Nik leaned in, his shadow falling across Gene’s face. He flashed an ugly smile. “I have many associates in prison. I make sure they take good care of you.”
Gene’s jaw clenched. His breathing quickened. For the first time, real fear flickered in his eyes.
“Just kill me,” he ground out through gritted teeth.
Seth straightened slowly. He looked at Matt.
His brother’s face was hard, his jaw clenched so tightly it ticked. He’d been silent through all of this—watching, waiting. But Seth saw it in his eyes. The same grief. The same rage.
Matt had suffered when they’d lost their father, too.
Seth nodded his brother’s way.
Like lightning, Matt moved in. He kicked Gene in the ribs. The crooked cop grunted, rolling onto his belly with the force of the blow.
Then Matt lifted his boot and brought it down on the back of Gene’s head, slamming his face against the hardwoods and breaking his nose with a sickening crack.
Gene howled.
Matt stepped back, his chest heaving, his jaw still clenched. No doubt, he had more liquid violence thrumming through his veins, but he stepped back and nodded Seth’s way.
Seth crouched again, this time beside Gene’s head. The bastard was wheezing now, blood and spit pooling on the plastic beneath him.
“Beg me,” Seth said quietly.
Gene’s breath hitched.
“You made my dad beg, didn’t you?” Seth’s voice dropped to a whisper. “Made him beg for his life? For his family? Before you put a bullet in his skull?”
Gene turned his head just enough to meet Seth’s eyes. Blood smeared his teeth when he smiled. “Fuck you.”
Seth didn’t flinch. Didn’t blink.
He rose to his full height, pulled the gun from his waistband, and aimed it at the back of Gene’s head.
“No,” Seth said, his voice arctic and brittle. “Fuck you.”
He settled his boot between Gene’s shoulder blades, pressing down just enough to feel the bastard’s ribs shift beneath his weight.
In his mind’s eye, he saw his father—laughing at the dinner table, tossing a baseball in the backyard, ruffling Seth’s hair. He saw Autumn, radiant and beautiful, her hand resting on her swollen belly. He saw baby Tristan, tiny and perfect, his fingers wrapped around Seth’s thumb.
This is for you, he thought. All of you.
The room went utterly quiet.
Nothing moved.
No one spoke.
Seth squeezed the trigger.
Once.
Twice.
The shots cracked through the air, sharp and final.
Seth didn’t look down. Didn’t need to.
