Chapter 16

Liam.

I opened the door quietly. It was a few hours past midnight and it was still one of the earliest I've been home in a while. I had tracked a couple of leads that were supposed to lead me to my father's secret stash. I came up empty. That old geezer sure knew how to be a jerk, even in his absence. I scratched my forehead and navigated my way to Anna's room.

I opened the door as quietly as I could and peeked inside. She immediately sprang up and reached for the gun on her bedside. I had barely made any sound, yet it was enough to wake her up. To be honest, I'd have been disappointed if she hadn't woken up. Father's training was too deeply ingrained within us—the paranoia. It's still an amazement how he didn't see his own fall coming, even though it was right underneath his nose.

Anna's shoulders slumped when she realized that it was me. An all too familiar look flashed across her face. It was the look that said; what the hell does he want again?

I wasn't upset. She didn't realize that everything I did was for our family. Everyone was always either too blinded by emotions or just too dumb to understand that there were things that needed to be done.

I smiled, and her lips curled in irritation. If anyone had told me she'd one day look at me that way, I might have argued. We used to be inseparable as kids. Now, not so much. Although I found her reactions fascinating.

“What do you want?” she drawled, her voice tingling heavily with sleep. “It's past midnight.”

“Oh. I didn't notice,” I replied, strolling in like I owned the damn building. It wasn't mine—yet—it was one of the Martinez' hideouts. All that would change soon enough. “How was your date?”

“It's fucking midnight. You couldn't wait till morning?”

She slumped back into bed, covering her face with the pillow and groaned into it.

“Does it look like I care what the time is?”

“Get out of my room.”

I walked over to her, and sat beside her. We used to be much closer. There were nights when she left her room to come sleep in mine, just so we could talk all night. Then mother died and I pushed her away. I was so buried in hurt that I failed to see how much that might have hurt her too. No one was the same after mother's death, it was worse with dad.

“You used to like my company,’’ I whispered.

She scoffed. “I doubt that ever happened.”

“You were young, much younger.”

“I was young, not stupid.”

Her eyes burned with conviction, like she was certain there was never a time we were pals. I shrugged. “So, the date? How was it?”

She sighed, visibly relaxing. I shook my head, tough as she thought she was, it didn't take a lot to get her guard down. Such weaknesses could determine life or death in our line of work.

“He was nice and gentle. I was a bit surprised. He seemed—like a gentleman,” she said, contorting her face as if she didn't believe she said those last words. “He said he wanted another date soon.”

“You seem to be doing a good job.” Although it needed to go faster.

“Your turn, where were you?”

“Following a lead.”

“There you go again. Deflecting.”

“The lesser you know, the better.”

Her lips parted as if to speak, but then she thought better of it. “Nevermind. I—”

I held up my mind, as I heard a small creaking sound.

She rolled her eyes. “If you want to leave, just say so.”

“Shh. I heard something,’’ I said, standing from the bed and walking towards the door. This time she grabbed her gun. A small creaking sound could be anything: a window that was left open, a door that was ajar, the wind…anything. But for us, it could mean life or death.

I slowly opened the door with Anna on my heels. She was in her nightgown, but now wasn't the time to change into something more appropriate. We entered the corridor, tiptoeing—as silent as a dying breath. Anna watched our backs, while I focused ahead. As I'm about to reach the sitting room, I pull out my gun from its holster.

I peek out the corner. It was empty. I walked out into the open.

“Clear,” I said.

Anna sighed exasperatedly. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

I was still uneasy, even though everything appeared to be normal.

“Damn, I'm going back to bed.”

I turned to Anna to bid her goodnight, instead my eyes caught a red spot on her chest.

“Anna!” I screamed, jumping at her without a second thought. Almost instantly, the sound of gunshots rampaged through the tranquil night. I and Anna hit the ground hard. The windows shattered all around us like rain. I rolled off her, hearing her curse underneath her breath.

“We need to get out of here.”

“Ah! I didn't notice,” I whispered back. We crawled back towards the corridor.

“Jeez. You are bleeding. You were shot,’’ she said, wide-eyed, as she stared at my wounded shoulder with horror.

“Oops. Another thing I didn't notice,’’ I groaned. It was stupid to throw myself in front of her.

Splinters flew all around us as the intruders continued to shoot. It seemed like they wanted to level the house. The guards were probably already dead. Soon, we were on our feet and racing through the house.

One of the intruders appeared through a corner. I shot him before he could register our presence.

“We can't go out through the back, they probably have it covered,” I groaned, I was beginning to lose too much blood, and my head was turning fuzzy. We needed to get to safety first. “We'll go through the basement.”

She nodded and led the way towards the basement. My legs began to feel heavier with each step and I fought to keep my eyes open.

“You're losing too much blood,” Anna said, her face scrunching up in worry.

“It's just a flesh wound.” I smiled, but that didn't move her.

“Let me take a look at it.”

“Sure,” I slurred. “I’m sure those guys out there will gladly wait for you to get me patched, don't you think?”

She shot me a look.

“Keep moving,” I added. “I've had worse.

A few minutes later, we slipped out of the basement into the night. Anna scanned the building.

“Wait here, I'll go get the car.”

She slapped my cheeks, to keep me conscious. I nodded, mumbling. I was supposed to be protecting her. I was the big brother. I watched her sneak away through my blurry vision and sighed. Maybe I was good for nothing like my father always said. I wasn't as brutal or strong as Jason and Cain. No. I was better than all three of them, they were just too blind to see it.

I heard a series of gunshots. My guts twisted into a knot. Anna. I struggled to get up. Almost immediately, I heard the sound of screeching tires coming towards my direction. The car screeched to a halt in front of me and the door flew open.

“Get in,” Anna barked. I fumbled into the car. She reversed and sped out of the compound with gunshots trailing our escape. “I flattened their tires, they won't be leaving for a while.”

I groaned in response.

“Where to now?” she asked, turning to face me.

“The Martinez. It is their job to keep us safe.”

“What if they're the ones who ordered the hit? They're the only ones who know where we are.”

“If the Martinez family wanted us dead, we'd be dead. This is someone else…” I slurred as I finally lost my consciousness.