“I wouldn’t recommend it, sir. She’s very vulnerable right now.”
“Okay, if I take her to another private hospital right away, can I move her?”
“Well, if you make sure she’s hooked up to the IV, I can’t see that it…”
“Good. Jack, give me a hand.”
I don’t give her a chance to change her mind, and I slide my arm around Arianna’s back carefully. I kiss her forehead tenderly, and it’s bittersweet to have her back in my arms. “Hey, Stunner,” I whisper. “We’re gonna get you out of here, okay?” I wish that we were somewhere else, another time, and another place. I would never stop kissing her. I would never stop touching her.
“I wondered how long it would take you,” The deep voice resonates around the room.
Fuck.
Jonny appears in the doorway. Only, he’s not on his own. He has Lottie in front of him. His arm around her throat and the other has a gun to her head. “You just couldn’t leave her alone, could you? You would have thought that after the warnings you had—”
Lottie struggles, and he tightens his grip with a cruel smile on his face. His strength is too much for a little thing like Lottie, it doesn’t matter how fierce she is.
I let Arianna back down on the bed gently and stand in front of her. The nurse stands behind Jack, who is surveying the situation with a mask of calm and ease. But I know Jack. He’s ready, and so am I.
“Why do you feel like you have to have everything that belongs to me, huh?” Jonny asks cryptically. “You took over The Kingdom, and if that wasn’t enough, you took my woman, too.”
“Look. I don’t know what you’re talking about. But if this is about money, you can have whatever you want, name your price,” I say, meaning every word. If the last couple of days have taught me anything, it’s that I don’t have a damn thing if I don’t have my family and my girl.
He laughs, a manic, controlled laugh, and I feel everyone go still. “You just don’t get it, do you? All my life, I’ve fought to be noticed. And you…you’re me, just minutes earlier.”
I hold my hands up on either side of my shoulders and try a different tactic. “Hey man, how about we go for a beer, talk it out? I’m sure we can work something out between us, you want a bigger share in The Kingdom, we can talk about it.”
“It’s too late,” he spits. “It’s all too late. You…You’re the reason everything goes wrong. You and your family. Your father took what was mine, and handed it to you.”
My father?
I feel the creases in my forehead pull together as I try and piece together what he’s telling me, but it still doesn’t add up.
“For a smart guy, you’re not so clever now, are you?” he sniggers, pulling his forearm tighter around Lottie’s neck, and the hand holding the gun shakes against Lottie’s temple. She whimpers, and I know we need to stop this now. “…and you’re still not fitting the pieces together, are you?” His eyes go wide as he pushes the gun hard into Lottie’s head and she cries out. “Simon Ackerman…Simon fucking Ackerman! Ring any bells yet?” he screeches.
It takes a couple of seconds before the name sinks into my mind. Simon Ackerman…he was my father’s best friend.
Your father took what was mine and handed it to you…
“Simon Ackerman was your…father?” I say quietly in disbelief.
“Give the man a fucking medal.” He cries manically. “Yes…I’m the bastard son. The one he wouldn’t acknowledge. The one that was born from an affair that he ended as soon as it interfered with his perfect fucking life…” His composure is dropping, and I know we have to end this soon.
“So, you want The Kingdom, is that it? You can have it; I’ll sign it over to you now. Just let Lottie go. She has nothing to do with this.”
“You know what I did?” he says, laughing and ignoring my statement. “I only loaded every other chamber. So, how aboutwe play a little game? You like roulette, right?” His eyes go wide. “Of course, you like roulette, you ownmyfucking casino! So here’s what we’re gonna do…We’re gonna have a little game of our own, it’s called Russian Roulette. One for her, one for you.” He twists his head to the side, and his finger starts to shake as he puts more pressure on the trigger. I place my hand on my hip, hoping I can slide it to the back of my jeans to retrieve my gun in time. Then he says something that changes the game completely.
“I’m curious to see if you have the same expression as your father did when I fired that bullet through. His. Skull,” he hisses.
Those words fire through my heart and rage rips through me. My hand moves fast, but not fast enough. Lottie cries out and claws at his hand, but he holds her tight and squeezes the trigger. I rush forward, knowing there’s no possible way I can make it in time, but having to try anyway.
He hits an empty chamber, but all of us are knocked to the ground when Aaron flies through the door from behind and takes Jonny down by his neck.
The rest happens so fast.
Three shots are fired, one of them from my gun.
Then the room falls silent, letting the echo of the shots ring out.
