Chapter 17
Lily
A s the muzzle of the firearm bore into the side of my temple, every single day leading up to this moment flashed through my head like a story reel. There was a time in my life, before I had the good sense to know better, when I wanted my father's love. Those days were so long ago, I forgot they even existed.
I thought about my mother, when she was vibrant, before I knew she was struggling. Man, I couldn't believe I thought she was old then. But to a seven-year-old, everyone is old. She was still young though, even if she was almost forty. I wondered what her life was like before she met the monster of a man she was crazy enough to marry. Or who she was before she had us, me and my brother. I even shed a tear for that asshole. Guess I'd be meeting him again soon.
And Eric. Oh, how much time I wasted being mad at him. We could've had so many years together. I could've met his friends earlier. I would have avoided the car crash that was Marco. Instead, all we got were a few good months together, and that was it.
If I could pause this moment and reverse time, I would've called him, reached out to him on social media and asked him why he left. I would've professed my love, no matter how embarrassing it would've been for me since he ran after our first kiss. I wouldn't have spent years hating that I loved him.
My belly dropped to my knees with a thud as I thought about the wedding I never knew I wanted until the past couple of months. The wedding I'd never have. A ridiculous ceremony where I married four men at once.
I cursed myself for sending them away, and for refusing Ethan's offer. Of course it was insane for me to subject them all to living with me in that tiny house. I wasn't sure how serious I was about all of them or how possible it was for us to last longer than a good time. I didn't want to rush into anything. I thought I had all the time in the world to make a decision.
I was wrong. Bad decisions had led me here and I could kick myself. Couldn't I ever do anything right?
"Your girl made a deadly mistake," he said over my head.
My heart turned over and I waited to hear their voices. Nothing.
"Guys? I love you so much!" I screamed my last words.
"Shut up bitch!" He slammed me one with the butt of his gun and stars began to dance before my eyes. "They can't hear you and you're interrupting my flow," he grumbled.
I was baffled by the fact that my life was in the hands of this idiot, that his pea brain could organize this. It was even harder for me to think that Terry's single brain cell could come up with all of this, but he didn't need a brain cell to be ruthless. He'd always been a no good, piece of shit person. Man, I hated him.
That inner child that craved her father's love had been more than just disappointed once again. Where even was he, anyway?
"As I was saying..." The idiot pressing the gun against my skull continued. "Your girl thought it would be fun to play games."
The click of the safety being released from the handgun vibrated against my skin, and it was like a switch, pulling me from disdain, back into terror. Squeezing my eyes shut, I took a breath.
He kept talking and that breath rushed out of me, for now. "She went and blabbed her mouth off, didn't she? So, now there's been a change of plan. Your precious little whore is as good as dead." He spat and wet, raw, warm slobber slapped me in the face, adding insult to injury.
At this point, I was begging for him to pull the trigger, already, just so I could escape the cringe of his voice, the stink of his mouth. But my men, my mother...
"So, I've upped the stakes. If you want to see your bitch again, I'm going to need one hundred million dollars tonight," he said.
I almost said, 'what the fuck?!' out loud. Who the hell did he think he was? I couldn't even imagine that amount of money, and he just came up with it off the top of his head. If he wanted some actual money for his troubles, he should have aimed lower.
He was right about one thing though. I was as good as dead, because there was no way. No matter how much I hoped my men loved me, and despite how rich they were, there was no way they were going to have one hundred million dollars just lying around.
"You might as well kill me now," I said, with nothing left to lose.
"What?" He stumbled over a gasp.
"There's no way you're going to get that money. So you might as well end it now." He walked around to stand in front of me.
My body was existing without meaning or soul at the moment. I was a dead woman talking.
"I mean, what a huge waste of time!" I scowled. "All of this for nothing. You could've gone about your merry way, ignored the temptation of Terry Thornbread's stupid ideas, and you could've left me the hell alone, for free! I mean, you're doing this for free anyway, aren't you?"
He panted, his face twisted up in all kinds of ways as he raised his gun at me. "Shut the fuck up!"
"Why? You're just going to kill me anyway, aren't you? Why waste my final chance at free will? I think I'll exercise the right to keep speaking if you don't mind," I said.
"You think this is fucking funny?" He raised his hand to hit me in time for a white stream of light to flicker near us. We both jerked our heads toward it. Wind slapping blades echoed above us. Was that a helicopter?
"Fuck!" He grabbed me by the arm. "We have to move!"