For the Taking

Riley gritted his teeth as he came down the stairs and allowed David to see him.

He should have gotten Stephen out of dodge before doing this.

This was his own fucked-up mistake, and now he was paying for it.

“There, see, it wasn’t so bad.”

“Now let Stephen go,” he said.

He still held the gun.

“Drop the gun.”

“Not going to happen.”

“You really think you have any kind of leverage here? You really are fucking stupid.” David flicked his wrist and nicked Stephen’s neck, not taking out an artery but enough to make Stephen jerk.

“Just kill him, Riley. Do it.”

“You know, anyone getting a sense of déjà vu right now?” David asked.

Riley looked at Stephen. The nick David had made was leaking down his face, dripping onto the floor.

“You okay?” Riley asked. It was a sign of weakness, but he couldn’t allow Stephen to die. Not after everything he’d done for him. It wasn’t right.

“Yeah,” Stephen said. He was a mess, his face covered in bruises and blood dripping from cuts.

Riley had to get him out.

“This is so touching.” David snapped his fingers, and Riley heard the scream, the cry as one of the guards brought in Meghan.

Within seconds, the knife was gone, and David had a gun, which he aimed at her head.

Meghan had been crying.

He saw the tear tracks down her face, and anger flooded every single pore of his being at the fact she was hurting. There was a bruise on her face, a fresh one. All of the others had been close to fading.

This was new.

Anger, rage, and above all else, the need to hurt, to torture, washed over him.

“Now this reminds me of another time and place.”

“Riley, kill him,” she said.

“Now I seem to recall a certain wife of yours. You really can’t keep them in line.”

“I didn’t talk or leave the apartment, Riley. He came for me,” she said.

“Shut up.” David gripped her around the neck, silencing her.

Seeing her struggle for breath, Riley brought his weapon up, ready to take out David, but he lost his shot and his chance as he hid behind Meghan. The cowardly bastard was using her as a shield.

He couldn’t get to David unless he shot Meghan.

“Ah, this is so touching. He can’t do it.”

“Kill him, Riley,” Meghan said.

She was crying and trying to put a brave face on it.

He still held the gun, ready to take out David.

“Riley,” Stephen said. “Don’t do it.”

“You want to kill him. You want your revenge for killing his wife. Please, do this. Please. I promised you I could handle this. Please. Kill him.”

There was always a risk with shooting someone of killing them. If he missed, if he did something stupid, and shot her in the wrong place, he could kill her.

“You won’t kill me, Riley. Shoot him.”

And if he missed, and shot her in a place that killed her? She had faith in him, but he knew shit went wrong. To not be able to have her in his life anymore, to hold her, to smell her scent on his pillow, or in his arms—no, he couldn’t do it. There were a lot of things he could live without, but Meghan, she wasn’t one of them.

Slowly, he lowered the gun.

“Now, isn’t this touching? I have to say I should have known. He has a thing for weak women, and he made the wrong mistake.”

Suddenly, Meghan had a knife in her hand. It was the small pocketknife that he’d given her, and told her to use it to protect herself. It was an old thing, the first one he’d ever used. Clearly, in their race to get her to him, they didn’t check her body, just took her. She slammed the blade behind her, embedding it in David’s flesh, then ducking and giving him the perfect shot.

Riley took it. He didn’t wait around.

Two bullets.

One in his chest, the other in his stomach. He drew his gun and pointed it at the guards before stepping up to David, who was on the floor, dying. The guards didn’t do anything, simply stood there, watching, guns raised. He finished the two guards off without them getting a chance to shoot him.

Staring into his face, Riley looked the man who had taken everything for him, but in a twist of fate, he’d found so much more.

He held his gun, steady, firm, and shot a single bullet between the eyes, killing him.

Dropping the gun to the floor, he rushed toward Meghan, cupping her face. “What the fuck happened?”

“He charged into the motel room. I didn’t know he was there until it was too late. I couldn’t stop him. I’m so sorry.”

“I love you,” he said. “I fucking love you, and there’s no way I would ever let anything happen to you.”

“You love me?”

“There’s no way I will ever kill you, Meghan. I don’t know what you did, but I don’t want to die. I want to spend my life with you.”