pain to hit me before Reid steps around the bed and looks down at me with the gun still in his hand.
“Did you really think he didn’t know? That he wouldn’t recognize you? He knew who you were the second you walked into Jimmy’s bar. You were the girl he ordered, who disappeared into the night before delivery could be made. He wasn’t happy when his name came up in the investigation of Clyde’s death, but lucky for you, it kept him away until you landed right back in his lap.
“But once you were back, he decided you needed to be punished for what you did. He wanted to give you the world just so he could rip it away from you before turning you into a broodmare for his next round of heirs. But you didn’t want anything he had to offer.”
“Except you,” I whisper, wondering why I can’t feel where the bullet hit even as my body shakes with adrenaline. Gianni. Clyde had called him G. I remember him now from that night so long ago.
“Except me. He’s holding a meeting on Saturday, as a reminder to the division heads what happens when he is double-crossed.”
“I’m the only thing you really care about, so it seems fitting that I be the one to take you out. Besides, you’re my punishment too, you know? He knows how I feel about you, but a sacrifice needs to be made.” He looks at me in defeat.
I try to speak, but he continues talking.
“He bought you for me. It’s an odd gift for a father to bestow upon his son, I’ll admit, but it’s the world we live in.” He shrugs nonchalantly before he fires the gun again once, twice, three times. Each time the bullets ricochet off the floor beside my head as he stares down at me, his eyes trying to tell me what his mouth can’t.
“Goodbye, Viddy.” He drops the gun beside me and bends to grab his jeans from the floor.
“Don’t move until you hear the door close. Jude is disabling the cameras,” he whispers so softly I almost miss it over the thundering of my heart and the ringing in my ears.
I don’t answer as his words finally sink in and I realize he staged everything to make it look as if he killed me. He’s faked my death and filmed it. The video footage will confirm everything. To Zodiac, I’m gone.
He saved me. He chose me.
Tears track down my face as I listen to the sound of him pulling on the rest of his clothes, not daring to move a muscle in case the camera picks it up.
He bends, one last time, and picks up the gun. Turning to glance at me, he dips his head and whispers, “Whatever happens now, know I regret nothing. You were always too good for this world. I might be about to go out in a blaze of glory, but if it means saving the woman I love, so fucking be it.”
He leaves the room as I fight back a sob.
If Zodiac finds out the truth, he will kill Kai, no matter what. Zodiac has no loyalty to anyone but himself.
Except Estelle.
I pause as the name hits me.
I know what I have to do to end this. I just hope it’s not too late.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
I make my way around the back of the house, my whole body covered head to toe in black from my biker boots up to the black balaclava hiding my hair and most of my face.
I keep the gun up at my side and send a nod to Danny, who is the only man I can see from this vantage point.
I wait for the thumbs up telling me that he has confirmation of Zodiac’s whereabouts, far from here, and make my way inside.
The door is unlocked, which baffles me. I get that she lives in the middle of nowhere, but she knows what her husband does for a living. Have they become that complacent? Nobody is untouchable, and I’m about to prove just how true that is.
I close the door, leaving the men to guard outside, and make my way through the empty kitchen and down the hallway. All the lights are off, which I’d expect for most people at this hour, and head toward the bedrooms.
The first one I come across is empty, so I move to the next and find exactly who I’m looking for. Walking on silent feet to the bed, I slip