Marco laughs again, high and broken. “You think you can talk him out of this?” He glances down at Nico. “I’m counting.”
My heart stutters.
“One,” Marco says.
The guard freezes. Turo takes one careful step forward.
“Two.”
Marco’s finger tightens. Nico screams.
“Marco,” Turo says, voice cutting steel-thin. “This is your last chance.”
“Three…” Marco turns his head, just slightly, a grin splitting his face. “I guess we…”
The guard moves. It’s so fast, my brain barely registers it. A hand clamps down on Marco’s gun wrist, wrenching it up and back with brutal force.
Marco howls.
Nico drops.
I lunge.
My body moves without permission, running on pure instinct. I catch Nico before his knees hit stone, yank him into my arms so hard that he makes a small choking sound, and crush him to my chest like I can physically merge us. He buries his face in my shoulder.
And then the gun goes off. A deafening crack.
Nico screams.
The shot goes wild, into the air, into stone, into anywhere but my child, fired in panic as Marco fights the grip on his wrist.
I don’t look up. I turn Nico fully, twisting my body so his back is to everything.
“Don’t look,” I whisper into his hair, shaking violently. “Don’t look, baby. Don’t look.”
Behind me, it’s chaos for half a second.
And then it’s over.
Turo is on Marco. He hits him like a force of nature, drives him into the ground hard enough that the sound knocks the breath from my lungs. The gun is gone. Marco is pinned, helpless, thrashing, screaming.
“You can’t!” Marco gasps, spittle flying. “I’m your son! I’m all you have!”
Silence falls. Not because the world stops. Because Turo does.
And in that stillness, I know. Marco is still trying to rise. Still fighting. Still reaching. Still dangerous.
Turo’s voice is quiet when he speaks. Final.
“You touched my son.”
Marco laughs, wet and unhinged. “I was going to kill him,” he says like it’s a confession and a dare all at once. “I was going to make you watch.”
That’s it. There is no hesitation.
One shot. Close. Controlled. Absolute.
Nico jerks in my arms at the sound, but he doesn’t see. He can’t. I won’t let him.
