“Move on from it, Mack. I didn’t know you were together. It didn’t matter anyway. She had to die.” She had to die? Who was she?
“You made me kill her, Lorenzo. You made me kill the woman I loved. I pleaded with you to let her live, and you still made me pull the trigger,” Mack screams, and I feel the gun at the back of my head again as he pushes it against my scalp hard.
For a small moment, I allow myself to feel sorry for him, I let myself see a man he used to be, and a tiny shred of me understands his pain. Understands the pain Enzo caused him. Mack wants revenge just like the rest of us, but instead of going for the man who caused it, he came for me, someone who’s never done anything to him.
We all have a path to choose. He chose the wrong one.
“Love is weakness, Mack. You and I both know it,” Enzo spits.
“If that’s true, then kill her. If she means nothing to you, kill her. An eye for an eye, as you always say.” Mack quotes Enzo as if he memorized the very saying. I look up at the man before me, the dark shell of who he truly is on full display.
Dark whiskey-colored eyes connect with my own as his gun comes into view. He isn’t really going to kill me, is he? His eyes say he is sorry, but his body says he isn’t. Killing me is a duty that needs to be done.
“I guess you’re right.” Enzo shrugs. “I’ll kill her, and then we can finally go back to business as usual?”
While he is talking, I slowly inch my hand to my boot, sliding my fingertips into the side and grab the blade. I pull it out ever so slowly, hoping, praying that Mack is too distracted to notice. It’s heavy, and if I land it perfectly, it will kill him.
One chance, that’s all I have. A small smile plays across my lips as I wait for Mack to speak.
“Business, yes. As usual? No. You have everything I ever wanted, and you refuse to pay respect to those who helped you get where you are. I want my piece of the pie. I did what I could. Then this bitch got in the way and fucked everything up. You say love is weakness, but when I watched you look at her, I saw the same look I used to give Delilah in your eyes.”
The words leaving his mouth are both vile and full of anger. I hate Mack just as much as Enzo does, but right now, listening to those words, I feel for him. I know what happened between him and Delilah was tragic. I know it turned him into a monster the same way the death of Enzo’s mother did for Enzo. The only difference is Enzo has me. I can save him, but there is no saving Mack. He’s broken beyond repair.
You can only be broken for so long before it gets to you—before the hate and guilt you carry around eats away at you. You couldn’t care less about being alone for the rest of your life because nothing matters to you. That’s what happened to him, and I could feel it happening to me.
Blood pumps through my veins rapidly, echoing in my ears. Everything around me becomes white noise. The only thing I can hear is my own shallow breathing. My hands feel like they are being weighed down by bricks as a thin layer of sweat forms on them.
This isn’t fear. No, it’s preparation for war. For death. I’m anxious but also ready. Ready to deliver the monster behind me to a place where maybe he can find his own peace.
My teeth clench together as I ready myself for the final blow—the savage desire to kill pushing me to madness. The need for blood is overwhelming, erasing the fear of the gun pointed at the back of my head.
Everything happens in slow motion. I clench my fist, my nails digging into the soft flesh. With precision I didn’t even know I possessed, I spin around and land my fist hard on his balls. A rush of air leaves his chest as he bends over, the creases of his face filling with rage.
Without even thinking, I plunge the knife upward. My muscles tense as I jam the blade into his left eye. His scream makes my ears ring, and I already know I will never forget the sound… so full of pain and suffering.
A gun goes off. The deafening sound ringing out in the warehouse. A second shot follows then a third. Gunfire surrounds us, but all I can feel, see, and think about is the blade in my hand.