Men in all black with balaclavas on their faces flooded through.
“CHESKA!” I bellowed as one of the men grabbed her, smothering her mouth with his hand. I let go of my dad’s hand and shot to my feet. I reached into my jacket for my gun, but some fucker tasered me from behind. I fought the volts pulsing through me, electrocuting me from inside. When he shot me with it again, I fucking dropped to the ground. I fought it, arms and legs moving, fucking crawling to get to Cheska, who was screaming under the cunt’s hand and trying to fight free. But two fuckers wrenched me back, tied my hands and held me down on the floor.
“You’re dead,” I snarled at them, never taking my eyes off Cheska. “You’re both fucking dead.”
They dragged me to my feet, and I heard the sound of a gun’s safety unlocking. I tried to force my legs to gain strength, then my head whipped to Freddie, who was holding a revolver to my old man’s head.
Fucking time stopped.
“NO!” I yelled, just as my dad met my eyes, held my fucking gaze, blinking slowly one more time, like he was saying goodbye, and Freddie fired a single shot. Something inside of me shattered along with the loud racket from that bullet. Whatever frayed bit of worn tether had kept me down, grounded, held back from completely losing it and giving myself over to fucking evil, snapped.
There was no surviving this one. The bullet tore through my dad’s head, blood pooling on the pillow behind him. “NO!” I thundered again and used all of my strength to fight the fuckers holding me, throwing them to the ground.
The taser shots had taken most of my energy away. But they had Cheska. They had my fucking bird, and Freddie had just shot my dad. I had moved a few feet, legs dragging on the floor, to Cheska, when one of the cunts scrambled to his knees and tasered me again until my legs fucking buckled. I swerved my head to Freddie.
The fucking traitor that was Freddie. I had suspected someone, but not fucking Freddie.
“Why?” I growled, gritting my teeth as I fought to get back some fucking strength. Cheska screamed another muffled scream, and I set my eyes on the arsehole that had her. She met my gaze, and I tried to tell her with my eyes to hold on.
To just fucking hold on.
“Why?” Freddie said, coming around the bed. I looked at my old man and felt that crack in my chest fucking erupt with lava, the scalding heat that spiked my blood filling me with nothing but red-hot rage. Freddie stopped in front of me, and I imagined what it would be like to wrap my hands around the fucker’s throat.
To squeeze and watch the life drain out of him.
He was my brother. He was my motherfucking brother.
Freddie got in my face. Fucking taunting me. “For my dad.”
My head fucking swam as I tried to think, the taser making me sluggish, pushing a thick fog inside my mind. I thought of Freddie’s dad, of Frank. I didn’t understand. I didn’t fucking understand!
“My old man died because of him,” Freddie said, pointing his gun again at my dad. He must have seen my confusion, because he said, “My old man wasn’t a motherfucking Adley. He was from Deptford. He was a fucking South London boy through and through. And he infiltrated your fucking scumbag family for years. Fed information back to the real fucking lords of this town. His real family.” Freddie smiled at me. “My real family.”
“And who is your fucking real family?” I smiled. It was cold and promised a slow and painful death.
Freddie stood. “You’ll get to meet them. Pretty bloody soon, in fact.”
“Let them go.” I followed the sound of a quiet voice coming from the door to the bedroom, and my face fucking blanched as I saw Gene stood at the door with a gun in his hand. His hand was shaking. The kid’s hazel eyes were wide and wild.
“Gene!” Cheska managed to say before they pushed tape over her mouth. Tears fell down her cheeks as her eyes darted to mine, and I saw the fucking terror there. Not for her. Or me. But for Gene. She’d grown to love him.
“Gene!” I called, just as he was rushed at by one of the fuckers at his side. The kid fired off a shot, but the twat attacking him hit his