Tonight was different.
Tonight, I was going to see Luke. Because he told me I was welcome to come any time. He wanted me to see that I had nothing to worry about, that he was a man I could trust. My heart fluttered at the thought of walking in and catching his eye across the room. Seeing his eyes light up and that crooked little smile.
I thought tonight would be about being reassured.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
27
GOOSE
It was the nightmare of all nightmares.
Far worse than any bad dream I’d ever had. It was like one of those where you shout out for help, but nothing comes out. No one hears. No one comes to your rescue. You try to move, but you're frozen in place.
And then, when you don’t even think it’s possible, it takes a turn for the worse, and someone you once cared for steps out of the dark and proves who they really are.
Only this wasn’t a dream. This was real.
The Vault had been taken hostage by six masked men. They moved in tight succession with no hesitation. The two covering the floor carried AR-15s, along with the two watching the back. The remaining two carried Glocks and currently had them pointed at Seven’s head, waiting as he emptied the registers.
The brothers and I were still face down on the ground.
They were watching us like hawks.
I caught Memphis’s eye across the room, and like me, rage was simmering in his eyes. Like me, he wanted to end this thing.
We knew better than to make a move, especially when rifles were trained on civilians. You don’t go playing hero wheninnocent lives were at stake. So, I lay there with my hands pressed to the floor, trying to think of some way out of this fucking mess.
Sadly, nothing was coming to mind.
These assholes moved like they owned the damn place, and I wanted nothing more than to prove them wrong. Unfortunately, all I could do was watch as they finished wiping out the registers.
The sound of crying cut through the room like a bad dream. My pulse pounded in my ears, but I managed to keep my breathing steady. The last thing I needed was to let panic creep in.
In through my nose. Out through my mouth.
In. Out.
In. Out.
All the while taking note of everything. Their height. Their builds. Their boots. The way they moved. And the one in the center.
The one who wasn’t scrambling for cash.
He stood back, waiting and watching. His rifle was hanging low. The way he moved felt familiar, but it was the way he spoke that rattled me to the core. I didn’t want to believe that it was Davis. I didn’t want to accept the fact that he’d pull something like this.
But when he motioned his hand toward the back hallway and shouted, “It’s in the office. Second door on the left!”
I knew.
There was no doubt about it.
It didn’t matter that his face was covered. It didn’t matter that I couldn’t see his eyes. I knew that voice. It was the voice of family. It was one I’d grown up with. I’d heard every day.
It was Davis.
I wished I could say it surprised me, that it felt like the rug had been pulled from beneath my feet, but it didn’t. My brotherhad already proven that he had no loyalty to his family or to me, and in all honesty, it didn’t even hurt.
