Chapter 54 Evelyn
FIFTY-FOUR
EVELYN
I’d had enough talking. Ricci was a piece of shit and trying to get anything out of him would get us nowhere. Quickly I glanced over at Badger then grabbed the handgun out of its holster at the waistband of my cargo pants and aimed it at Ricci’s chest.
“Oh, this is comical.” Ricci laughed. “There’s no way you have the stomach to shoot me. What was it your mother always said?” He paused and looked up as if he were deep in thought. “Oh, that’s right, ‘stay in the shadows.’ So why don’t you go and do that? Eh?”
Before he could continue, I pulled the trigger.
The sound of the shot echoed in the small room as the bullet landed right through his trachea.
His body jerked from the impact. Ricci began choking as blood flooded the bullet wound.
“I’m done listening to you run your mouth. That’s for my mother!” I screamed.
I whipped out my knife that was sheathed inside my waistline and stabbed him in the stomach. “And this,” I pushed the knife further into Ricci’s abdomen, “is for Aaron.”
I removed the knife and wiped the blood-covered blade on my pants.
Stepping to the side, I let Badger give the final blow.
She aimed her gun and fired. The fatal shot hit his heart.
“And that is for Lily. And anyone who has been hurt by or because of you.” Smoke filtered out the barrel of the gun as she slowly lowered her arm to her side.
And just like that, Anthony Ricci was dead.
I thought I would feel some sort of sense of closure with Ricci dead. Instead, I was met with numbness. Badger didn’t say a word before leaving the room. I stood staring at Ricci’s lifeless body and continued to do so as Chief, Buddha, Machine, and Kade worked on clean-up.
Nausea barreled into me at a speed so fast that I almost didn’t make it to the trash. I heaved until I was left gasping into the can. A firm hand rubbed my back. “You okay?” Buddha asked behind me.
I gave him a thumbs-up before bracing my hands on my thighs. “Yeah, I’m goo-od,” I gasped out.
A water bottle with the cap off came into my line of vision.
“Drink.” The sound of Kade’s voice sent a shiver down my spine.
One simple command made me feel weak in the knees.
I grabbed the bottle with a shaky hand and did as I was told.
The cool water soothed the sting of the acid that coated my throat.
I refused to meet Kade’s gaze when I said thank you. Buddha kissed my temple before walking through the entryway of the interrogation room. “Evie, text me when you get home, please. I need to help Z with some final arrangements for Aaron’s funeral.”
I gave him a quick nod.
“I mean it, E,” he barked, pointing at me, “if I don’t hear from you, I will put the Hive and the rest of our team on your ass.”
That made me laugh before I began to cough. I put my hands up in surrender. “Okay, okay, I’ll text you,” I choked out.
Chief dismissed us. “Let the professionals handle the trash.”
There was no celebration of our victory.
No sense of closure. Just nothingness. Seven years of work had ended in a blink of an eye.
Regardless of my sister being MIA, there was no sign of a further threat.
A sense of dread took over. Who was I without my mission?
Who was I if I wasn’t trying to take down Satan himself?