Page 70 of A Haunting at Keystone Manor

He just shrugs. “Give me gun.”

This time, I hand it over. Part of me is relieved; I really didn’t want to kill my father. Thinking about it is one thing, but having the gun in hand? It’s completely surreal.

Alex moves in front of me, and I pull his body back against my chest. He puts a hand on my arm in reassurance.

Sasha raises the gun and points it at my father. “You can still walk away. No one has to get hurt today. I do not want to shoot you,” he says calmly.

My father sneers at him. “After everything I’ve done for you, you ungrateful little shit. I pulled you out of the dirt, gave you a home when you were just a boy. I gave you a job, a way to provide for yourself. Everything you have is because of me, and this is how you repay my kindness?”

“I never asked for this life. I will tell you one last time, leave this place and never come back, or I will kill you.”

“You don’t have the balls. I made you! You obey me, follow my orders! Not his!” He points at me.

“Not anymore. You are mad,” Sasha says.

Just then, Victor walks back into the lobby. “Boss, I didn’t find—” he quickly cuts himself off when he realizes Sasha has the gun pointed at him. Without a word, Sasha pulls the trigger. As Victor crumples to the ground, Sasha turns his attention back to my father.

He looks at me with wild eyes, realizing we’ve backed him into a corner he has no way out of. “You’re nothing without me, either of you. If I go down, you will lose everything. Do you want to work for a living? Because you’ll have no inheritance, no connections. Nothing. What could you even do?” he says, not realizing he has no cards left to play.

“That’s not true. I have everything I need right here. You have nothing of value that I want,” I tell him.

He lunges for Sasha in an attempt to get the gun, and Alex and I gasp as he fires one shot, straight to the heart. My father looks down in shock before dropping to his knees. He sways for a moment before keeling over, vacant eyes staring at the ceiling. I watch him for a moment, wondering if he’ll somehow get back up, but he doesn’t move. He died so quick. How is it possible that someone who’s tormented me for so long can be gone that fast? Just like Andrei. I hold Alex tighter.

“You okay, babe?” he asks softly. I can only shake my head, and he turns in my arms. “You did so good, you’re a rockstar.”

I shake my head again. “I’m nothing.”

“Lies, babe. Every word that came out of that pig’s mouth was garbage. Look at me. You are not allowed to take his words to heart, understand? I forbid it, and you have to obey me because I’m in charge of keeping you safe, protected. Right?” I nod. “Good, that’s good. Let’s get out of here. I’m sure Sasha will have field day cleaning this mess up. It’s over.”

I finally breathe out a sigh of relief as his words sink in. Over. I can barely even fathom what that means. I try and imagine a life free of his influence, but it seems impossible. Alex will show me. I wrap him in my arms and breathe in his scent. He holds me just as tight, and I never want to let him go. If I do, I feel like I’ll disappear, float away somewhere and never return.

He rubs my back and repeats, “Everything will be okay,” until I believe it.

***

Alex

Our hug is interrupted when Sasha clears his throat, still a bit disoriented. I gently pull away from Jake and turn to him. He’s assessing the carnage in the room.

“Are you okay?” I ask him.

He nods. “I’ve had worse. This was kind of anticlimactic, yes? Thirty years of bullshit, solved with one bullet. He made a mess,” he deadpans. “Like water balloon. Shall we go rescue Brandon now?”

“Oh, shit! Brandon!” I make a mad dash for the basement, Sasha and Jake following close behind. I bust through the door expecting to see the grisly sight of Brandon being tortured or lying dead on the floor. I freeze, assessing the sight before me, and then laugh.

Brandon is sitting on the floor with his back against a wall, smoking his joint. Danil is sitting next to him, passed out. “Hey little dude,” Brandon says, holding the blunt out to me. “Smoke?”

“Um, no?” I say, confused. “What is happening right now?”

“Well, we were down here chilling, sharing a joint, but Danil here fell asleep. Lame.”

“Why are you being so calm about this, Brandon?! I thought you said you only smoked with your homies! Your hands are still tied!”

He looks down at his hands, and laughs. “Oh yeah. Can you untie me? Danil’s actually pretty chill. He just needed a friend.” I move forward to help him, but Sasha stops me with a hand before walking over to Danil and patting him down for weapons. He pulls out a switchblade, and flicks it open before cutting Brandon free.

“Thanks man,” he says, rubbing his wrists. “I’m always down for a smoke sesh, but bondage is not my thing. Where is Seth?”

“I don’t know. The Russians searched the house but didn’t find him.”