“Youbitch!” Wilson snarled, gravel crunching as he no doubt dove for cover. No other shots followed, though, and Billie’s laugh told me that the targets had been hit. Whoever had been holding her must be dead. “Where are they? How many?”
“Like I’d fucking tell you,Dad,” she snapped back. “I’d thinkreallong and hard before putting your hands on me again, though. I’m not asfoolishas you think.”
Wilson gave a feral growl, then barked orders to his remaining men tofind the shooter and deal with it. But how he thought they’d achieve that, I had no clue. The moment they stepped out from behind the car, they’d be sitting ducks.
Grayson gave a sharp whistle, Billie’s cue, and I couldn’t help but raise my head and watch as she took off running. My heart lodged firmly in my throat as I watched her sprint closer, zigging and zagging as instructed. In the distance, Wilson stood from his hiding place, gun raised to fire, but something stayed his trigger finger. Then a split second later, Billie was in the safe zone and leaping without a single hesitation into Grayson’s camouflaged pit. Thankfuck. He would strap her into a Kevlar vest, offering a layer of safety in case shit went sideways.
“Billie!” Wilson shrieked. “Get back here! We’re in the middle of nowhere; you can’t outrun me forever and—”
“And nothing,” Billie shouted back, reappearing beside Grayson’s pit with her vest on. “You’re smart enough to see you’ve been outplayed. Youlose, Wilson. Cut the posturing bullshit because we both know you didn’t prepare for this. You thought I was weak, sad, pathetic Billie Jean. Well, fuck you, old man, I’m Billie Bellerose, and I claim this name. It’s mine,Wilson.”
Wilson scowled, then waved his men forward. “I don’t think you’re as well set up as you’re pretending, sweetheart. Your shooter seems to have run out of bullets, or I’d be dead already. In fact, this reeks of a haphazard, slapped-together ambush planned out by an amateur. A child. So where is he, then? Come out, Ricci!”
The response he got was Vee’s people taking out each and every one of his goons with synchronized headshots. As the sound of those shots faded into the night air, Wilson just stood there, his jaw loose with shock, and the three of us—Grayson, Angelo, and I—tossed off our camo blankets to crawl from our trenches.
Wilson started a slow clap, taking a few steps forward. “Oh bravo, the three musketeers are here. Very dramatic. Jace, son, I didn’t expect you to get your hands dirty in all of this. You used to be such a nice boy.”
I bit my lip, refusing to rise to the bait. But my curiosity was choking me, desperate to know how the fuck he’d gone fromBruce Belleroseto this. How he could turn his back on his only child and leave her to die in that original fire while pregnant with his grandbaby.
Billie had made it abundantly clear she didn’t want to keep him alive for evil-villain monologues, though. So none of us bit back.
“Toss your weapons down, Wilson,” Grayson ordered, positioning himself in front of Billie. If he could take a bullet before it touched her vest, he would. “Nice and easy, before our friends need to help you out.”
Wilson took another step toward us, casual as anything, while slowly reaching for his gun. “I’ll admit I underestimated you kids,” he commented, walking forward another pace as he carefully pulled his weapon and held it out between his fingers to demonstrate he wasn’t going to shoot. “Perhaps I’ve gone about this all the wrong way. There’s no reason why you should pay for the sins of your father, Angelo. Maybe we could come to a mutually beneficial arrangement.”
He directed the question to my best friend, but Angelo’s face was a mask of ice. Not a single emotion reflected across his features.
Bruce—fuck, I meantWilson—took another few steps. The sneaky bastard was going to try something, I was sure of it. My hand tightened on the butt of my gun, even though I knew how many of Vee’s people had Wilson firmly within their sights from a distance. That was a nice thing about all this wide-open space; there were no obstructions for long-range rifles.
“Don’t you want to know why I’ve done all of this? Don’t you want to know why I spent sixteen fucking years playing the role ofBruce Bellerose, mild-mannered neighbor? When all the while I was gaining Giovanni’s trust as I slowly corrupted his businesses?” His voice was low and coaxing, trying to seduce Angelo’s curiosity and desperate need for answers.
“And you would have succeeded too, if not for your wife’s appetite for money laundering and making bad deals, huh?” Billie spoke up, her voice hardened with bitterness and resentment. “You are aware this isn’tScooby Doo? We don’t give a fuck that your mommy didn’t hug you enough as a child,Wilson; none of it will matter when you’re dead.”
Ouch. The ice in her tone even made me flinch. Billie had done alotof soul searching in the past week, making her own peace with what boiled down to patricide. She hadn’t shared her process with us, but the result was clear to see. She had decided.
Wilson scoffed a laugh. “Come on, Billie Jean, you want me to think you’re cold enough for murder? Of your own dad? You don’t have it—”Boom.
The landmine he’d just stepped on detonated, and Grayson grabbed our girl, shielding her with his body as falling debris set off several more. Billie might have played an irreplaceable part in this plan, but deep down, all we wanted was to protect her. Sometimes that meant lying to her… by omission.
“Go!” Angelo roared to Grayson, “Get her out of here!”
Grayson didn’t need to be told twice, scooping our girl up and running with her back to Wilson’s car. He deftly leapt over the line of buried explosives just like Billie had when she’d run toward him, lulling Wilson into a false sense of security so he never saw that strike coming.
She screamed at him, kicking and thrashing to be let down, but he was utterly immovable, tossing her into the car and accelerating away into the night before the doors had even closed. She’d make his lifehellfor this, and the rest of ours too. But it was unavoidable. She knew what needed to happen; she’d played her part. We could spare her the rest of the graphic details. Particularly because Angelo and I wanted Wilson tohurtfor what he’d done to Billie.
Which he was right now, as he writhed on the ground, howling his agony into the night. Not that I blamed him, considering that landmine had exploded his left leg. We’d dialed the power of the explosives down tomaim painfullynotkill instantly,and a sick part of me was satisfied as fuck watching him squirm like a worm on a hook.
Angelo strolled over to where Wilson lay in the dirt and crouched down to take a better look at the bloody stump where his leg used to be. “Ouch, I bet that stings.” He poked the shredded flesh with his gun, making Wilson scream. Then we noticed the grenade Wilson had been holding in his hand, which, thankfully, still had the pin attached. Wilson, that motherfucker, had been trying to get close enough to aim for ultimate impact. We knew the bastard had been up to something.
“All yours, Jace,” my friend said, rising back to his feet. “But you might wanna be quick before he bleeds out.”
I nodded, drawing my own gun as I approached the dying man. Fuck, it was hard to shake the memory ofBillie’s dadas I scowled down at him. But I had to because that man was dead. Hell, that man had never even existed, if I was correctly following that shred of info he’d just dropped.
“Bruce,” I said in a calm, emotionless voice. “I hope you understand why it has to be like this.” I fired a bullet into his hand, which was reaching for a small gun that must’ve been his backup plan if that grenade had missed the mark. My bullet turned his hand to mincemeat, and I silently thanked Gray for being such a dickhead teacher.
“Why?” Wilson howled. “What is it to you, Jace? Why do you care? The Riccis had this—”
“This isn’tabout them!” I roared, swinging my leg back and kicking him brutally hard in the gut. The steel cap of my boot sank deep, and he made a satisfying whooshing sound. “This is about you, Bruce. And your decision tokill your daughterall those years ago. Why’d you do it? I don’t give a fuck about your marriage or the Riccis or any other criminal shit. Why hurtBilliewhen she was just an innocent girl? Whykill my daughter?”
