It wasn’t like it was hard to figure out the mayor’s schedule. Especially one that was apparently as beloved as Don Roberts. He'd won by a landslide in the polls a few months ago, and his first initiative was to clean up the city. He was pointing all the blame for the increased crime on the vigilante. Meanwhile, he was letting the mafia infect the city behind his constituents’ backs. And somehow, only my team knew his secrets. He had the cops in his pocket. Hell, he had everyone in his pocket.
Today Don was doing some reading at a local elementary school. It was all so fake. A public service that he did to keep up appearances. He didn’t care about children. For all I knew, he was scouting out his next victim. The thought made the gun shake in my hand again. Get a grip. My finger tightened on the trigger.
“Drop the gun, Summer,” Eli said from behind me.
I didn’t need to turn to know it was him. It was easy to remember what his voice sounded like whispering in my ear. My whole life was filled with memories, but in the present I had nothing. Nothing but this moment to hold on to. “No thanks,” I said calmly. No one was stopping me today. Enough was enough.
“I’m serious, Summer. Don’t make me do this.”
I glanced over my shoulder at him. His gun was raised too, except his was pointed at me instead of the street below.
I laughed. “You expect me to believe that you’d shoot me?” Yeah right. I looked back out over the ledge again. Where the hell is he?
“It’s an elementary school,” Eli said. “You’re putting innocent children at risk.”
The irritation in his voice annoyed me. I would never put children in danger. “Luckily I’m a good shot.”
“No one’s a good shot from this distance with a pistol. This isn’t the way. We’re getting so close.”
I turned back around. “We? Are you serious? It hasn’t been a we since you told V I was going to kill Don. You betrayed my trust. There is no we, Eli.”
His gun was still pointed at me.
“I barely got away from him today. He watches me like a freaking hawk. Just let me finish this thing and then we can all move on.” Saying the words out loud didn’t make me believe them. How was I going to move past this? I
was going to end up in jail or dead myself. The thought of Miles tried to crawl back into my mind, but I pushed it aside.
“If you kill Don, you’re not going to get any answers. I agreed to help you do it when I thought we knew everything. When getting back at him for what he did to you was all that mattered.”
“I have all the answers I need. He killed my parents. He destroyed me.” My voice cracked. “To me, revenge is the only thing that matters.”
“Summer…”
“We both know what this is really about, so stop lying to yourself," I said. "I stopped mattering to you. That’s what happened. You don’t give a shit about anyone but yourself.”
“You really have lost it. I’ve been defending you this whole time. I’m on the run just as much as you are. I gave up everything for you.”
I laughed. “And you’ve done nothing but regret it.”
Eli shook his head. “I don’t even recognize you anymore.”
“It’s probably the hair.” The sound of a door closing made me turn around. I peered off the roof. There he was. And just like I had suspected, he wasn’t surrounded by a bunch of kids. I lifted my gun.
And I immediately felt something hit the side of my neck. I reached up and felt the small feathers that accompanied the vial of serum that V used to knock people out. Damn it. I looked back at Eli as I fell to my knees. I hadn’t even realized that he wasn’t holding a regular gun. “I hate you,” I mumbled as I fell onto the concrete. My gun fell from my hand and skidded away from me.
“Yeah, you’ve made that perfectly clear.” Eli bent down and lifted me over his shoulder. “Luckily for you, you’re not so easy to hate.”
I would have laughed, but I was just so sleepy. “I don’t really hate you,” I said with a yawn. “How could I hate you when you have such a nice butt?” I put both my hands on his ass and squeezed.
He laughed. “I don’t think you’ve said anything that nice to me in months. Maybe I should drug you more often.”
“That’s probably a good idea.” I yawned again. “Maybe then I can be happy again.”
“Summer?”
I drifted to sleep at the sound of his voice.
Chapter 4