“Didn’t you hear? Dear ol’ sis is a big ol’ traitor,” Lucas said, making Nicky’s jaw tighten. “And word on the street is you are too.”
I watched as all the pieces fell together, as Nicky realized what was truly happening, what his fate was going to be. And, of course, mine.
He could have run.
Sure, it was risky, but he was close enough to the exit that he had a slight advantage, and if he was determined enough, he could get away.
But what did he do?
He moved inward.
He kept coming until he was standing in front of me.
“You’ll have to go through me first,” he said, making that battered, broken thing I called a heart start to swell up again.
“Yeah, fuckhead,” Lucas said snorting. “That’s the plan.”
I couldn’t see what was happening past Nicky’s body, except Lucas’s feet moving forward, and then a loud crack that had Nicky dropping to his knees in front of me.
Only then did I see what had happened.
Lucas had pulled out his gun and whacked Nicky across the face with it.
“No!” I shrieked.
“Colin better hurry the fuck up,” Marty said, grinning wickedly as he looked at me. “He’s going to miss all the fu—“
He didn’t get to finish his sentence.
Mainly because the side of his head blew off, splattering blood and brain matter on the enforcer standing beside him. Who looked horrified, but only for a moment. Because his head exploded next.
I was too shocked to react for a moment, but Nicky didn’t seem quite as afflicted, his body jumping up and trying to block my body with his.
“It’s okay. It’s our help,” I told him.
Then we both watched.
As our brother’s body jolted hard as a bullet lodged in his forehead, as he wobbled and crashed to the ground.
My head immediately turned, going out the window with the broken glass, having flashbacks to a similar day four years before, knowing he was there. On the rooftop across the building.
This time, though, not ruining my life.
Saving it.