Page 80 of Reaper's Rival

“Just leave them alone. I told you, I will do what you want! Blake will get off. Just please leave us alone.”

“Daniels, let’s go.” I said, lowering my gun. I walked to stand next to the kids. “The woman knows we are serious. Blake gets what he wants.”

“I told you we had to send a message.” Daniels looked at me and then before I could react, before I could say anything, I heard the gunshot and the boy’s blood being sprayed over my body. I just stood there. I didn’t wipe the blood off my face. All I saw was the boy dead on the ground.

Daniels had used a shotgun, making it a bloody kill. The woman started screaming and while I was spinning out of control, Daniels was deadly calm, lowering in front of her.

“Now if you don’t go through with your word, we will come back for your other son. If you tell, well, we will just come sooner. Simple really. You keep your word and you keep your son.” Daniels stood up and grabbed my arm. “Let’s go.”

I tripped over the body of the boy as Daniels dragged me from the scene. Drake looked how I felt, but Daniels was loving the moment. I think I’m going to be sick.

My hand went over my stomach. What if that had been my son killed right in front of me? Daniels kept dragging me down the steps.

“Come on Abby, pull your shit together, we have to get out of here.” Daniels let go of me when we reached the car.

My numbness turned to anger. And before I could even think it through, I had my gun pointed at Daniels.

He laughed.

“What you going to do, Abby? Kill me because I killed a kid?” He looked at me from the other side of the car. “You need me to get out of Blake’s debt.”

“One more kill. I can do that on my own.” I snarled. “Blake doesn’t need you once he gets out. So I’ll be doing him a favor.”

“Look at what happened when you killed his last second-in-command. Do you really want to start from the beginning again?”

“Killing you would be worth it.”

“Don’t even try and spin that shit. You can’t kill me even if you wanted to. You can’t kill anyone you know. You need to be distant, and there is a reason you are getting colder after every hit. Because a little bit of you dies each time.”

I knew he was right. I knew he didn’t think I had the guts to pull the trigger, but he was wrong. I pulled the trigger with ease and felt nothing but relief when I heard him cursing and drop to the pavement.

“You shot me!”

“Just be thankful it isn’t in the head.” I got in the car, spattered with blood. I started to wipe it off my face, but it was on my arm, shoulder, and chest. It was everywhere.

Daniels got in the car, giving me a dirty look. “You shot your own partner!”

“Yeah well, you killed a kid. That little boy in there is never going to forget how you killed his brother right in front of him. How would you like it if someone did that to Kyle?”

“That’s why in this type of life, you don’t have a family.” He looked at my stomach. “You should really start thinking hard about that.”

Daniels spun the car around, taking off.

“Taking that boy’s life is going to cost you yours, Daniels. Maybe not tonight, but when I’m through with Blake. You will be my next hit.”

I meant it. I knew then I would kill him. I thought before I would only kill when being forced. In this case, I was going to make sure I kept my word.

My hands were shaking when I wiped the blood off the side of my face. My dress was ruined, but that wasn’t what I cared about. All I could see was that boy’s body dropping.

How was I ever going to live with this? The shock from before crept through my body, and suddenly I couldn’t think straight. I needed to… I don’t know what I needed. How the hell was I going to recover from this?

That’s when it hit me.

You don’t come back from something like this. You don’t ever live with something like this.

You just don’t.

What the hell have I become?

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