“Oh, my love.” He swung her around, his strong arms wrapping around her body tightly as he held her back to his front. “It’s already done.”
“No!” She kicked back, her heel connecting with her uncle’s shin.
He grunted. His hold loosened. Abigail ran for the man on his knees because she knew. She knew what was happening and wanted to stop it.
He was going to kill this man.Lucawas going to kill him…while she watched.
Abigail had almost made it to the ill-fated man when she felt the hard, cold barrel of a gun being pressed against the back of her skull. She froze in place.
“I don’t want to hurt you, sweet niece. But I will and not think twice about it.”
She could hear the unwavering truth behind his words.
“Get on your knees, Abigail.”
Wait. What?
The metal pushed harder against her head. “On. Your. Knees.”
He was going to kill her.
With no other choice, Abigail dropped slowly to her trembling knees. She was positioned directly in front of the other man. The one with whom she would die.
He stared back at her, resolve swimming in his watery, blue eyes. She was staring at a man who knew death was upon him, so she offered the only comfort she had to give.
“I-I don’t know what you did, but you didn’t deserve this.”
A soft chuckle. “Oh, he deserves it, Abigail.” She’d always hated the way her name sounded on his lips. Hated everything about the man.
Ignoring him, she kept her eyes on Mr. Shaeffer. “I’m sorry.” Her own tears fell. “So sorry.”
The man tipped his head slowly, as if to say thank you. Abigail was still looking into his eyes when Luca pulled the trigger. His body slumped forward, blood slowly spreading across the floor beneath his head.
Expecting to be lying next to him any second, she closed her eyes and waited for the bullet to hit. Her eyes were still closed when she felt her uncle pulling the gun away from her head.
“Your first is always the hardest, Abigail. Next time will be much easier.”
Next time?
She opened her eyes. Standing before her, Luca gave her an unapologetic shrug. Her gaze shifted up to her uncle’s, who surprised the hell out of her when he offered her his hand.
“Come now. You’re looking a little pale. We should get you home so you can rest.”
She looked at his hand as though it were a snake about to strike. Fitting, since that’s exactly what he was.
An evil, murdering snake.
Of her own volition, Abigail rose to her feet and stared straight into her uncle’s cold, uncaring eyes. “There’s nothing easy about killing another human being.”
Her uncle laughed.Laughed. “Oh, my sweet, naïve niece.” He reached a hand toward her, as if to pat the top of her head, but she flinched away quickly. His face hardened. “You’ll soon learn…taking the life of someone who deserves it? That’s one of the easiest things in the world to do.”
“I’ll never take a life. I don’t care what someone’s done. No one deserves to die. Not like this.”
“You should listen to your uncle, sweetheart.” Luca twisted the suppressor off the gun’s barrel and slid it into his pants pocket. “Sure, noteveryonedeserves to die the way Shaeffer did, but there are people out there who do.”
Later that night, while her uncle was sleeping like a baby, Abigail snuck into his office once more.
She’d found his hidden spot weeks ago. Knew the treasure it held. But that wasn’t why she’d gone there this time.
