Priest’s eyes flew up to Jimmy’s at the mention of Henri. “We were boys, friends,” he snarled, disgusted by the man in front of him in ways he couldn’t put into words. “And you two were monsters. We looked out for each other.”
“I’m sure you did, even when the monsters were locked up. Keep each other warm at night, did you? Doesn’t really matter now, though. You aren’t a boy anymore. Isn’t that what you told me? And when I saw you on the television at Mr. Thornton’s restaurant, I wasn’t about to wait around for months when I knew you could get me all I needed to disappear right now. Call it your penance, if you like.”
“Penance?” Priest said, the word leaving a bitter taste on his tongue. “What could I possibly owe you penance for?”
“Walking away, son,” Jimmy shouted, and his eye twitched as he cracked his neck to the side then looked Priest up and down. “A coward. Always been a coward you have.”
Priest nodded, making sure to keep his eyes trained on Jimmy. “You’re right, I am. But I’m here now and Julien’s got nothing to do with this. Let him go.”
“Yesterday, that was true. He didn’t really have much to do with it. But you see,” Jimmy said, and finally he walked around Julien and came toward Priest. Yes, that’s it. Get away from him, you fucker. Come to me. “Things have changed.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Priest caught Julien trying to tug his arm free. But Priest didn’t dare look directly at his husband, not when he finally had the snake coming his way.
“I’m going to need more money eventually,” Jimmy said. “And your famous husband here happens to have a lot of it.”
As those words registered in Priest’s brain, any leash he had on his control snapped as the thought of Jimmy coming after Julien again slammed into him. Priest lunged forward, his eyes fastened on Jimmy’s gun hand, and as he wrapped his fingers around Jimmy’s wrist, Priest poured all of his anger and strength into twisting the barrel of it away from him and above Jimmy’s head.
Jimmy grunted and stumbled back at the attack. Stunned, no doubt, that his “coward” of a son was no longer scared of him. But the years spent behind bars hadn’t softened Jimmy Donovan, because the second he got his footing, he swung his other arm up until his fist connected with the side of Priest’s face.
Priest’s head snapped back from the force of it, and his grip slipped, allowing Jimmy to shuffle back a step. Before he got too far, though, Priest charged, slamming Jimmy to the ground with enough force to take the breath from them both, and Priest’s gun fell free of his pants and skidded out of reach.
Jimmy’s eyes flew to the gun, and then back to Priest, and as a victorious expression crossed the fucker’s mouth, Priest rose up over Jimmy’s body and punched him square in the face. As Jimmy coughed and sputtered, blood pooling in his mouth, Priest did it again. He then reached for the hand Jimmy still had clamped around the gun, and smashed it into the concrete, and as he did, Jimmy’s other hand came up and connected with Priest’s ribs.
A shout left Priest as the wind was knocked out of him, and Jimmy reared back to punch him again. Priest saw the fist coming his way and rolled off Jimmy, and as they fell apart, a demented smile crossed Jimmy’s bloody face as he scrambled away from Priest and brought the gun up and aimed it at Priest’s chest.
“Like I was saying,” Jimmy said, and spat some blood on the ground. “Eventually, I’m gonna need more money if I’m on the run. What I won’t need…is a lawyer.”
Jimmy pulled the trigger, and as the blast ricocheted around the warehouse, Priest looked at Julien as the bullet left the barrel and hit Priest square in the chest.
Shimmering jade…
That was the last thing Priest saw before everything went black.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
CONFESSION
Sleep has never come easy to me.
I don’t see why death should.
AS PRIEST HIT the ground, a shout tore from Julien’s throat. His entire body recoiled at what he was seeing, and as he sat there, helpless to do anything, Jimmy got to his feet and staggered over Priest, heading straight to the bags.
Without sparing his son a look, Jimmy pocketed the passport, unzipped the bags to check their contents, and then, apparently satisfied, picked them up, one bag in each hand. Then he looked over at Julien and said, “I’ll be in touch,” before he ran for the door and disappeared.
As it shut, Julien frantically began to tug on the ropes around his arms and legs, tears flooding his eyes.
“Priest,” he cried out, his voice cracking around the word as he stared in disbelief at Priest’s lifeless body. “Priest.” His heart pounded so hard that it hurt.