I don’t have to think about it for even a second. “Everything.”
“No,” Tiffany cries. “Don’t do it, Nico.”
I ignore her. There was no way in hell I was listening to her on this.
Marissa grins. “Good. Then you have no problem clearing out your bank accounts into mine.”
Meth head walks his laptop over to me. He has an offshore account number pulled up on his computer.
“This is my account,” he says.
“It’s simple, Nicholas,” Marissa goes on to say. “The moment that money hits that account, I let you and wife go. No issues, no problems. We disappear from your lives forever. You come looking for us… well, I’ll let the Horseman know just how to findyour weak spot. I’ve never met the guy, but he seems like the type that doesn’t care about killing a woman or a child.”
Her threat hangs in the air as potent as the fish smell that clings to these old pipes and floors.
Without a second’s thought, I grab the laptop from meth head and quickly put in my banking info. I pull up both accounts, my regular and secret offshore one. Once I have them both up, I hand the laptop back to methy.
He whistles. “Fuck me, fifty billion dollars.”
I can almost see the amount of drugs that’s about to be bought.
The three dope amigos cheer and laugh. I watch as meth head types some buttons on the laptop. Once he’s done, I get a notification on my phone. I already know it’s my bank trying to verify the transaction. Pulling my phone out, I approve the amount.
I can tell the moment it goes through.
Meth head’s face splits into an enormous smile. “That’s it, babe. We’re billionaires. You did that shit.” He rushes over to Marissa, who stands proudly.
Her hazel eyes sneer back at me. “Too bad I can’t stick around and rebuild our bond. But I guess it’s just not meant to be.”
Meth head laughs as he swipes a hand under his nose.
Suddenly, a loud alarm goes off.
“Fuck!” Meth roars. “He brought back up.”
Taking advantage of their distraction, I act fast. Pulling out the gun from my second back holster, the one dumbass never checked, I grab Ezra around the neck and place my gun to his head. My bullet blows a hole in his skull before he could scream for help. Marissa’s eyes widen.
Meth head tries to swing the gun around and fire at me, but I let off a bullet in his direction. It strikes his arm, knocking him to the ground.
Just as I go to fire another, a whirring sound goes off and Tiffany screams. I watch in horror as the giant hook she’s attached to drop so rapidly there is nothing I can do to stop it. She plummets into the deep cold water.
I glance at my sister and her meth-head partner escaping through the back. I don’t have time to chase them. Tiffany can swim, but after her body has been in a wreck, her arms bound, and she’s been hanging for who knows how long, she won’t be able to move. I run for the hole, and without thinking, I dive in. The water is freezing and so dark I can barely make out where she is.
Thankfully, I spot the chain the hook is connected to. I kick my feet as hard and as fast as I can, fighting to get to my wife. It takes longer than I want, but I finally make it to her. My lungs are burning. Tiffany is tugging at the binds holding her. When I come around to her front, I can tell she’s getting weaker by the second.
I fight with the rope around the hook. Finally, it gives. I don’t think about the fact that my wife is no longer fighting or how her head is back and her mouth is open. I don’t think about any of that as I kick my feet to break the surface of the murky water.
When I come up to the surface, I take a deep gulp of air. Tiffany’s head bobs out of the water, her body limp. Turning around in the water, I find the rocky ledge of the shore. Just as I spot it, about twenty all-black Hummers pull up to the docks. The doors swing open, and I spot all three of my brothers.
I swim toward them, holding on to my wife. The moment I reach the shore, Mason and Grant yank Tiffany out of my hands and up on dry land. Salv and a few of Mason’s men grab me out of the water.
I immediately go over to my wife’s side.
“She’s not breathing,” Mason says, lifting his head from her chest.
I didn’t want to hear that shit. I start CPR. Tilting her head back slightly, I breathe into her open mouth twice before I start chest compressions. I count in my head to thirty before I breathe again. There is only silence around me. Silence that is so loud it's deafening.
I know what they think. They think it’s too late. They think I’m wasting my breath, but I know it’s not too late. I know for a fact that she isn’t gone. She can’t be. Because if she is, there is nothing left for me. If she is no longer here with me, I have nothing to give to this world.
