33. Desperation is an Interesting Bitch
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
DESPERATION IS AN INTERESTING BITCH
Payne
We both lurch toward the weapon at the same time. Dad is on the ground and closer. I dive past him and land on the asphalt with a humph.
I grab the gun a split second before him, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t get a hand on it.
He does.
With his grip over mine, he tries to wrench it away. He slams himself on my back and rolls.
“I’ll kill you for what you did,” he growls. “You don’t deserve anything. Especially my name.”
He tries to wrench the handgun toward me, but I’m on top of him. I might be bigger and stronger, but desperation is an interesting bitch. With all his might, Dad strains to turn it on me.
I lift my other arm and try to elbow him in the side while I focus on the pistol.
He gets his finger on the trigger and discharges two quick rounds that ricochet off the side of the mountain.
I put my other hand on the firearm and pull it up to point in the air at the same time I lift my head and slam it back into his.
That was enough of a shock. His grasp loosens a touch, but it’s all I need. I yank the gun from his hand and roll. He tries to stay with me, but he can’t keep up.
I climb to my feet as fast as I can and back away. I train it on him where he’s struggling to get up when flashing lights round the bend and reflect off everything around us. I don’t take my eyes off Dad.
He looks from the flashing lights to me. “You don’t have a shred of loyalty in you. You’re a pathetic excuse for a son.”
I shake my head. “You’re a wretched excuse of a human. My goal in life is to be everything you’re not. I’ve hated you since I was old enough to know I could. You’ll never hurt the people I love again.”
Dad looks from me to the weapon and back to me again. His age shows as he pulls himself to his feet. “You might hate me, but I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to make your life fucking miserable for ruining mine.”
I shake my head. “You’ll never have that kind of power over me again.”
He stumbles to his feet. “What, are you going to kill me? You don’t have the balls. I’m not going anywhere. And I’m going to fight for what you took from me. I’ll get it all back and ruin you in the process.”
“Feel free to dig your own grave or find your way back to prison. I have faith those are the only things you’ll succeed in.”
Dad squints into the flashing lights that are shining from behind me. He shakes his head and mutters, “No way. I’ll never go back.”
Tires screech to a halt. I hear Dean yell through the dark night as he runs our way. “Police! Put your hands up, Owen. It’s over.”
Dad moves, but not to put his hands up.
I tense when I see him reach into the deep pocket of his cargos. He pulls out another gun, a smaller one.
Dean yells from behind me. “Payne!”
I don’t need the warning.
Dad hardly has a chance to raise his arm. This is the easiest decision I’ve ever made other than to love Ruby.
I pull the trigger once.
The micro pistol he was hiding hits the ground before he does. His eyes widen.
He looks from me to his chest before he falls to his knees.
Then to his face.
Dean comes to a stop beside me as we both stare at my father. Blood seeps from him onto the cold, hard road. Neither of us says a word. The only things I can hear are Dean’s breaths from running and my heart beating in my ears like a gong.
Finally, Dean speaks. “Fuck.”
“Yeah. Fuck.”
Dean’s police radio crackles and someone from the station hits him up. “Dude, Dean, you there?”
Dean doesn’t answer the dispatcher and turns to me. “You okay?”
“If I say that I’m more than fine, are you going to put that in your report?”
He shakes his head. “Self-defense. I was witness to it. That’s the only thing going in my report.”
The dispatcher has no patience. “Dude! Where the hell are you?”
Dean puts his comm to his mouth. “I radioed in that I was on my way to an accident on the highway going north out of town. We’re at mile marker eleven. I’ve got one gunshot victim—fatal. I need backup. Lots of it. This is a mess.”
“So you’re saying that’s under control?” he asks. “Because I just got another call that is very not under control.”
Dean frowns. “What else is going on?”
“I had to stop taking calls to call you. Shots were fired, man—at the fancy-ass manor. Both inside and out.”
Even after what just happened, nothing has raised a panic in me like this. “Ruby.”
Dean keeps talking as he starts back to his cruiser. “I was just there. What the hell happened?”
The kid goes on. “Gunshots and a kidnapping.”
“Fuck.” I’m in an all-out run.
I don’t need to listen to the rest. I have a sinking feeling I know.
The dispatcher confirms it. “Units are almost to your fatality. They’ll take care of that. You need to get to the manor. They took the singer. She’s gone.”
Dean and I enter through the front doors of the manor.
It’s chaos.
Devon is standing in the middle of the atrium with his cell to his ear. He’s talking while directing panicked guests. But the real surprise is who’s standing next to him.
Brand Vitale and Art Ramos.
Brand and Art move as soon as they see me. I don’t ask what they’re doing here or how they knew to come. I don’t give a shit.
“This is Enzo, isn’t it?” I demand. “Where’s Ruby?”
Brand puts up a hand. “I don’t know. No one knows. We’ve got men looking for them. Donnelly’s working on it too. He seems to be connected in ways that’re impressive.”
I drag a hand through my hair and look between them. “You knew he was here and didn’t tell me?”
Art stops me. “We didn’t know he was here.
We got a tip he was headed west. Then about an hour ago, one of our men who has an in with the Carusos in New York said that Enzo made a call to a friend he thought he could trust. We had no idea this would happen.
When we got that call, we headed this way. ”
“Fuck!” I can’t think about losing her. It can’t happen again. I force my brain to move forward. “Wait. That means we have a number. We need to—”
Brand interrupts me. “We do. Donnelly is already on it.”
I turn to Dean. He’s standing by Devon who’s mid-conversation on the phone. “I need access to that feed, Bella. One of my employees has been abducted and shots were fired. I want that fucker in prison—or worse.” He pauses. “Let me put you on speaker.”
A woman with an accent as English as Devon’s is all business. “Ozzy sent you a link. Did you get it?”
Devon’s fingers work fast on his screen. “Got it. He’s outside of town and halfway up the trails. What a bloody fuckwit. He’s driving a Mercedes.”
“We’re trying to get sights on him through the satellite,” Bella goes on. “The trees are thick which makes it difficult since he turned his lights off. Ozzy is switching to thermal radiation.”
I turn to Devon. “You’re coming with us in Dean’s cruiser. Let’s go.”
Brand and Art move too. “We’ll follow.”
I can’t think about Enzo putting his hands on her ... or worse.
Hang on, baby. I’ll get you back.