I smirk at them. “Welcome back, boys.”
Santos grunts, his face turning red with rage as he continues to stare at Ria.
He’s not even looking at Penny, which seems to anger her more.
“What’s your plan? Shoot her?” He scoffs, spitting venom with his words. “You won’t get out of here alive, and even if you do, you really think I would forgive you if you hurt her?”
Penny’s chin wobbles as tears stream down her face. “My whole life, you never gave a shit about me. You were always gone and whenever you were home, you were always keeping tabs on this bitch.” She pulls on Ria’s hair again. My wife stays silent now, even as her head rears back, and her eyes remain glued to her father across from her.
“You had Mom and I all over town recruiting for your big reveal, like somehow Ria would actually figure out you were trying to get her attention. She was––is, a nobody, Daddy. I’m actually somebody. I lived with her, and she never even knew. How do you expect her to run our empire when she’s that stupid? Everything should be m––mine.”
Penny screams, “MINE!”, and in that moment, she lets go of Ria’s hair.
My wife’s eyes meet mine, and I see the exact moment she makes her decision.
Within seconds, Ria does the self-defense maneuver I taught her when we were still dating and lived apart. She shoves herself off the floor, causing Penny to fall back, and then she flips, using her leg to trip Penny. In a flash, she gains the upper hand and then she’s on Penny, straddling her.
They’re wrestling with the gun and my stomach jumps to my throat.
It’s slamming itself against my chest, knowing the person it belongs to is mere centimeters away from a loaded gun, but I can’t move.
The only chance we have is if I hold on to her father.
I just need to hold out until Ben gets here. Ria needs to get the gun.
A single gunshot echoes deafeningly, its sound bouncing off the walls, followed by Patty’s earsplitting scream at the sight of blood pooling on the floor.
My arm goes slack and I’m running to catch Ria from falling even before it makes sense in my head.
In shock, I fall hard onto the cement floor. The gun hangs between my knees as I stare back at Penny, her eyes as wide as mine. She clutches her shoulder in horror before passing out from the sight of her own blood.
I’m shoved aside by Aunt Patty as she rushes to get to her daughter.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Director Villegas running past us, heading to Noah, who was intercepted by the bodyguards after he attempted to get to me.
By the time I fully grasp the situation, my husband has successfully disarmed the two bodyguards and knocked them unconscious.
There’s a tussle between the two agents now, but my attention veers to my father getting up.
He's heading straight toward me, and that grabs my husband’s attention. Noah looks up at me, momentarily distracted, and Villegas takes that opportunity to knock the gun away from Noah. They both leap to their feet before rushing at each other but Villegas is quicker, and he pins Noah to the ground.
Aunt Patty scrambles to her feet and charges straight at me with a scream.
I jump to my feet but she doesn’t even get the chance because my father has lunged for her and Aunt Patty is unconscious on the ground next to me within seconds.
I feel like I’m watching a horror movie and somehow got projected into the screen, helpless to do anything but bear witness to bodies falling all around me while my husband desperately tries to get to me.
My gaze snaps to the monster I supposedly came from.
“Why did you do that?” My voice is shaking as I stare down helplessly at the woman who had pretended to care for me like I was her own. Penny is lying flat on her back about twenty feet away, blood pooling on her sleeve.
Mysister?
“Why are you treating your daughter and wife like this?”
I’m backing away from him but he follows each step, ignoring my questions.
For the first time, I see a flicker of emotion in his eyes. It’s something akin to concern as his gaze sweeps over me, but that can’t be right. This man is vicious. Heartless.