“Got it!” Layla yelled back, running off in another direction, Giovanni behind her. I would tell them later. Right now, the living needed us. The dead were safe.
They didn’t deserve this shit.
None of them did.
Making my way deeper into the destruction, I spotted Reaper laying on the ground, his wife Remi next to him. Both were covered in blood as an older man in a suit stood over them. A gun in his hand. Neither Remi nor Reaper moved. I didn’t know if they were alive or dead, but I was damn sure this mother fucker was here to ensure they stayed dead.
Reaching for the gun at my back, I clicked off the safety as I approached.
“Put it down, asshole.” I didn’t need to see his face to know who he was. I knew that mother fucker would send someone else. He was the cause for all this death and destruction. Too chicken shit to come finish the job himself. However, this mother fucker had balls of steel if he thought he would walk away from all this.
“The wildcard,” the man clearly said, not moving. “Why are you helping him? He killed your wife.”
“He didn’t kill her. Your boss did. Step away from him.”
“He’s a great man. Why didn’t you just fall in line?”
I wasn’t going to dignify that with a response. I knew why Reaper did what he had done. I agreed, mostly.
“You know why he calls you the wildcard?”
“Don’t give a shit.”
“Because he knows nothing about you. Your whole existence has been scrubbed. No matter how hard he’s looked, he couldn’t find anything about you or your ties to this club.”
I grinned at that.
Guess she really was good at what she did.
I was going to have to thank her later.
“Who are you?”
“He’s my brother, you son-of-a-bitch,” Reaper growled, right before he fired several shots. The second I heard the first pop, I too fired and watched as a small hole burrowed in the back of his head before exploding out the front.
There was no coming back from that.
The mayor was dead.
“Jesus Christ, asshole,” Reaper muttered, wiping blood and brain matter off his face. “You couldn’t have shot him from the side?”
Rolling my eyes, I ignored him as I kneeled before Remi.
I rolled her over to find a piece of wood sticking out of the side of her stomach. Still in her white wedding dress, now stained red with her blood. Her bouquet of white roses was still in her hand. She looked so beautiful today. So hopeful and excited for the rest of her life. Now, she lay on the ground, her body void of life. She would never have that happily ever after she wanted. Like my wife, she was just another helpless victim of this horrible mess all because she dared to trust the wrong man.
Moving my gaze to the fucker next to her, the anger I kept at bay began to rise to the surface. Another innocent woman was dead. For what? This shit was never going to end. I knew that now. No matter what we did, someone would always pay the price.
“Remi?” Reaper’s voice sounded off. “Remi? Baby?”
I knew that tone.
That unbelieving, gut-wrenching cord would soon be followed by despair.
I took a step back. There was nothing I could do to stop what was about to happen.
Fuck.
I watched as he gathered her lifeless body in his arms, cradling her close to him. “Come on baby. It’s time to wake up. Don’t do this to me. Please. I’ll do better next time. I swear.”