He shakes his head with a devious grin. “You won’t kill me tonight.”
“Yes, I will.”
“You would have already killed me if you were going to tonight. You might be the death of me one day, Enzo. I don’t doubt that. I have respect for you enough to remember you were the one who killed both of my brothers. You killed our father. That’s all you do—kill. Most likely, I will die at your hands. But not tonight.”
I press the gun against his temple. He holds his hands up with a chuckle when I don’t immediately pull the trigger.
What the hell is stopping me?
I don’t care that he’s my brother. I think at one point that stopped me, but not anymore. What’s stopping me from pulling the trigger now?
“Hope,” he says.
I still. “What?”
“You have hope. Hope that your friends survived. Hope that I have answers. Hope that Kai is alive.”
He’s right; I do have hope. I was wrong about Langston. Wrong about Liesel. Am I wrong about Kai too?
I grab his throat as I pocket my gun. This is personal. He will die at my hands, but not my weapon.
“What do you know?” I ask as I strangle his throat with my hands.
His face brightens. He’s won. He knows it. This is who Felix is. A snake that plays games with my head. I should know by now not to trust him.
Which is why when he said Kai was dead, I needed to see for myself. The same with Langston and Liesel. The evidence was there, pointing to their demises. But I was wrong about Langston and Liesel.
“What are you asking, Enzo?” Felix asks, so fucking calm even though I literally hold his life in my hands.
We’ve fought before. We are an equal match. But right now, I have the upper hand. Right now, with the anger and pain flowing through me, there is nothing that could stop me from killing him if I wanted to.
“Did you lie?”
Felix’s lips curl into an evil grin. “I lie about a lot of things Enzo. Which lie are you referring to?”
I can’t believe I’m going to say these words. I know the evidence. And I can’t trust Felix. If I want to search for myself to see if Kai is alive, I need to do it. But not because of anything Felix says. I won’t ask. I don’t need to hear more lies from Felix.
Just kill him.
Felix sees the fight within me. He sees the turmoil and of course, he takes advantage.
“Kai is alive,” he says.
My heart stops.
My world stops.
Everything stops.
I’m good at reading people. Good at determining when they are telling the truth or a lie. But with Felix, it’s impossible to tell. He only shows what he wants you to see.
And right now, I know this is about survival for him. He’s giving me hope that he is the only person in the world who will be able to find Kai. He knows that will keep him alive.
Kill him.
I squeeze tighter around his neck so that he can’t breathe.
But he’s calm. Too calm. He raises an eyebrow as if to say, why am I still alive if you want me dead?