“They have radios, brother. Be ready for all angels.”
“On it.”
I heard the sound of the front door explode in and then another door and shattering of glass followed from a window close to where I was positioned.
One of Damon’s men stepped in, his gun pulled ready to spot me hiding in the great room. I was just behind him as he stepped in.
“Clear,” the dick called out.
“What the fuck?” Damon yelled out.
“Fan out, guys. Find those fucks.” His tone was like acid.
Now it was time to wait. I counted down in my head. Three, two, one.
“Jimmy, now!” We both pulled pins on the smoke bombs and threw them out into the foyer. Two each and then repeating again throwing behind us and to the side. The house was now drenched in a grey smoky darkness. We pull our breathing masks over our faces.
“Ready,” I called out.
“Fucking born ready, brother.”
“Fuck,” Damon called out. “The fuck is happening?”
“Nothing here, boss,” one guy called. “Clear over here.” I grinned.
I came out of hiding, silenced Ruger held high. One of the guards came in through the door and before he could notice me, I put a bullet in his head. His body hit the ground with a thud.
“What was that?” Damon called. “Boys report.”
“Good,” one voice said. “Good here.” “Fine.” Then there was another thud and a sick laugh. Jimmy got one and then another thud and another laugh. That leaves just three fuckers and the kingpin himself.
There was a pause as I pressed myself against the wall. No movement, the smoke was still thick spreading all through my place. Nona is going to flip her shit as this shit stinks.
“Adam?” Damon called. “You good?” No response. I grinned even larger. “Jase?” No answer.
“Patrick?” Still nothing.
“Your men are dead, you fucking scumbag,” I said into my earpiece as Jimmy laughed. “Yup, and I got a visual on this cock and I wanna shoot, boss,” he says. “Wait,” I called into my earpiece. “Be patient grasshopper.” Jimmy laughed. “Fucking quoting Pops now, are ya?”
“Always he’s a smart guy.”
“Yeah that’s cause he’s like one hundred,” Jimmy says as Damon yells out.
“Shit, someone is here.” I stepped into the foyer, crouching low, and saw two figures. One was Damon and the other was his bodyguard. I put three bullets in the guard, knocking him back and down.
“Fuck!” Damon yelled, diving away.
“Eat a dick, bitch,” I hear Jimmy yell out as a scuffle between him and another of Damon’s men. He comes flying into the foyer landing by the steps. It’s then that I see Layla standing there. He had his hands on her skin. My beautiful baby’s skin was tainted by his hands. My blood boiled. How the fuck did he get up there? How did he know she was there?
Another guard stepped out from a bedroom behind her and I shot him in the skull, his blood spraying out all over the wall. He slumped down.
“Kill him!” Layla screamed and Jimmy shot up looking at me and then her, then back to me again just as a guard shot him in the shoulder. He stumbled back hissing out in pain, raised his gun toward the man that shot him he walked forward. The guy didn’t know what to do, he had no time to think or react or even shoot. Jimmy was emptying his clip into him as he walked. The guy fell back with each shot until his body fell completely forward as Jimmy’s gun drew empty. Pulling another from his waistband he took to the steps.
“Stop, or I will fucking slice her throat from ear to fucking ear,” the guard says as Damon enters from the back of the foyer and toward Layla. The guard steps down two steps. Jimmy falls back in beside me.
“I will be taking her,” Damon says walking up to Layla. “Still a little whore I see, my darling niece.” She leans forward and spits in his face.
“Eat shit, Uncle,” she spits out.
“Micha, shoot him!” She yells but I can’t. I won’t, not while some dude has a knife to her throat and Damon has a gun pointed at her stomach.
“You should have stayed hidden, Riddler,” Damon says as his man applies more pressure to Layla’s neck, her face changing color fast.
“Brother,” Jimmy seethes.
“Wait,” I say to him my eyes never leaving Layla’s.
“Kill him, Micha. Shoot him in the head,” she half-choked out. Damon’s fingers curl around her hair as she tries to thrash out from both their touches.
“And you shouldn’t have left behind a boy with a vengeance all them years ago,” I bite out my hand moving to Jimmy’s arm, pulling him back as he was just about to rush the guard.
“Wait.”
“Ahhh, yes. That day was a wanderlust of blood and power, wasn’t it. Pity your mother couldn’t stomach the loss, not like you,” he laughs out sending a chill down my spine. I lost my fucking self at this man’s hands and now he’s joking about the death and destruction he left in his wake.
“I always have death inside my pocket,” I say to him.
“Ooo, is that another riddle, Riddler?” His eyes leave Layla’s and look at me. That’s just what I needed, his attention on me, so we can make our next move.
He points the gun at my head.
“You can try to kill me, Damon, but I won’t die. For I am death and you’re a dead-man walking,” I say as I pull my knife fast and launch it toward the guy whose grip around Layla’s neck has her turning purple, the life leaving her eyes. It lands directly in his eye. His hands drop straight away. Layla falls to her knees her hands going directly to her neck, holding it and gasping for breath to fill her burning lungs. The man drops where he stands, then starts tumbling down the stairs, dead with a knife protruding from his eye.
Damon reaches for her, but he’s not fast enough. I shoot him in his knee cap, and he falls rolling down the stairs, stopping at my feet his gun pulled on me.
“Go on, I fucking dare you to!” I yell out, my hands spread wide at my sides.
“Go on, Damon! Fucking shoot!” My tone is challenging him.
Jimmy leaps forward and manages to stop a collapsing Layla falling forward and down into the carnage, moments before her head would have spilt open on the marbled stairs.
He picks her up like a doll, she looks like a small child in his arms. Her head is lolled backward; she must have fainted from lack of air to her lungs. I hope it wasn’t the vision of me, arms spread open calling for her uncle to shoot me, welcoming death. I’m not afraid to die. I welcome it. Well, I did. That was before Layla. Now it’s all different.
“Fuck you, Walsh.” Ahhh, hearing my last name coming from his lips was magic, it gave me a power I hadn’t felt in a long time. He pulled the trigger. Click. His face slowly fell as the grin on mine got huge. Click. Click. Click. Rage blossomed over his expression, and he threw the gun at me. I dodged then reached down, grabbed his head and smashed it into the marble steps.