To Die For - Davidson King Page 0,73
looked around in frustration.
“I believe some people call it a setup,” Sparkles said as he sat on the couch, the appearance of being relaxed natural on him.
“And what are you going to do with those guns? You’re a bartender and a bouncer.” Dorian tapped his guy’s shoulder. “Shoot them please.” But the man didn’t move. If he shot me, Ciro would end him, and no matter how much Dorian was paying him, it was worthless if he was dead.
“I’ll let you leave as if you were never here,” I said to the man. “Just walk away. This isn’t about you, it’s about Dorian.”
“Don’t you dare fucking move!” Dorian shouted at the guy, who tucked his gun into his pants and walked out the front door.
“And then there was one,” Ciro said as he lowered his gun. In the end, I had to be the one to do it.
“All clear,” Ciro’s man descended the stairs. “They all left. He’s on his own.”
Dorian frantically looked around, slowly backing away. I couldn’t let him run. But I shouldn’t have worried; Ciro was on him.
“Max, you can’t appear to be an expert here, so I want you to shoot the wall and the doorway. Two shots, that’s all.” I didn’t understand where he was going with all this. I could only surmise it was so the neighbors would hear and call the police.
“Max, you can let him go,” Sparkles said.
“No, I can’t. Look at him. Look! He will never let you go and not because he cares. It’s because he won’t stop until you’re nothing. And I won’t watch that happen.”
Ciro held Dorian down, and I shot the wall and the doorway. The sound was deafening, and I wasn’t used to it. Sparkles had his ears covered, but Ciro didn’t react, nor did his guy.
“Okay, move, Ciro,” I said.
“You can’t just fucking kill me! I’ll leave town, okay? I’ll pack up and go and never bother any of you.”
“Until you what? Get backing? Then what? No. One thing living in Haven Hart taught me is: don’t leave your demons uncaged.”
Ciro got up, and Dorian took a minute before he was on his feet and ready to run. I aimed it at him, but Ciro grabbed the gun from me.
“What are you doing?” I yelled, but it all happened so fast; Ciro raised the gun and right as Dorian turned to run out, he shot him in the side of the head. He crashed to the ground, taking some of my ma’s figurines with him. A pool of blood quickly formed below him, and I knew there was no way he was alive.
“Holy shit,” Sparkles said.
“Why’d you do that?” I turned to Ciro, and he held the gun out to me.
“There’ll be gunpowder residue on your hands from shooting the wall and doorframe. Cops will check; they have to.”
“You planned this?”
Ciro looked at me, as serious as I’d ever seen him. “I was never going to make you a murderer.”
“But it’s okay for you to be one?”
Ciro looked at Dorian’s lifeless body. “This wasn’t the moment I became a murderer, Max.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. I put the gun on the table, and Sparkles was in my arms, gripping me as the sound of sirens could be heard in the background.
“We gotta go,” Ciro said. “Stick to the story we talked about.” They left, leaving Sparkles and me on the couch. Even knowing the police had obviously already been called, I grabbed my phone and dialed 9-1-1; this needed to look believable.
“9-1-1, what is your emergency?” the dispatcher said.
“I just killed a man breaking into my home.”
The next few hours were a flurry of cops and EMTs. My mother and sisters returned to chaos, and when I recounted the practiced tale I’d given the police, they began to cry. The detective said it seemed like a home invasion, and that while I was in my rights, they would still have to launch an investigation. He said a lot of other stuff, but I ended up tuning it out. I was exhausted, and the house was a mess.
They deemed it a crime scene, so my ma said she and my sisters would go to Teresa’s to sleep. I offered to get them a hotel, but she told me to just take care of Sparkles and not to worry about them, they were fine.
It was close to two in the morning when we were finally cleared to leave. Before the night started I’d suggested