She tucked her phone in her apron and went back to sweeping the floor.
Axe’s return text came back.Where is she? I’ll pick her up.
Leanna texted.She’ll be at the house with my mom.
She shut off her phone, not wanting to reply to any more of his nonreplies. He hadn’t even asked her how she was doing.
Huh!
* * *
Axe took an icy shower after texting Leanna his last message.We have to talk. I miss both of you, but tonight, I’ll spend it with Soledad. Tell her I’m sorry.
She never replied, which meant she was hellfire furious.
Axe let the cold water deluge him without jumping around or shaking underneath the flow. He’d dreamed about the shooting again.
His father’s last thought was for Dom, his twin brother.
Dom, who he wanted to avenge.
He’d been dangerous and out of control, spraying bullets onto the bed. If he suspected Leanna was in the room and sleeping on the bed, then he’d meant to kill or hurt her. That was inexcusable. Unless it was Ivan who did the shooting. That had to be it.
Axe pounded his fist onto the tile surround.
Stop making excuses for him. Shooting into the room was reckless.
Had his father meant to kill Leanna to avenge Dom’s death? He had been surprised to find Axe in the room. Why?
Shit. Axe knew, and he hated himself even more, pounding his forehead against the tile.
He’d let his father believe he’d switched sides and became Veronica’s bodyguard. His father thought Leanna was fair game.
Therefore, if Leanna shot him, it was self-defense.
What was indefensible was Axe also pulling the trigger.
Axe squeezed his eyes shut and ran over the scene.
His father’s gun was pointed at him first. Then he extended his arm toward Leanna, bent his elbow…
Pow. His head blew open, and the guns dropped.
Could it be he did kill himself, and Axe and Leanna discharged their guns by reflex? Axe didn’t remember hearing the second and third shot.
But then again, he didn’t remember much of anything after his father’s head exploded. He definitely didn’t remember pulling the trigger, and Leanna said she didn’t know if she did, either.
“Dad, why’d you do it? Why?” Axe cried, turning off the cold water.
I wanted vengeance for Dom, Axe thought he could hear his father’s chilling voice.Even if it meant killing Leanna.
Axe gritted his teeth and exited the shower. “You chose your destiny, and now, I’m choosing mine.”
He dried himself, put on a pair of gray slacks, a white shirt rolled up to the elbows, and his lion-head belt buckle. He combed his hair back, shaved, touched up his cuts, and put on his sunglasses.
Right before leaving his house, he pocketed the opal ring. If Leanna had shot his father, then she was a great shot and a lifesaver. If he was the one who shot him, then it was purely by chance, and he’d saved Leanna’s life.
However, if his father shot himself, then he gave Axe the gift of knowing his wife would never be in danger from her father-in-law, and his daughter would never have to worry about a grandfather who might harm her. His future father-in-law, Tomas, would never have to watch his back at family gatherings, and his future mother-in-law could come and go without the threat of death and vengeance hanging over theirfamiglia—his family would be safe.
“Thank you, Dad, wherever you are.”
