107
EMERSYN
I pulled the trigger and the gun flew out of Mahoney’s hand.
He let out a high pitched shriek as his fingers shattered, and blood splattered across his torn button up.
I drilled another one immediately into his knee and stalked forward as he fell.
I pistol whipped him across the face, mostly because I felt like it, and he went all the way down.
My boot pressed on his neck and I stared at him—pathetic.
“I’d kill you right now if I didn’t think my father wanted a piece of you too,” I growled.
“You’re right about that,” a voice called out.
I looked up to see Knight and Cal jog out of the trees with Nyx, Graham and—
“Dad?”
I took my foot off Mahoney as my father strode forward, his face was lined with anger and edged with pain, but his eyes were clear and glimmered dangerously in the low light. He flicked his fingers, and Knight and Cal yanked Mahoney to his knees.
My father took in the state of Mahoney. “Is this your doing?”
I shrugged. “I had to play with him a little.”
Mahoney clutched his mangled hand against his chest. “Fucking crazy bitch,” he panted.
My father chuckled humorlessly. “Good work, Em,” he curled his fingers around the nape of my neck. “Let’s finish this at home. This man deserves our undivided attention, don’t you think?”
I smiled grimly. “Couldn’t agree more.”
Movement out of the corner of my eye caught my attention, and we both turned to see Lev with Mahoney’s discarded gun in his hand.
“Lev,” I barked.
Griffin and Seven stepped in between us, but Lev shook his head, a look of devastation in his eyes.
“I am sorry, Syn,” he called out.
He backed toward the cliff’s edge. “I thought there was no way out of it.”
My lips pressed together; I had no words for him. He’d condemned me to suffer, and I didn’t think I could ever forgive him for that.
“Put the gun down, Lev,” Griffin ordered.
Lev took another step back, and his heel brushed the edge. Chills raced across my skin at the look on his face. It was the look of a man who knew he was already dead.
“Tell Fang I love him,” Lev said.
Griffin and Seven moved quickly, but I knew they wouldn’t reach him in time. Lev brought the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger. They reached him just as his body tipped back and disappeared over the edge of the cliff.
I closed my eyes and let that part of me die with him. The part that was still caught in the shadow of abuse, and the part that had blamed myself for so many things, for so many years. Things that were simply not mine to hold.
My father put his arm around my shoulders and when I opened my eyes, I felt an overwhelming wave of finality as I met his gaze, so similar to my own.
“Let’s go home,” he said.
“Let’s go home,” I echoed.