Page 68 of The Heir
"She thought it was time for a family reunion." The man shrugs and removes his helmet. I don't recognize him. He's obviously a tall white guy, but who the hell is he? He has angular features and sandy brown hair. Blue eyes glower at Melody. His cheeks are pitted with old acne scars.
"Phil?" Melody whimpers. "Oh, god."
Phil… Phil? Phil Pinelli? Her cousin—the one from the Chicago chapter of the Seraph? I thought he was just a low-level enforcer, someone to clean up their messes.
"Yep." He smirks, tsking. "Oh, cousin. What have you gotten yourself into?"
"Don't fucking touch me, asshole."
"Now, why would I do a disgusting thing like that?" Phil scoffs.
"Your uncle sure didn't know how to keep his hands to himself—I thought maybe it ran in the family," she snarls.
"Uncle Charlie did a lot of things," Phil mumbles. "But I don't think he'd do something like that. Not to you—look at you. You're a fat slob, and you always have been."
I don't know what comes over me. I stomp over to the man and punch him square in the nose, grinning as he falters and clutches his face. And he drops his fucking gun. I snatch the weapon before it can hit the ground, checking that the safety is off and fully loaded.
"Wait, Dante—"
Bang!
Phil Pinelli's forehead explodes in a spray of crimson red and shards of bone. His body falls to the leaf-littered ground, seemingly in slow motion. The other Seraph soldiers whirl around, cocking their rifles. Exhaling, Isqueeze the trigger. One of the soldiers drops, but the other fires at me.
At me?
My left bicep stings. With every heartbeat, pain blooms until my arm is a throbbing mess. My pulse ratchets up another several notches, and something sticky and wet flows down to my elbow. I can't move my arm. I can't move my arm? I stare at the appendage as it hangs loosely by my side. I can't move it. I can't grip the gun. I can only hold onto it with my right hand.
Heshotme?
"You fucking shot me?" I roar at the man.
He backs up a few steps but keeps the barrel pointed squarely at me. Unfortunately for him, he just stepped within kicking range of Helena. That fantastic woman—the most worthy aunt my kids will ever have—rolls her body around, hands still bound behind her back, and aims a kick squarely at the man's knee.
Itcrunches. It's a sickening sound, and the look of shock and horror on Helena's face matches my own. His knee bends backward, and he falls to the side with an agonized moan. Unfortunately, that puts him within Melody'sbitingdistance. Pride fills my chest as my feral wife sinks her teeth into the exposed strip of flesh right above the man's boot, where his pant leg rides up. He howls in pain and scrabbles for his weapon—but Helena is too fast.
Helenarolls on top of the gun. My feet finally allow me to move, and I charge ahead, tackling the man. My arm dangles uselessly at my side, throbbing with pain.
"You killed Phil," Melody mumbles through a grimace.
"I did," I agree, panting heavily and wincing. "We can't rest now—this isn't the last of them, I'm sure."
"Phil's dead," my wife repeats. "He's dead."
"Yes! He's fucking dead!" Helena shouts. "You can't focus on that, babe—we need to waste this guy and fuckingmove."
Footsteps come pounding from the brush, and the soldier I lost finally makes his reappearance. He takes in the scene around him and visibly flinches.
"Helena," I hiss. "Give me the gun."
She silently rolls over, just enough for me to grab the rifle. Still sitting with my full weight on the other guard's back, I try to use my knee and working arm to aim and fire. Thankfully, he drops with a heavythud. The man below me starts to hyperventilate and plead for his life.
"Please, man, come on—I don't even care about any of this shit—I just wanted something that paid better than retail security—please, just let me go? I'll leave; you'll never see me again, I promise!"
Shifting to bear down with my knee between his shoulder blades, I push the air from his lungs. I line upthe barrel of his gun to the back of his head. This kind of aim ismucheasier one-armed. "You're right, I won't."
Bang!
"God, that's hot," Melody whimpers. I flash her a smile and wink.
