The sound of a car door slamming shut instantly wakes me.
I get up and quickly grab my pants and put them on.
“LIAM!”
That voice …
My blood begins to boil.
Luca.
I march to the front door and throw it open as I fish my knife from my pocket. My own blood still stains the blade, but there’s no time to stop and clean it.
Because when I step outside, he’s right there, pointing a gun at my head.
“So you are alive after all,” Luca says.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I growl. “Get the fuck off my property.”
“You’ve got some fucking nerve,” Luca spits back.
I tread closer, eyeballing Jasmine’s gun that’s still on the ground to my left. Luca hasn’t spotted it yet, but if I don’t act fast, he definitely will, and I need to get the upper hand before this conflict gets out of hand.
“First, you try to kill my wife, and now you try to kill her sister?” Luca roars.
Suddenly, Jasmine runs out of the front door too, clothed in only a bathrobe she must’ve found. Fuck. I should’ve locked the door.
“I’m not dead!” she yells at Luca. “What the hell are you doing?!”
Luca continues to approach, still keeping the gun pointed at my head while his eyes are on Jasmine. “Jas, run. Now.”
She shakes her head, confused as to what’s going on.
“I’m not saying this again. RUN!” Luca growls. “I’ll deal with him.”
When she doesn’t budge, he tries to grab her arm.
“The fuck you won’t,” I roar, and I make a sprint for the gun still hidden underneath the leaves, pointing it at his head the second he’s got his hand on her. “Get your hands off her.”
“You stole her, and now you think you get to keep her?” Luca scoffs. “Not a chance.”
“He didn’t steal me,” Jasmine interjects.
I pull the safety off the gun and hold the trigger. “I don’t fucking want to shoot my own damn brother, but I will if you don’t let her go.”
“LUCA!”
The shrill voice from up ahead draws my attention like a siren.
Because I’d recognize it anywhere.
Jill.
And the urge to kill is so strong I almost fire a bullet right then and there.
“Don’t you fucking think about it!” Luca roars at me.
Jill appears from behind a tree farther up.