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“I don’t have time for this,” I shook my head, then looked around the room for something to keep the door open to retrieve the gun lying on the opposite side of the building. Ghost would walk through that door any second.
“No, listen to me,” she cried, following my erratic pacing. “I got clean, baby. And once I got clean, I could finally think clearly! You can’t do this, Oliver! If by some miracle, you made it out of here alive, it’s not over. He pla
I whipped around. Time was ticking, the rage was building, and my hand shook as I vigorously tapped the side of my head. “You don’t think I fucking know that?”
“No, you don’t know everything!” she cried out.
“I have two seconds before they get here, and you had twenty fucking years to make it up to me!” I whisper-shouted inches from her face, my teeth clenching.
Mum’s shoulders sank, and she wiped her tears with the back of her hand. “Let me do this for you. After everything I’ve put you through, let me be a mum for once. Let me do this.”
“No,” I shook my head, vision blurring as I took off my boot to wedge in the backdoor. “they’ll kill you. I’ve already accepted my fate.” I whipped around and reached for the back door.
“It was Dex who ordered Leigh to kill Mia to make sure you’d go through with this.”
I paused and turned around.
That couldn’t be right. I’d known girls like Leigh before. “No, Leigh was jealous of Mia.”
“No, Oliver. Leigh would’ve done anything for Dex. She would’ve done anything to feel a part of something, to feel a part of a family. Who knows if Dex would ever leave Mia alone. And you can’t do this, Oliver. Mia needs you. The baby will need you.”
I froze.
My lungs froze.
My chest froze.
I couldn’t think.
“What?” I whispered, my head slowly shaking and my eyes squinting, unsure if I heard her right. I couldn’t have heard her correctly, but my heart must have. Hard and heavy hits slammed inside my chest, an extra skip than before.
It was loud and eternal, Ba-dub. Ba-dub. Ba-dub …
“Mia’s pregnant,” she blurted, and tears froze in my eyes. “I saw her four weeks ago. She had that glow about her, one only a mum could see. I’ll never forget that look in her eyes, Oliver. If you do this, you’re not only risking Mia’s life. You’ll risk your babies too. Who knows what Dex would do once you’re dead.”
As soon as she said that, the door opened, and everything that followed seemed to happen so fast in slow motion.
A tall man in a suit took one step into the room when Mum pulled a gun from under her skirt, pointed it at his head, and pulled the trigger. A thunderous Bang! pierced my eardrums as the man collapsed to the ground. A ringing ruptured in my ears, my hearing temporarily impaired, and my eyes darted around when Mum’s lips moved, “RUN!”
Two men launched forward over Ghost’s body, and I turned and ran for the exit as another shot rang out, whistling past me.
I’d made it through the door, the cold wind slammed against my face, turning my tears to ice when Adrian’s Civic pulled up with the window rolled down. “Get in,” he shouted, and I quickly rounded the car and slid in just when open gunfire blasted from inside the building, one right after the other, each one ripping my heart to shreds knowing Mum was inside.
I’d left her there.
Mum was dead, and I’d left her there.
My palms pressed against my ears as I screamed out, and Adrian peeled out, tires sliding and asphalt spraying.
What have I done?
I pounded over the dashboard, my anger ripping through me.
“Mia needs you. The baby needs you,” Mum’s paralyzing words replayed, and I ran my palms up and down my heated face as Adrian sped through the alleyway, but the fury only fueled the malicious thoughts pulsing inside my head.
I shoved my hand into my pocket and pulled out Mia’s Christmas gift, creasing the paper over and over with trembling hands in a rage-filled daze.
It would never be fucking over. My family would never be safe.
Not as long as Dex was alive.
“Adrian,” I fumed, and cocked my head to face him. “Take me to Dex.”