“All that I built is gone. Because of you. You destroyed everything.Everything,” he screams, veins bulging at histemples and along the sides of his neck. “If I’m going down, you’re gonna suffer with me.”
“You destroyed it yourself by trusting that dipshit out there. Ginny led us right to your door. You should have known better. If you want someone to blame, look in the mirror. Face the consequences like a man.”
“No. No way. Fuck that.Youattached yourself to Lila and stuck your pig nose into my business.” He jabs the gun at Kenzie. “Thenyoufailed to get her to fall in line.” He shakes his head, outright snarling at her, then turns the gun back on Reed. “And if you had just waited until tonight, we could have handled this like gentlemen. But you showed up at my home, which crossed a fucking line. Now, you need to pay.”
The room is smothered by foreboding silence with an undercurrent of coarse, serrated breathing.
With his chest heaving and face wild with unfettered rage, Jabali turns his beady eyes on the man I love. “Choose.”
Reed cricks his head to the side. “What?”
“Choose,” he repeats, ice shards piercing the word.
The column of Reed’s throat ripples with a forced swallow. “Choose what?”
“Not what.Who.” Jabali’s lips creep upward slowly in a snarl so devoid of life it hammers fear into my bones. “You decide who lives and who dies. Lila or Kenzie. Shouldn’t be a hard decision. I know who I’d pick. But it’s your turn to play. Not mine.”
Reed’s face blanches over, ghostly white taking place of the angry red. Other than a tiny shake of his head, he doesn’t move.
“You heard me, right?” The monster starts pacing with nervous energy. “I’ll let you arrest me. You get the glory of my capture. You’ll be a hero. The brave agent who took down the mighty Carnage. All you have to do is make a choice.”
“What the fuck?” Kenzie fumes, stepping brazenly into Jabali’s personal space. “None of this is my fault. And you promised from the beginning that you’d never hurt Lila.”
His eyes flash with primal hatred. “I gave you another chance this morning. You fucked that up too. Now you pay the price along with your brother. Either he kills you, or you get to live, knowing you’re responsible for Lila’s death.”
“You already punished me by double-crossing me and turning Ginny against me. You’ve absolutely lost it. All this shit because I didn’t bring precious Lila to you when you cricked your pathetic finger.”
The more she badgers him, the crazier his eyes get. She needs to stop.
Instead of stopping, she doubles down. “I told you she didn’t matter. We could’ve just left this morning. Butnoooo. That wasn’t good enough for you. Had to have Lila.”
Reed roars at his sister. “Kenzie, for fuck’s sake. Enough! For once in your life, can you shut the hell up?”
She falters back a step, surprised at his outburst.
Jabali resumes his frenzied pacing, his patience with Kenzie’s interruptions teetering on the edge. Rather than killing her, he’s trying to make Reed give him the go-ahead.
He’s depraved. Beyond salvation.
“Tick tock, big man,” he spits out. “Choose before time runs out.”
Having regained some composure, Reed attempts to de-escalate the situation. “Nobody else needs to die today, Jabali. Put the weapons down and end this peacefully.”
“Choose,” he commands, eyes feral. “Why is this a hard decision for you? One is a good person. The other is a lying whore.Choose.”
“This is asinine,” Kenzie mutters, backing away slowly.
“Choosing solves nothing,” Reed counters. “You get the same ending either way.”
Jabali glances toward the door and yells, “Repo. Blaze. Bring in our guests. Our hero needs an incentive.” To Reed, he threatens, “If you don’t choose, I’ll start killing your friends until you make a decision.”
The metal of the blade feels warm and slick from being trapped in my sweaty palms.
I need to make a move before it’s too late. Do something to put an end to this, but with Reed restrained and those big guys never more than a shout away, I’m powerless to intervene. This tiny razor is useless against all this firepower.
The goons return with the remaining agents. Ginny is at the back of the pack, with a gun pointed at a man wearing a silk pajama set. I’m guessing that’s the plastic surgeon.A terrified petite female cowers near him.
From the corner of my eye, I detect Reed looking my way. I quickly check to ensure nobody is watching us, then flash the razor at him. He gives me the slightest tip of his head, beckoning me closer.
