I didn’t plan.
I just moved.
My gun was in my hand before Winston could stop me, and I was already firing—three shots in rapid succession aimed directly at Rahsaan’s chest.
He dove behind a steel beam, and the warehouse exploded into chaos.
Victor’s men appeared from the shadows, guns blazing.
I moved like smoke—ducking, weaving, my body flowing through the space like I wasn’t fully human. Bullets whizzed past my head, sparking off metal, embedding in concrete.
I returned fire, my shots precise and lethal.
One of Victor’s men dropped.
Then another.
Winston was shouting something, but I couldn’t hear him over the roar of gunfire and the pounding of my own heartbeat.
All I could see was Rahsaan.
All I could think about was Elias and Silas—my baby brothers, barely sixteen, gunned down in cold blood.
I fired again, and Rahsaan ducked behind a stack of crates.
“You’re gonna have to do better than that, Amai!” he shouted, laughing.
I reloaded without breaking stride, my hands moving on autopilot.
And then I heard it.
A sharp crack.
A grunt of pain.
I spun around and saw Winston on the ground, clutching his side, blood seeping through his fingers.
“Winston!”
But I didn’t have time to reach him.
Victor’s men were closing in, and Rahsaan was moving toward the exit.
I fired again—once, twice, three times—and one of the shots caught Rahsaan in the shoulder.
He stumbled but didn’t fall.
The warehouse was a war zone—bullets flying, men screaming, the air thick with smoke and blood.
But I didn’t stop.
I couldn’t stop.
Because I’d made a promise.
I was coming back to Truth.
And nothing—nothing—was going to keep me from her.