I ignored his comment. “Tonight, it’s your turn for that sweet taste of retribution.”
He finally seemed to understand. For once, he looked nervous as he gulped. “For your dad, for yourself, for us. Together.”
I nodded once. “Let’s end this, babe,” I said, not waiting for him to agree as I slipped through the entrance to the warehouse.
58
Maverick
The damp air of the warehouse clung to my skin like a second, clammy layer as I trailed behind my wife. My breath came in ragged pulls. The scent of metal and old wood permeated the atmosphere, the lighting dim.
Sophie moved with lethal grace, her steps silent. I watched the muscles in her back tense beneath her tight shirt, the slight sway of her hips hypnotizing me for a moment before the reality of what we were about to do crashed back into focus. She didn’t even glance back at me; she didn’t need to. Her confidence was my compass. It should’ve always been my compass, not my own twisted versions of some fairy-tale ending with my family.
“Ready?” Her voice was a low purr, almost lost in the cavernous room, yet it cut through my thoughts with razor-sharp precision.
“Mmhm,” I responded, the sound more reflex than conscious thought. I felt the weight of my gun pressing against my lower back, an anchor grounding me to the present.
She killed Chavez as if he was nothing, an insignificant bug squashed beneath her boot. But this… this was my family. The same blood flowed through my veins, but where was the loyalty from them? The love?Nonexistent.And it had to stop at some point.
I thought back to the countless times I’d been sidelined, the sneers and jabs that were meant to be all in good fun, or to straighten me out. They’d never seen me as their equal, just Maverick, the runt of the litter. And tonight, they’d pushed me too far, tried to snuff me out, tried to play me for a fool.
And they almost had. My wife had almost been caught in the crossfire as a result.
A surge of fury rose within me, hot and unyielding. It collided with the adrenaline pumping through my veins, creating an intoxicating combination of rage and pain. I glanced at Sophie, her silhouette outlined by the dim overhead lights that created a large circle in the center of the room, and something inside me clicked. She was the only one who saw my worth, who stood by me when everyone else would’ve watched me fall.
“Let’s end this,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper, but laden with resolve.
“End it, we shall,” Sophie replied, her tone laced with a dark promise.
Her presence was a constant flame, igniting the kindling of my wrath. With each step toward this inevitable conclusion, I felt my doubts dissipate, replaced by a sense of clarity as sharp as the edge of a knife. I could do this. For us. For the future we were carving out of the rotten wood of my past.
“Remember, love, you’re not alone,” Sophie murmured, casting a heated look over her shoulder. “You never will be again.”
The sight that greeted me broke through the fog of adrenaline—my parents and three brothers, bound and gagged, on their knees like sacrifices at the altar of retribution. My heart did a somersault—not in fear, but in awe of Sophie’s efficiency.
“D. Paulie,” I nodded to my best friends, “you’ve outdone yourselves.” My voice echoed off the walls, rebounding back to me with a sense of power I hadn’t known before. Because this? This was the ultimate power move, and it was the last one I’d make when it came to how to handle them.
“Jesus, Mav, this is what you call family time now?” Kendrick, my eldest brother—who’d wiggled his gag free—said, as if I wasn’t just sitting before him less than two hours ago while he helped orchestrate my demise.
Sophie stood behind me, her presence a silent storm of disdain as their desperate eyes flicked to her, all trying to speak around their gags. Her lips curled in distaste at their attempts to demean her around the cloths between their teeth.
“Careful, old man,” I said coolly, staring down at my father as I wrenched his gag loose. His eyes burned with a mix of hatred and fear. “You don’t get to look at my wife.”
Duane moved to remove everyone else’s gags.
“Your wife?” spat my second brother, disbelief coloring his tone. “She’s nothing but—”
“Finish that sentence, and it’ll be the last thing you say,” I warned, my possessiveness flaring within me. Their words were like gasoline, fueling the inferno of rage that was always there inside me.
“Come on, Maverick. You’ve made your point,” my mother begged.
“Point?” My laugh was hollow, echoing around us. “What point have I made? That I’m still alive despite your pathetic attempt to take me out?”
Nothing from any of them.
“Why do you always push me aside?” I growled, stepping closer to them, feeling every inch the predator they had forced me to become. “Am I not flesh and blood to you?”
Their eyes shifted, faux guilt and defiance that only soured my stomach. They had no answer for me, no justification for their betrayal. It was all there, in the silence between us, the final confirmation of where I stood. And with Sophie behind me, her quiet strength my backbone, I knew this twisted family reunion could only end one way.
