Page 78 of Ride Long
Gaining on him, I could see his back as he flitted through the landscape, fleeing into the desert. He dashed to the side, doubling back toward the road and the renegades. I never missed a beat. My heart galloped in my chest, my lungs burning and my thighs aching with exertion. There was no way in hell I was letting him getaway.
He twisted and leaped, throwing me off this tail for a split second. It was all it took. I skidded to a halt and held the revolver at the ready, the sound of my heart thumping in my ears and my labored breathing loud in thenothingness.
I took a step forward, listening with everything I had. He had to be lurking here someplace. Hiding behind a bush like the coward hewas.
There was no love left in me for him. To be honest, I doubted there ever was. The love of an innocent child, perhaps, but not the kind he deserved. Gasket was a thousand times the man Anthony Mariniwas.
I took another step forward, the revolver shaking in my hands. What was I going to do when I caught him? Was I going to shoot him? Could I pull the trigger? I couldn’t even face him down in thatbasement.
Marini leaped out of the darkness and swung his fist at me. At the last second, I realized he was clutching a large rock and ducked to the side. His fistwhooshedpast my head, causing him to swing and show his back to me. I slammed my elbow into the base of his spine with a cry, and he stumbledforward.
Swinging, I raised the revolver and aimed it right athim.
“I will shoot you, so help me God.” Isnarled.
Marini righted himself and turned to face me, the rock still clutched in his hand. His silver hair shone in the moonlight, his body silhouetted by the orange glow of the burningcabin.
“I’m your father,” he said. “Youwouldn’t…”
“Have you met you?” I asked, curling my lip. “I’m half of you,remember?”
“You’re half her,too.”
His words sliced through me. He was right, but he was also trying to hit me where it hurt. I couldn’t let him manipulate me. Notnow.
“Shoot now, and you’ll be just like me,” he said. “You liked that gun. You said it was pretty. Do you know what I use itfor?”
“Shut up.” Isnarled.
“I killed Harley with it,” he went on, his lip curling. “I killed him foryou.”
“Liar!” I exclaimed. “You killed him to protect yourself. You were going to hand me over to the Hollow Men.Admitit.”
“Do you think you’re better off with Chaser and Gasket?” He took a step forward. “They can’t keep you safe from King, but Ican.”
“I don’t believe you.” I took a step back. “You were going to sell me off.Again.”
“I made a mistake,” he said, his expression softening. “I should never have made thatdeal.”
“The Venturas,” I declared. “The same men who murdered mymother.”
Marini’s expressionhardened.
“Did you ever love her?” A tear slid from my eye as the revolver shook in myhands.
He stared at me and saidnothing.
“Answerme!”
“Once,” he said, devoid of emotion. I drew in a shaky breath as he took another step toward me. “But she was a stupid whore just like you are now. Fucking Chaser, planning a coup with Gasket, murdering Rick. Look at what you’ve brought down on Fortitude. You’re not better than me,you are me. You are my daughter. You are a Marini, Betty, but like you said yourself.You’re half her. Half murderer, half dumb whore. You’re damaged goods, little bitch. That’s why you’ll never be able to pull thattrigger.”
My breathing quickened, and rage boiled through my veins. He’d never loved me. He’d never cared. There was nothing inside him but greed, hate, anddepravity.
Marinilunged…
…and I pulled thetrigger.
The bullet tore through his chest, piercing his heart. He fell backward onto the ground as the gunshot echoed through the humid night air. Standing over him, I watched as a torrent of blood bloomed from his chest, staining his shirt and leaking into the grit underneath him. His gaze met mine, and he let go of his last breath, the sound passing through me like his ghost had rushed through my body on its way toHell.
Chaser was right. That man I killed beside the road in Texas was the first ofmany.
