Handing over my son was the hardest thing I’d ever had to do.
I looked into his brown eyes and saw the man I loved. I saw Andrew’s perfect skin, his little fingers and toes, and I felt like I was leaving behind a piece of myself. I hadn’t had much time with my son, and this might be the last time I got to see him.
I kissed him on the forehead before I made the transfer into Ash’s arms.
For a man with no experience with children, he handled Andrew like a pro. He held him in his arms like he was a father himself. He looked at him with affection, but then he looked at me with sadness. “I’ll take care of him.”
I would have left Andrew with my mother, but she didn’t have the resources to protect anyone. The best thing she could do was run away and save herself. As far as I knew, Maddox had never threatened or mentioned my mother, so she was probably safe. Ash was the strongest man I knew besides Hades, and if something happened to me, he was the best protector I could find. “I know you will.” I felt the tears start deep in my throat. It was so painful that I reconsidered leaving at all. Hades would want me to stay with our son and abandon him.
But I had to save them both.
Ash put him in the crib in his bedroom and turned back to me. “Are you sure you want to do this? It’s not too late to change your mind.”
“Yes…I’m sure.”
Ash opened one of the drawers and pulled out a pistol. “You know how to use this, right?”
“Well enough to kill someone.” I took the gun from his hand and put it in my pocket.
He continued to stand there as if he didn’t want me to leave. When we’d first met, he was a cold jackass, innately distrustful. But now he was warm and thoughtful, becoming soft like his brother but retaining his masculinity. “If he doesn’t meet you at the hotel, just come home and forget it.”
I couldn’t believe I wanted Maddox to hunt me down. I couldn’t believe I wanted him to follow me and provoke me in my own office. I knew he wouldn’t hurt me or touch me, but he’d want to terrify me. If that didn’t happen, I would have no other way of killing him. I certainly couldn’t hunt him down. “Alright.”
Ash pulled me into his arms and hugged me. One hand rested between my shoulder blades while the other wrapped around my waist. His build was similar to his brother’s, but his affection felt familial. He gave me a gentle squeeze before he let me go. “Be safe. And if you don’t come back…at least Andrew can help me pick up more women.”
I appreciated the joke to shatter the sorrow in the room, but I was too depressed to issue a chuckle. “Wouldn’t he make it more difficult?”
“Have you seen how cute he is?” he asked incredulously. “That kid is gonna be a babe magnet.”
A slight smile broke through on my lips. “I guess that’s true…”
He gave me a last gentle pat on the back before he walked me out. “I know you can do this. Just stay calm and squeeze that trigger. And don’t shoot him once. Shoot him until the barrel is empty.”
I knew I would never stop shooting him. I’d shoot him in my dreams…shoot him in my nightmares. His death wouldn’t erase my hatred. That would continue into his grave. “I will.”
The driver pulled up to the hotel and let me out.
It’d been six months since I’d last seen the Tuscan Rose with my own eyes. It was the place I used to work every day. My passion for it got me up every morning. It was a place where Hades and I had our clandestine meetings in a luxurious suite, the place where I married the man I loved. It held so much significance for me, especially since both my father and stepfather had bled for this place.
It was home.
I walked inside wearing a blue dress with a black leather jacket. It was almost summer, so it was warm and a jacket was conspicuous, but it went with my outfit, so hopefully it wasn’t that odd.
I entered the lobby and immediately noticed subtle changes I didn’t like. The flowers on the table were wilted, and there was dust on the surface. The crystals on the chandelier hadn’t been cleaned in months. The tile on the floor was scuffed because they’d stopped waxing. Those details weren’t important to anyone else, but they gave a sense of pride to me.
A few people recognized me and said hello, so after I made small talk, I went down the hallway into my office. It was abandoned and cold. A stack of papers was on the surface of my desk, and my laptop hadn’t been touched. There were no flowers to admire, no pictures on the desk to look at.
I sat in the leather chair and opened my laptop even though I had no work to do. I just played the part and did my time until Maddox appeared. I could only linger for a couple hours. Any longer than that would be suspicious.
If he didn’t show up, I would be relieved. But I would also be devastated.
But if he did come…I would be terrified. I’d never killed anyone before, never took a shot at anyone. I didn’t have any reservations about putting Maddox in a grave; I was just sick knowing I had to do it. It wasn’t just revenge for Hades and me.
It was freedom.
Two hours passed, and I resisted the urge to call Ash to check on my baby. I also thought about calling Hades, but the second I got him on the phone, I wouldn’t be able to lie about what I was doing. He would march down there and sabotage the whole thing. So I had to sit there…and wait.
This plan probably wasn’t going to work. Maddox was an asshole, but he had bigger fish to fry. I didn’t matter to him. He used me and tortured me… I was old news. The only person he really wanted was Hades, and now he had him.
He didn’t care about me.
I was about to throw in the towel when heavy footsteps sounded outside my door. They reminded me of Hades because the distinct thud sounded like it could come from his substantial size. It was like an animal coming around the corner.
I slowly rose to my feet and slid my hand into my right pocket. My heart was beating so frantically, at the speed of a hummingbird’s heartbeat. I perspired immediately, beads of sweat forming on my forehead and the back of my neck. My fingers found the handle of the gun and wrapped around the trigger. The metal felt hot in my hand, and I could hear the distant click as I let off the safety.
I was ready…but terrified.
I saw the shadow before the man. Then he stepped into the doorway, tall, muscular, and looking smitten with himself. His blue eyes locked on to mine, and he stepped into my office with a slight smile on his face. With his arms resting by his sides, he seemed pleased by the look of horror on my face.
I didn’t have to act scared or surprised. I’d hoped this would happen, but I was still sick to my stomach. I would never forget the way he held me down and forced himself between my legs. I would never forget those painful nights when I wished I were dead. It was so easy to portray myself as a terrified victim…because that was exactly what I was.
He stopped in front of my desk and tilted his head slightly. “It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? How are you?”
I despised his ego, despised everything about him. He assumed he’d cornered me like a brilliant villain, and he didn’t have the humility to wonder if he was wrong. Maybe he was playing me and he knew this was all a setup. But I suspected he had no idea…and he was about to pay for everything he’d done. “Things have been rough. But they’re about to get better.”
His eyebrows furrowed, and he barely had the chance to tense at my ominous threat before I squeezed that trigger as hard as I could.
The sound of the gunfire was piercing in the small room. It echoed off the walls and reverberated throughout the hotel. I could feel the gun lurch back as the bullet left the barrel. I couldn’t see my gun, so I couldn’t aim. I just had to hope I was pointing in the right direction.
And I was.
The bullet hit him right in the gut, making his body jolt when the momentum struck him in the center. He staggered back slightly, and as if he didn’t know what had just transpired, he moved his hand over his stomach and let the blood drench his skin. He looked down at his palm and rubbed his thumb and forefinger together, feeling the blood against his fingertips. He slowly looked up again, his reaction sluggish because he couldn’t process his own demise, the realization that death was slowly creeping in.
I didn’t pull the trigger again because I wanted to relish this moment. I wanted revenge for what he had done to me, but what I wanted most of all was revenge for what he had done to Hades. He’d been controlling him for months now, making him miserable. That was the inspiration for my blood lust and violence. I cared more about Hades than I cared about myself.
I pulled the trigger again.
Like last time, he staggered with the hit, moving back slightly, growing weaker by the second. When he couldn’t keep himself upright any longer, he moved to his knees on the floor and pressed his hand into his abdomen to stop the bleeding. He was in such shock, he didn’t know what to say. His sick and witty comebacks were no more.
I walked around the desk as I pulled the gun from my pocket. With a strong arm, I raised the weapon and looked down the barrel as I pointed right between his eyes. I watched with satisfaction as the fear crept into his features, as he wrestled with the painful finality of death.
He dropped his hand from his stomach and bowed his head as he gave up. He’d already lost so much blood that he couldn’t think straight any longer. His heart was beating fast, beating hard. The pulse was quickening in his ears, and the devil had begun to knock on his front door.
“This is for Hades.” I squeezed the trigger and watched his brain splatter against the opposite wall. His body fell a millisecond later, lurching backward until he was a corpse on the floor. The blood made a puddle under his body, and his skin started to turn white as death settled in. My office had been demolished by the corpse bleeding out in front of me. It was almost poetic, the way he died where he’d first cornered me years ago.
I lowered the gun and stared at him for a long time, treasuring the sight of his dead body. I was supposed to unload every bullet into his body, but I just wanted to stare…to treasure this moment as long as I could. His regime was over, and now I could get my life back.
I could get my husband back.
Other employees of the hotel came by to see the commotion, and when they saw the body, they immediately turned away, some of them throwing up because it was such a disgusting sight. People offered to call the police, but I told them I already had it taken care of.
I called Hades.
He answered after several rings, and he was in a cold mood. “What?”
He said he never wanted to talk to me again, never see me again. Only if it was important was I allowed to reach out to him. Judging by his response, he assumed this call was not important at all. “Come to the Tuscan Rose in Florence. I killed Maddox, and now I need to get rid of the body.”
There was such a pregnant pause over the line, like the calm before a storm. My words were so incredible that he probably didn’t know how to respond. And rightfully so. “Repeat what you said.”
“I killed Maddox. Meet me at the Tuscan Rose.” I couldn’t stop the smile from coming into my voice the second time I said those words. It was true… Maddox was dead. The thing keeping us apart was no longer a threat. We could finally have what we’d always wanted.
Instead of asking a million questions like he wanted to, he just obeyed my orders. “I’ll be there in ten minutes. Make sure he’s really dead.”
“Trust me. He’s gone.”
Hades burst through my office door in a t-shirt and jeans. Instead of looking at me and rushing to my side, he tilted his head down and stared at the body. He clearly needed more definitive evidence that it was really Maddox, because he grabbed a piece of paper and placed it over his hand so he could reposition Maddox’s body and get a look at what was left of his face.
He stared for a long time.
Seconds trickled by until a full minute had passed. Hades took in Maddox’s expression; his bright blue eyes were unmistakable. When he had the evidence he needed, Hades released his body and let him fall back to the floor.
He slowly rose to his feet and ran his fingers through his short hair, like he couldn’t believe that this moment was true. His greatest adversary was dead, and now he was a free man. He finally turned to me, his eyes open wide and his expression incredulous. “What the fuck happened?”
“I killed him.”
“Obviously. But how did this happen?”
I understood he was in shock, but I’d expected a different reaction. Once he’d confirmed Maddox was no more, I’d expected him to move into my arms and hug me tightly. I’d expected a deep kiss that celebrated our reunion. “I came to the hotel because I assumed he would follow me. When he walked in the door, I shot him.”
He placed his hands on his hips as he continued to stare at me in disbelief. “Just like that?”
“Yeah…just like that.”
His eyes widened. “I don’t understand…”
“I assumed if I came into the city, he would confront me…because he’s an asshole like that. He enjoyed hurting me, enjoyed scaring me. I moved to another city because I couldn’t stand being anywhere near him. I assumed he would take advantage of the fact that I was alone here. So, I had my gun in my pocket, and when he walked in, I shot him.” I pulled the gun out of my jacket pocket and clicked on the safety. I set it on top of the desk and looked at him again.
“There’s no way you thought of this on your own.”
I didn’t want to throw Ash under the bus. “Doesn’t matter. He’s dead. End of story.”
He ran his fingers through his hair again. Even though the threat had been eliminated, he still seemed stressed. He looked down at the body again before he stared at the wall, thinking a million things at once.
I slowly moved toward him then made my way into his chest. One hand cupped his cheek while the other wrapped around his neck, and I pulled his face to mine as I kissed him. I felt our bodies and souls reunite, felt our connection explode with affection and joy. All the suffering was over. We could be us again. My lips slowly moved against his, feeling a kiss I hadn’t felt in weeks.
He kissed me back hesitantly, his mouth automatically moving with mine, but that fire didn’t burn from his core. He seemed confused, like he didn’t know what was happening. He grabbed my hands and pulled them from his body as he ended our kiss.
I stilled at the rejection, hoping for a reasonable explanation for his coldness. Maybe he was disgusted by the blood and brains still on the wall. Maybe he was so relieved to be free that he didn’t know what to do.
He stepped away from me and gave me no apology. Now there were several feet between us, and it felt like miles. “I’ve got to take care of this. The police won’t do anything to you, but our relationship is a lot better if they don’t have to pretend they don’t notice anything.”
I let him walk away and get to work as I nursed my wounds. He had never pushed away from me like that before, and something felt wrong. But I reminded myself that he had been subjected to this man’s cruelty for a long time. He probably felt so many things, and he just needed time. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“No.” He pulled out his phone and made a call. “Just stay out of my way.”