by K. J. Dahlen
Horror fills my mind. What is it that Mack could have possibly found out about me that will force Zerro to turn me away, or better yet, kill me?
Moments of complete silence pass, and I swear they can hear my heart beating out of my chest. A moment later, Zerro speaks through clenched teeth, “What did you find?” Venom is in every word that leaves his mouth.
“She’s the pig. I know it,” Mack exclaims proudly. It’s as if putting my ass on the line was worth something to him.
“No, she’s not. You’re so fucked up, Mack. I have trusted you from day one, but accusing someone of such dumb shit is just…“ Zerro stops midsentence, interrupted by Mack.
“Really? What’s fucked up is that she threw herself at me over and over again. The night I went to get her from the basement is the night that she tried to come to me. She wanted me to have sex with her and help her escape. She thought that she could use me…” Mack lies.
My eyes grow large at his lie. He’s fucking lying to the man I love! He’s feeding Zerro lies. They’re all lies.
“That’s a lie,” I declare, walking out of the room. I don’t look at Mack whose eyes are probably boring into me. Instead, I focus all my attention on Zerro, begging and pleading with him to know the truth, to believe me.
“I told you the truth. I told you what happened,” I remind him softly, coming to stand near him. I see the gun in his lap and feel like running for the door.
Mack laughs. He actually laughs. “You honestly want to believe this whore over me? Over one of your most trusted men since you came to leadership?”
“That is such a fucking lie! I can’t even stand to look you, much less want to touch you!” I throw at him. I can see the indecision on Zerro’s face and that he doesn’t know who to believe.
“It’s not a lie, and you know it,” Mack counters with such force that I can practically feel the hate in his words.
“It is, and if you were half the man you’re supposed…”
“Enough!” Zerro screams, causing me to take a step away from him. My body and mind are reeling in an attempt to find the loving man who I had been with mere hours ago.
“Go stand over there…” He gestures to me, pointing the gun at me. I scurry across the wood floor near Mack, even though it’s the last place in the world I want to be.
Zerro’s eyes observe both of us. “One of you is lying, and I’m going to fucking find out who.” His eyes are black as he swings the gun back and forth between us.
“I’ve been your right-hand man since before you became the king. You aren’t going to accuse me of lying,” Mack states.
Zerro cocks his head, an evil look crossing his face. It’s then I know the man standing before me is nothing like the man who made love to me hours before, the man who showed compassion and shared his story with me. Instead, the man standing before me is the shell of that person. This person has no heart, no feelings, nothing can break him, simply because he believes he has nothing to lose.
“Prove to me how you aren’t lying.”
“How do you want me to do that?” Mack asks, confused. I keep my mouth shut knowing if I talk out of term, my brains could very well be splattered across the wall.
“Tell me this information that you found on her,” Zerro sneers, unable to look at me or say my name. That has to mean something, right? That has to mean he feels something for me. That if he points the gun, he won’t actually pull the trigger, right?
Mack shuffles his feet back and forth for a moment as if he’s nervous. Then he talks, and my life spirals out of control.
“I found out from one of Luccio’s men that her father works for the FBI.” The second the words leave his mouth, I’m retaliating.
“Lies! It’s all lies! This whole thing is a lie!” I frantically assert over and over again. Tears escape my eyes, I go to turn around, but am stopped. Zerro’s hold on me is tight as he places the gun against my lips. His eyes hold no mercy as he bruises me.
“Is that true?” he inquires, deathly calm. The tears keep coming, so I’m unable to gain my voice to say anything. Without an answer, he loses it.
“Is that fucking true?” he screams, his face right on mine. His hands grip my arms as he shakes me until my teeth rattled in my head.
All I see is a blur of him as I try to get my mind and body to function so I can answer him. My legs hit the floor as he pushes me down, releasing me to walk away. His hand grips his hair as he stares at the gun in his other hand and back down to me.
“No. No, it’s not true,” I whimper, tears still falling.
“That’s not all, sir.” Mack breaks in. What now? What additional lies can he come up with? What more could rip me to pieces other than Zerro thinking that my father is in the FBI? That I had betrayed him?
“Tell me,” Zerro grits out, his eyes still on mine.
“Don’t listen to him,” I plead, looking him straight in the eyes.
“Silence,” he orders, walking over to me with his hand raised. Will he hit me? Will he hurt me?
“Talk.” He turns back to Mack. All I want to do is cover my ears. I don’t want to listen to the lies that bastard will spew.
“Not only is her dad in the FBI, but he was the one who shot and killed your mother.”
The accusation has me flailing for air. What did he just say? Though nothing about this is funny, I feel like laughing. Mack is crazier than I ever thought.
“That isn’t true!” I shoot back. “Nothing he is saying is true…”
Then it’s as if Zerro loses it. I feel a hand sweep roughly across my face, knocking me off my knees. I am unaware of what’s taking place because my mind goes blank for a second as my eyes roll to the back of my head. My head throbs and something trickles down my face, but I can’t quite get my wits together to sit up.
“There’s more… Her father borrowed the money because he was trying to pin you for something. When it backfired, he sent his daughter in for him. She knew this whole time. She was simply pretending to be something that she wasn’t.”
“No…” I cry out as my vision swims. Did Zerro hit me? Why does everything I see have black spots in it?
Silence ensues for a long second before Zerro speaks. “Get the ropes and tape!” he yells to Mack. I’m lying on the ground on my side when his face comes into my vision.
“Was it all a lie, Bree? Was it all some fucked up lie so that you could get into my head? So you could get the inside job done and walk away unscathed?” His voice is so loud in my ears, I push away from him.
“WAS IT?” he demands, his fingers gripping my chin, pulling me closer again.
“No!” I gasp. “I love you. I really do. I don’t know what he’s talking about. He’s a liar.”
I try and push myself up. I need to get up to escape, but I know there’s no point in running. Zerro wants me dead. The man I love wants me to die.
“Bind her feet and duct tape her mouth,” he orders Mack. Zerro takes a step back, and I await my fate.
“I didn’t do it...” I cry and beg. My pleas go unnoticed, though, as Zerro finds a bottle of bourbon and starts drinking it straight from the bottle.
“Shut up, you stupid bitch,” Mack says smugly, pressing my face into the wood floor. More blood falls from my face, and I feel the blackness begging to take me under.
“Listen to me!!!” I demand over and over again. Nothing changes in the way he looks at me. I know the hate he has for the people who killed his mother, and I know even the absurd possibility of me having any relation to them will do me no good.
“Leave the duct tape off. I want to hear her screams when I shoot her in the head,” Zerro coldly commands. His voice is far off, and I wonder if it’s me who’s slipping away or him.
My body is pulled up until I’m resting on my knees before him. Is he really going to kill me? Is this the end?
I look into the eyes of the man who took me, the man who I saved from death, but I see nothing of the person I fell in love with. I know tod
ay isn’t just my funeral but his as well. With my death will come guilt and heartache like he has never felt before.
The gun in his hand is cocked and loaded. The light glistens off the metal as I watch him raise the barrel toward the side of my head.
“Tell me you didn’t know, Bree…” His face is the same of the beautiful man I made love to merely hours ago. Our love is magnificent, but in the big world of things, it is nothing. Fear courses through me as I wait for him to pull the trigger. He will… I have watched him kill too many people to think otherwise. He always pulls the trigger…
“Tell me! Tell me you didn’t fucking do it, Bree! Tell me that this bullet isn’t for you. Tell me because right now, I’m contemplating killing the one person who means more to me than anything else in the world!” Zerro’s voice, though frantic and anguished, is soothing me and giving me hope. Maybe, just maybe, our love can conquer the darkness that is lurking close to his surface.
There is no point in begging him. I know it will do nothing for me, but I have to try to make him understand Mack is lying. “I didn’t… I didn’t know, I swear...He's lying! My God! How could I have even known you were going to be at my house to collect from my father the day I came home on break? You met my father whom you, yourself, described as weak and simple minded. You honestly think my father could kill someone? He didn’t even fight to save me, his own daughter! He let you take me because he was scared of you! There’s no way a simple, spineless farmer could be a tough, intelligent FBI agent...” My voice halts in the midst of me trying to convince him I’m telling the truth. Time stands still as Zerro stares into my eyes. He’s looking at me but doesn’t see me. Hate and anger come to the surface with a vengeance.
“He's your father, Bree. You had to have known. Payment is due, and this bullet has his name written on it in your family's blood. So, I suppose this bullet is meant for you.” He refuses to listen to reason, refuses to believe me. Gone is the man I have grown to love and care for. I know death is imminent when I feel the cold metal of his gun against my head,
"Any last words?" His voice is so cold that I barely recognize it as the same tender voice that proclaimed his love for me only hours ago.
"You have to believe me! Look at me! Look at me and tell me you can't see that I am telling the truth. It is Mack who is lying, Zerro! Please. You once claimed you could always tell when I am lying. Why can't you tell now?" I am breathless, drowning in my own tears as I try so desperately to make him believe me.
"Why can't I tell now? I am the king, Bree. From the very beginning, I was taught to trust no one, and that's how I lived my life. Until you...until you came and clouded not only my mind, but my judgment, as well. I want to believe you. I really do, but I am in the middle of a war. Not only with Luccio's people, but with myself. I am at a fucking raging battle with myself because of you! The good you unlocked in me is fighting to be free, but the dark, evil, fucked up part of me is telling me not to trust either one of you. That part of me wants to see both of you with bullets in your heads."
Time stands still as I take a deep breath. There is nothing else to say. The monster has been set free, and he won’t be at peace until I am lying on this very floor in a puddle of my own blood.
The silence is literally killing me, it surrounds us, sucking the life right out of me.
“Pull the trigger!” I scream. I feel every single shred of hope leave me. My body, mind, and soul shut down. I am ready, there is no other way around it.
“I will.” Placing his lips against my forehead, he pulls the trigger. He actually pulls the trigger! The sound of the gun going off is loud as Zerro’s beautiful face is the last thing I see before my world goes dark.
Acknowledgments
Every time I have to write this part of a book, I clam up. Not because I can’t do it, but because I worry I’ll forget something or someone. Therefore, right here, right now, I want to thank anyone who has picked up one of my books—either this series or another, it doesn’t matter. Just thank you. To the many bloggers, authors, and street members who have helped me create and end an epic series in the last six months. You all are a true inspiration to me and my reason to keep writing. You keep being you, and I’ll keep writing.
Beta Team: I love you ladies so much. Over the last year, you truly have become a part of my extended family. You have brought so much joy to my life, and nothing can or will ever take that away.
Robin: Thank you for the conversations about wine, and the fact that you help me become a better author with every “picky” word from your mouth. ;)
Media Team: Thank you so flocking much. Without you lovely ladies, I would be nowhere, my books wouldn’t reach anyone, and I would be on a little island alone.
To Lee: Never give up on that dream of becoming an author. xoxo
Brie: Even when you’re a whore face, I love you. Thank you for making me a better author with every book I publish. You make me believe in myself like I never have before.
Jenn, Tasha: You both supported me when I needed you most. Thank you so much for being the best of friends.
Mary: I’m seriously a bad friend. Thank you for still being here through all this. MWAH!!!
Hubs: Are you even going to read this? ;) Love you!
Bella: If you’re reading this, you better be 18… I’m watching you.
Inevitable
A Kingpin Love Affair
J.L. Beck
Prologue
Bree
My ears rang with the sound of a gun being shot reverberated through my mind. Zerro had shot me… at point blank range. So why was I still awake, why was I still breathing, and why was my heart ready to beat out of my chest?
I watched as Zerro fell to his knees. Another shot sounded off and I wasn’t sure what was happening. Was Zerro killing himself?
Then I heard Mack’s laughter. It filled the room and made my stomach quake.
“You thought this bitch would be smart enough to do something like this?” Mack asked. He was talking to Zerro, and my eyes scanned the ground for the gun. Would I save Zerro again? After everything he had done to me just now?
Zerro was on the ground, his face filled with pain as he stared at me. The look he held said he was sorry, but he still hadn't said the words. His eyes were begging for forgiveness, speaking the words he didn't say. I needed the words. I needed to know he was sorry for his betrayal.
“It was you…” he said groaning.
“Ding. Ding. Ding. Of course, it was me. Did you think I would sit idly by while you reaped the benefits of everything I had done for you? I was tired of being treated like shit while the ‘King’ sat on his throne. Instead, I turned you into the FBI and made a deal with them. They let me off the hook—I give them you. Not that it matters, because they’re on their way here to pick you up. As for Bree, well... that hot piece of ass is coming with me.”
“No…” He groaned again trying to reach for his gun. Mack kicked it away and my hope went flat. I would never be able to reach the gun now.
“Yes,” Mack mocked. “Then once we’re finally alone, I’m going to fuck her every way possible.”
I tried my hardest to wiggle out of the ropes, but ended up on my stomach with nowhere to go.
“Leave her alone,” Zerro groaned rolling over to search the floor for another weapon.
“Ha, ha. Yeah, fuck no. She’s coming with me,” Mack said, gripping the ropes around my midsection.
“Zerro, run, leave,” I huffed out, my voice full of anguish. The words were just barely out of my mouth when I felt Mack’s dirty hand fist into my hair, pulling my face into his.
“Say another word and there’s going to be a fucking bullet in your head,” he growled.
“Get your fucking hands off her.” Zerro was barely able to get the words out, and though I wanted to look at him, I knew I couldn’t. My heart was already breaking.
“How about… Fuck. No!!” Mack mocked, and then pointed his gun off in the distance. His hold on my
hair was keeping me in place once I heard the gun go off again. I couldn’t stop the tears from coming.
Trying as much as I could to see through the tears, I screamed until Mack released me to grab something off the floor. Looking up from the floor, I watched as a red puddle all but started to form around Zerro. Suddenly, Mack was biting at a piece of duct tape to place over my mouth.
“I love you,” I cried out right before the tape was placed against my lips. Tears continued to cascade down my cheeks as I tried to say I love you over and over again. I was certain it would be the last time I would ever see Zerro alive and if he did live, he wouldn’t come to save me.
“There’s no point screaming. Where you’re going, they love to hear women scream. They feed off the tears you cry. Believe me when I say if you thought Zerro was a monster, you’re in for a ride.”
“Let fucking go of me,” I mumbled against the tape wiggling as much as I could. Tears were still blocking my vision, but I felt the air whip through my hair as Mack pushed us through the front door.
“No way. You’re my ticket out of all of this.” He sounded gleeful, and I wanted to wipe the fucking smile I knew was on his face off.
“You won’t get away with this. He’ll find you, and when he does, you’re as good as dead.” I knew there was no pleading with this kind of man.
Picking me up as if I weighed nothing more than a feather, he opened the back of what looked like a van and sat me on the edge of the entrance so he could open the other door up. My mind skidded to a halt as I realized this might be my only chance to escape. Pulling my feet together, I bunched up my legs as much as I could and pushed back as I kicked at his face.
He stumbled back only slightly. Swear words filled the air. Trying to sit up, I pushed my legs up again to get another good kick, but it did me no good. He was bigger and stronger. His hands gripped my legs as anger showed in every muscle I could see. “You’re dirty fucking bitch,” he said as he tried to push me further into the van.
