I have to take a long deep breath when I realize that it's just DeLuca and I facing one another.
It's surreal. I don't know whether to pinch myself because it's finally happening or scream because a part of me is petrified.
“Alyssa,” he says.
I internally shiver because hearing him say my name sounds like nails on a chalkboard. “So we meet again.”
He gives me an evil smirk. “Only much closer this time.”
“I'm not afraid of you,” I say, my voice surprisingly strong.
He puts his hand in his pocket but I point the gun toward Lou-Lou and he pauses.
Dammit, I should have done this earlier. Stupid fucker already showed his cards. “Stand by me, Lou-Lou,” I order.
“No!” DeLuca shouts. Ricardo narrows his eyes at me, but I ignore him.
Lou-Lou ignores DeLuca, stands up and walks over to me—staying true to her word. I don't miss the look DeLuca gives her. He's pissed.
I pull her in front of me. “It's safe to say that you might not want to make any sudden movements again. I specifically told you to come unarmed.”
I glare at him. “Granted, it's not a crowbar, but I swear you'll feel every second of the impact when I kill her.”
Lou-Lou's lower lip trembles and I don't know if it's an act or the truth, but either way, it makes DeLuca remove his hand from his pocket.
“You'll never get away with this,” he says.
I laugh at him. “I beg to differ.”
That's when I hear the sound of someone's footsteps and see a large shadow walking through the back entrance of the warehouse. My heart and my stomach reel when I see a gray suit come into focus and I look up into a pair of blue eyes.
Then I notice the barrel of his gun is pointed at me. “Drop the gun, Alyssa,” Ford sneers.
My 10-year old heart breaks all over again. “You gonna kill me, Ford? That's what it's come down to?”
I hate that there's a small part of me that can't kill him because he's the tie to my dad and my dad loved him.
His eyes waver and he sighs. “You know I could never do that. But I can't let you kill DeLuca, either.”
“Why not?”
“Because then how would you find out the truth, Alyssa?” DeLuca sneers behind him.
I hear a gun cock and DeLuca laughs and says, “I appreciate you volunteering to be my bodyguard, Ford.”
Ford curses under his breath and closes his eyes.
“However, I suggest you stay right where you are, special agent. There's something I've been meaning to tell Alyssa.”
Ford moves the gun toward Lou-Lou. “If you do, then I'll take out Lou-Lou.”
That's when Ricardo stands up. I breathe easy because I know he's on my side.
Or at least, I thought he was.
Ricardo cocks his gun and stands behind me. “And I'll take out Alyssa,” he says to Ford.
Over Ford's shoulder, I see DeLuca smile. “Good job, son. I'm proud of you.”
“Shit,” I mutter as Ricardo jabs the gun into my lower back.
“Sorry, Alyssa,” Ricardo says. “But I'm not letting him kill Lou-Lou.”
It's safe to say, my plan has officially gone to hell in a hand-basket. Everyone has a gun pointed at them except for fucking DeLuca. Everyone's going to die, except the one person who should. This situation is completely fucked.
DeLuca claps his hands. “Good. Now that we've got that all sorted out and everyone knows where the other stands. Alyssa, I would like your attention.”
Ford's eyes meet mine. “Don't, Alyssa. Whatever he says isn't true. You have to trust me. I love you. I have always loved you.”
Behind me, Ricardo coughs. “You are one fucked up person, Ford. And I've seen some shit, but this right here...this takes the cake.”
Against my better judgment, I look at DeLuca.
“Please, DeLuca,” Ford pleads. “I've never asked you for a single thing, other than sparing her life. If you tell her everything. It will kill her.”
“I'm counting on it,” DeLuca sneers.
I look back to Ford. “Do you or do you not work for DeLuca?”
“Technically, yes. But I didn't always. I am a member of the FBI first and foremost.”
Behind me, Ricardo says, “Yeah, he's what we like to call a flipper-flopper. You know, when it suits him.”
“Why, Ford? How could you do that after you saw what he did to my father?”
“Because I became too powerful for him to keep trying to take down,” DeLuca interjects.
Ford's face pales. “I couldn't beat DeLuca. So, I had to join him. There was no other way.”
DeLuca takes a step forward and his face hardens. “Go ahead, Alyssa. Ask him what his first job for me was.”
Ford's face contorts in pain and I feel so lightheaded white spots form in front of my eyes.
I shake my head and point my gun at him. All thoughts of Lou-Lou as my leverage forgotten. “No,” I shout. “You wouldn't do that to my dad. He was your best friend. You grew up together. He loved you. You wouldn't set him up to get killed.”
“I'm so sorry,” Ford whispers. “I had no choice.”
“There's always a choice!”
DeLuca grins and it looks so sickening I have to look away. “And what a choice it was. He obviously chose to save his own ass. He came to me, worked out a deal and gave up your dear old dad in the exchange. You know, he was the one who suggested we do it right here, too. He said your dad liked the water.” DeLuca chuckles. “He even set up the two gang members to take the fall for it. I'll admit that was brilliant.”
I look at Ford, not even trying to hold back my tears. “You're fucking sick.”
Behind me, Ricardo whispers, “Yup.”
“I won't deny that,” Ford says. “But I love you, Alyssa. You know that I do.”
I'm more certain than ever that what he felt for me wasn't love, it was some gruesome combination of guilt, fixation, and control. I look Ford right in the eyes. “No, what I know...is that you were on the phone with me when it happened. You heard me cry my heart out. You heard my screams as DeLuca took my father from me.”
I have to put my hand to my chest just to make sure my heart's still beating and it didn't physically crack into a million pieces. “You picked up that scared and destroyed little girl and held her in your arms like she was your own. You held her like you would protect her...all while knowing you did this to me. To him! How could you?”
A guttural cry rips from my throat and DeLuca laughs like it's the funniest thing in the world. “And that's not even all of it.”
“What else could there possibly be?” Lou-Lou whispers. Then she gasps.
DeLuca gives me a sinister smirk. “Alyssa? Besides your father dying, can you think of anything else that might have ruined your life?”
“Shit,” Ricardo mutters.
“You were behind the sex tape, Ford?”
He stays silent.
“Answer her, Ford.” DeLuca directs. He shakes his head.
“You tell her the truth now. It's the least you can do, you fucking scumbag,” Ricardo says, low and deadly.