Reed
Chaos. That’s the only word for it. The gunfire had stopped, but my ears still rang, my heart still pounded like I was in the middle of it. My mind was running a thousand miles an hour, but none of it mattered. I had to find Zinnia and make sure she was okay.
“Zinnia!” My voice was raw from shouting, from breathing in dust and smoke. My hands were shaking as I pushed past debris, stepping over what I assume to be bodies. The place was wrecked, but I couldn’t focus on that.
Amid the dust and frantic search, I finallu saw her.
Slumped against the hard, concrete floor, her head tilted to the side, dark hair covering part of her face. Blood smeared her temple. My stomach turned to ice.
“Zinnia!” I was already on my knees, my hands gripping her shoulders, shaking her gently, then harder when she didn’t respond. “Come on, baby, open your eyes!”
Nothing. Panic clawed up my throat. I pressed my fingers to her neck. There was a pulse. A faint one, but a pulse nonetheless.
I forced my breathing to steady, tilting her chin up, checking for anything blocking her airway. She was breathing, but it was shallow. I tapped her face lightly, trying to get some kind of response.
“Zinnia, please. I need you to wake up.” Still nothing.
Damn it. My hands were covered in her blood, but I couldn’t tell how bad it was. I wasn’t a doctor. I just knew she needed to wake up. I couldn’t lose her.
I am still struggling to get her to breath fully when movement to my right snapped me back to reality.
Lucas. He was dragging Alex, who was limp in his arms, her hair tangled, her body lifeless. I couldn’t let him take her again, not after knowing everything he had put her through. Not on my watch.
“Lucas!” I called, my voice hoarse, but he didn’t stop. His focus was solely on escaping. All of a sudden, he froze.
I saw it before he did. The way his whole body went rigid, the subtle tremor in his shoulders.
Behind him, stood Hermine. Gun raised, her hands shaky but determined. The barrel of her gun was pressed against the back of Lucas’s head.
“Let her go,” Hermine’s voice wavered, but the authority was there.
Lucas didn’t even flinch. Instead, he let out a dark, humorless chuckle. “Go ahead,” he taunted, shifting Alex’s weight slightly in his arms. “Shoot me. Let’s see if you actually have it in you.”
Hermine didn’t move. Despite the dust, I saw the hesitation in her eyes, that tiny moment of doubt and Lucas saw it too. In a blink, he turned, swinging hard. His fist collided with the side of Hermine’s head. She crumpled instantly, hitting the ground with a sickening thud.
“Hermine!”
I wanted to move, but I couldn’t, not with Zinnia unconscious in my arms. Lucas bent down, snatching up Hermine’s gun. He didn’t hesitate. I saw the intent in his eyes before he even raised the weapon.
He was going to shoot her. I moved without thinking. A gunshot rang out. Lucas jerked back, clutching his elbow, a stragled yet painful cry leaving his lips. Blood seeped through his sleeve.
His eyes snapped to me, wild, furious. I slowly stood, my own gun still raised, the barrel still smoking.
“Reed,” he hissed, his voice dripping with venom. “You son of a-”
“Drop the gun, Lucas,” I cut him off, my voice steady, cold. “It’s over.”
Lucas let out a sharp laugh, still clutching his bleeding arm. “Over? You think this is over?” He took a step back, dragging Alex with him. His eyes flickered to the exits, calculating.
“She’s coming with me.”
“No, she’s not.”
Lucas met my gaze, something dangerous sparking behind his eyes. “You don’t get it, do you?” He took a shaky breath. “She’s my daughter. I won’t leave without her.”
“You’re out of options,” I told him, voice tight. “There’s only two ways you leave my estate, Lucas. Alive or dead.”
Lucas narrowed his eyes. “You wouldn’t.”
“Try me.”
For a second, neither of us moved. Then I spoke again, slower this time. “These are your options. Give me Roman’s address and you walk out of my estate. Resist, and I will drag your dead body out of here.”
Lucas’s jaw tightened. His fingers flexed around the gun. In that instant where his life flashed right before his eyes, all Lucas could do was think. I mean really think. He knew he was done for. I was going to kill him with or without Roman’s address and he knew that. So, why was he thinking so hard?
“The clock is ticking Lucas. What is it going to be?” He looked at me and then I saw it. That look of courage that every asshole like him try to keep up in the last minute of life.
He thought he could outsmart me, but then, before I could react, before I could pull the trigger, another gunshot. This time, Lucas dropped to the ground, clutching his knee cap. Surprised marred my face at the person who had fired. Lucas however, was left more astounded than I was knowing that it was his daughter who shot him.
“Ending your life now is the easiest way out for you. And you don’t deserve anything that comes easy. If you ever considered me your daughter, give up Roman’s hiding place before I kill you.”
“Alex. Don’t soil your hands with his blood.”
“Thanks for your concern Reed, but I need this. If I can’t torture him like he tortured me, let me at least be the one to take his miserable life.” Alex spoke to me with an authority and defiance that I never thought she had.
“Now,” shes talking to her father. She crouches to his level. She positions the gun on the kneecap where she’d just shot at, pressing the wound into the wound.
A fresh painful cry left Lucas lips. “Give me Roman’s address father. There is no need protecting him. Where is he now? You’re going to give up for your life who an asshole who doesn’t give a fuck about you?” Alex pressed. She was prying on his psychology, but it doesn’t work for a man like Lucas.
Pain works. Alex seemed to have figured that out after her father’s silence. When none of us expected it, she hot again, creating another bullet wound where she had created the first one.
“I’ll say this one more time father. Roman’s address.” It was clear at this point that Alex wasn’t bluffing.
Lucas opened his mouth to speak, barely letting out the first words when his head exploded. Hermine and I look
up to Alex who looked just as confused as we were.
“Who shot him?”
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