Blake’s face paled. He straddled Adam’s chest, but sat up. Realizing the gun he was holding was the empty one that Adam had discarded earlier.
A shot rang out through the air, splashing Adam’s face with blood and opening a gruesome hole in Blake’s chest.
The gang leader turned a shocked face over his shoulder where Mercedes was standing, holding the loaded gun.
“That’syour gun,” Adam said.
Two more shots to the chest from Mercedes, and Blake’s paling form lolled to the side.
Adam pushed the dead weight off him and stood. Stood over the draining, bloodied body of Dorian Blake.
Across the garden, Mercedes let out a sharp breath as she staggered to his side, clutching at her wounds.
His heart was home again when she reached him and collapsed into his arms. Taking the gun with one hand and holding her waist with the other, Adam smiled as he looked down onto his enemy.
“How...” Blake scoffed bloody breaths, his eyes on Mercedes.
“You always underestimated me,” she said.
Blake stuttered through the blood. He was fading fast. Only a few more seconds and he would be gone. His attention focused on Adam and Mercedes as he lowered his voice to a whisper. “You...should...be very–”
“We don’t do last words,” Adam said.
Two headshots to finish the count.
Five shots total. Three to the chest for Dan, Paul, and Carlos. Two to the head for Adam and Mercedes. It was the most poetic Adam would ever be.
Blake’s brains leaked onto the grass, the pistol still smoking with the gunshot.
It was a funny feeling, watching the light disappear from Blake’s eyes. More surreal than he’d imagined it would be after all these years of plotting.
Five years of planning... Everyone had said it couldn’t be done. Everyone had said it was crazy. To kill Dorian Blake, with only a few months, wassupposedto be impossible.
After a few moments, when he was sure Blake’s eyes were finally cold, Adam leaned down to check his pulse. It was gone.
Fucking. Hell.
They had killed Dorian Blake.
Adam embraced Mercedes in bated breaths, both terrified and relieved at the same time.
“You’re alive,” he said, running his hands over her face to prove she was real. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if–”
“Same goes for you.” She nuzzled her head into his shoulder.
The moment couldn’t last, though, as sirens blared in the distance. Getting closer. Theyhadbeen paid to stay away, but fucking hell, they were still early.
Movement near the open doors of the ballroom had Adam bracing.
But it was Dan, Paul, and Carlos who ran from the back of the house out onto the pool deck with them. They were watching the house fall to rubble, but they stopped only momentarily before rushing ahead when they saw Adam and Mercedes.
“Holy. Fucking. Shit,” Dan said, reaching them first and staring down at the body.
Paul cried out loud as he gripped Mercedes and pulled her into a tight squeeze. “Thank God, you’re alive. T.B. said... You’ve been fucking shot?!”
“Only twice.”
“Jesus, girl.” Paul hugged her again.
