Chapter Twenty-Six

Malice

I bolted upright, torn out of a deep sleep.

I knew that sound.

Someone just fired a gun.

Throwing back the covers, I looked over my shoulder to see Arianwen still sleeping peacefully. I still didn’t know what I ever did in this life to deserve her, and I was done trying to figure it all out. I was just grateful that she still wanted me after everything I’d done.

Reaching for my jeans, I quickly put them on. Then, grabbing my gun, I quietly walked out of the room, shutting the door behind me. Leaving the penthouse, I headed for the elevator. When the doors opened, Mercy was standing there with a gun in his hand.

“Was that a gunshot?”

I nodded, stepping inside. “Yeah. I heard it too.”

“Who the fuck would be stupid enough to fire a gun in my building?”

“A dead man.”

The elevator descended, only to stop again moments later. The doors opened to show Vicious and Fury, both armed.

“Was that a gunshot?” Fury asked.

“Seems we all heard it,” Vicious yawned. “Do we know what floor?”

Mercy looked at his phone. “No. Which means we’re going to have to go floor by floor.”

“Jesus, Mercy, there are forty-seven floors in this damn building. That will take all night.” Fury groaned.

“Don’t need to check them all,” I said. “The gunshot was close. The echo of the ricochet can’t travel far through steel.”

“I don’t even want to know how you know that,” Vicious muttered.

“You two, go with Mercy and check the next two floors. I’m going to go check on Amelia.”

“Shouldn’t one of us go with you?” Vicious asked. I looked at the man as if he’d lost his head.

I didn’t need anyone.

I knew what I was doing.

The elevator doors opened again, and Mercy didn’t waste time shoving Vicious and Fury out into the hall before looking back at me. “Go check on your mother, then meet us back here.”

Nodding, I hit the down button and said nothing when the doors closed once more. Checking my gun, I pulled back on the chamber, loading a bullet as the doors opened again. Stepping out into the hall, I looked both ways and frowned, seeing my mother’s front door open.

Cautiously, I slid against the wall and made my way toward her small apartment, trying not to make any noise. My mother’s apartment wasn’t the only one on this floor, but it was the only one currently occupied. Upon entering her apartment, I lowered my gun, seeing her sitting on the sofa facing the large window that looked onto the street.

“Amelia?”

She didn’t respond as a shadow moved in the darkness. Aiming my gun at the intruder, I growled, “Who the fuck are you?”

“In his own twisted way, he loved her. Did you know that? He always said he could find her anywhere, but he really didn’t have to look. Just like you, she always came crawling back to him. I should have known you were just as damaged as she was.”

I growled again when the shadow moved.

“Did she tell you everything? Do you finally know the truth?”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Did she tell you that twins run in our family? She was a twin. We are twins, and then there are our sisters. Did she ever mention her brother, Reed? He is the lucky one. He escaped before they could get their hands on him and corrupt him. He’s now some big wig who works for the government. They can’t touch him.”

“Get to the fucking point, fast.”

The shadow moved and stepped into the light.

There, standing near the window, was my face.

Gripping my gun tighter, it took everything in me not to shoot the motherfucker. From the first moment I saw him, I didn’t like him. I could see the evil in his eyes when he looked at me like I was trash. I wanted to kill him then and would have too, if Montana and the others hadn’t stopped me.

“Then there is you and me. Identical twins, right down to our tarnished, blackened souls.”

“What did you do to her?”

My face shook his head. “What I should have done a long time ago. When I realized what his plan was, I thought I would come here to warn her, but I quickly realized my mistake and knew what I had to do. You see, she would never survive what he had planned for her. What I did was a blessing, in a way. Now, she can never be used by him again.”

I didn’t think. I fired off several shots, running for the kitchen as he returned fire.

“You killed her!” I shouted. “You killed my mother!”

“I killed our mother, Gideon,” he corrected, as I heard him slam another clip into his gun. “Did you already forget that we are twins?”

“I am going to fucking kill you!”

He groaned. “No, you won’t because I am going to do what you were unable to do. I am going to clean up the mess our father left because in his last act of rebellion, he released hell on earth.”

“The files?”

“Yes.”

Rushing from the kitchen, I fired off more shots when a bullet hit my shoulder, knocking me flat on the ground. Gasping for air, I tried to raise my arm, but it wouldn’t move as his shadow spread over me.

Looking up from the floor, I stared into cold, dead eyes.

“Take your woman and leave, Gideon. Run far and hide, because when I finally come for you, I will kill you both. The war has begun, brother. Blood for blood, and only one brother will be left standing,” he threatened ominously as he walked toward the door.

Turning, I asked, “What is your name?”

My face stopped, turned and said, “Gray. My name is Gray Greer.”

The second he was gone, I groaned, dragging myself over to where my mother was, only to find her sitting on the couch, with her bible in her lap, staring out the window with a bullet hole in her head.