TWENTY-EIGHT
“Monsters can't be reformed.”
~ John Geddes
WYATT
“Tell your brother he owes me one 1998 bottle of Cuvee Cathelin Chave AND a 2005 bottle of Romanee Conti DRC Magnum,” Giovanni grumbled angrily, brushing off his clippers as I Googled quickly, drinking from another damn juice box.
“Holy shit.” I coughed. “They’re both almost fifty thousand fucking pounds. Who gave it to you, the Dalai Lama? The Queen of England? Jesus!”
“Your mother.” He snapped, immediately shutting me up. “Do you know what it meant to be gifted wine? GIFTED wine. I got two. And because of your damn bother now I got none. The little shit.”
I snickered, leaning back in the seat as he came back to me with a comb, running it over my hair before cutting.
“What made you drink two bottles of wine? I’m sure it was not worth the price,” I asked, tilting my head for him.
“It was worth every penny.” He sighed happily, then remembering his anger, took a step back to scowl. “That’s not the point. The point is I drank it too goddamn early, all because your brother planned to have me killed in order to—”
He stopped right at the best fucking part as the front door chimed.
“Sorry, son, we’re closed today.”
“And the man in your seat?”
“Family only….” Giovanni’s voice trailed off, the scissors in his hands dropping when he looked up.
“Perfect. I’ll pay with her then. Now go where you need to go and bring me the package.”
When I turned, there he stood, sweating, hunched over…over Gabriella, Giovanni’s granddaughter. Her bottom lip quivered as she fought back tears, but she was trying her best not to make a sound.
“Lookie here.” He grinned, pressing the gun into her skull as I pulled the cape off of me, rising to my feet. “If it ain’t the good doctor. Callahan. I smelled something fishy. Good thing I brought my own bait.”
“Let her go.” I sneered.
He laughed like a mad man, hunching further over her, shaking her around. “It’s déjà vu! You know, your brother said the same thing before I shot my pretty cousin.”
Gabby flinched, starting to panic. “Gra—”
“Don’t worry, sweetheart.” He put his chin on top of her head. “You’re my little shield.”
He yelled before shooting. Ducking behind the chair, I grabbed the gun.
“COME ON, CALLAHAN!”
The glass shattered around us, glass falling on top of me like rain.
“GRANDPAPA, HELP!” Gabby finally gave in to her fear and started to struggle. But he held her tighter, lifting her up from the ground with him.
“Get your filthy hands off my grandbaby!” Giovanni stood up, pointing his own gun at him. And that moment Elroy’s eyes and arm shifted to him.
I dropped down onto my stomach, shooting straight into his knee. His leg buckled as he kept firing, and I waited for his arm to stretch out once more before shooting right into his wrist, forcing him to drop the
gun and when he did, I barely pushed myself up before rushing at him. He still held on to Gabby, but I didn’t charge into them both. His body went flying out the glass door.
“Move!” I screamed at Gabby, who was still dizzy, confused, bleeding, and scared. She rolled off of him, crawling over the broken glass on the sidewalk. Stepping on his bleeding body, I shot into his other hand.
“You bastard—”