blood dribbling from his nose, pooling in the sand.
One eye is already bruised and swollen shut.
She follows Riley’s lead and stops when he does.
He leans in close and shows her where she should stand to get a clean shot.
Her brother looks over to where they are standing. As soon as he sees the gun in her hand, his screaming starts again.
“YOU LITTLE FUCKING WHORE!” he screams at her, blood flying from his mouth with every word. “I’M GOING TO MAKE WHAT I USED TO DO LOOK LIKE A FUCKING GAME WE PLAYED AS KIDS!”
“Someone shut him the fuck up,” Mikey says walking over to the van and rifling around in the back. Alex walks over with a ball of something, intending to shove it in his mouth but her brother continues his screaming.
“HE’S COMING FOR YOU ELIZABETH!” he screams, knowing she always hated it when her family used her full name, just another way to try and hurt her before the end.
“HE KNOWS WHERE YOU ARE. I MADE SURE HE WILL COME FOR YOU IF I’M GONE.
DMITRI WILL ALWAYS FIN—” He’s cut off by Alex shoving the gag into his mouth.
Mikey emerges from the van, a roll of gray tape in hand.
He proceeds to wrap it around his head too many times, making sure her brother’s mouth isn’t able to move again.
Mikey looks to where Liz and Riley stand, Liz shaking and Riley fighting his instincts.
He wants nothing more than to leave her side and take her brother’s life with his bare hands.
Mikey jogs over, needing to figure out what the hell is happening and check on Liz. “You alright, darlin?” he asks, pulling her into a tight hug.
Liz shakes her head no against his chest before pulling away from him.
“They told you this wasn’t a good idea, man,” Mikey says to Riley.
Liz turns to him, meeting his big blue eyes full of worry for her.
“I’ll be okay sweetie,” she says, flashing him a sad smile before turning back and looking at her brother, nothing but pure, uncontrollable rage in her eyes at the sight of him.
“I have to do this,” she says, voice low and raw. “For them.”
Liz walks to where Riley showed her. Hands trembling, ever so slowly, she raises the gun and aims it at her brother.