A gun clocks and we both separate to look at some man pointing a gun at my head

"Dad!" Caleb yells.

All around the room the sound of guns clocking happens almost instantly and all the mafia men jump into action finally, each finding a different target of Ryder's men to aim at, or as many as they can. While a majority of Ryder's men aim at the head of Caleb's Dad, as their target lasers leaving tiny red dots all on the side of his face.

Ryder gives the most piercing side look, as if fire were in his eyes, I've ever seen, towards the man, as his gun aims directly at his eye.

"Caleb, shut up. I didn't raise you to let yourself be disrespected so directly without doing a thing. For God's sake, you always disappoint me, but right now you need to find some balls and kill the guy trying to steal your woman." He reaches in his back pocket and hands Caleb a gun.

Caleb takes the gun, looking down at it in his hands and shakes visibly.

Another gun clocks in the silence of the church. Following the sound my eyes land on my father. My father setting his gun on the back of Caleb's Dad's head.

My eyes widen and my brows scrunch in confusion, as a storm of emotions threaten to overtake me.

What is going on?

"All these years, all these years, of you controlling me, making me treat my family like shit, all so you don't end their lives and we can the peace between our two groups, but now, you have the nerve to put a gun to my daughter's head?! Are you fucking crazy, David?! Remember, right now, that we are all on the same side, Rose included. So if you just happen to get trigger happy, I'll have to end your life. Keep your promises, because I swear to you, I keep mine." The words that stumble from my father's mouth, send me into a state of shock.

My dad is in the same position as me, trapped and threaten, forced to lie to those he loves to keep them alive.

Still, why did he have to act so cruel even when I came back, why couldn't he let me in? I'm sure he told my mom or she found our somehow and that's why she was so guilty about leaving him, it doesn't justify her completely detaching herself away from me but it makes a lot of things clear up.

I find my mother in the audience, pointing a gun at David's head as well. She meets my eyes and nods, as hers tear up.

Suddenly, it hits me. Caleb was always around. Caleb was in our house 24/7. He was the spy again, he is the spy. He always seemed to go wherever my father went or stick next to me, because he was watching us.

He's his father's puppet just like he was raised to be. I knew I hated him.

The pause is evident and loud as everyone waits for David to make a decision.

His face is tense and he glares at me hard, I look in his eyes and see hatred in them, as if he's long disliked me.

"If you're threatened by me, you should be. You probably thought I was going to marry Caleb and you'd gain the power of both groups, right? You're the type of person to try to make sure everything goes your way, and all your pawns listen to you. What you didnt count on, is how stubborn I am. You're realizing now that even if Caleb is by my side as the ruler, he can't influence any of my decisions, which means you can't either. So now you want to kill me. It's childish."

I chuckle, moving closer to the older man, analyzing his wrinkles, dull dark brown eyes, and balding black hair. He's losing time and he knows it, but he's too ambitious to accept his prime is over, so he uses threats and people to gain what he wants. After years of trying to dissect my mother's emotions and reactions, I got pretty good at guessing. It seems I hit the bullseye with this guy.

His glare intensifies and I see his finger on the trigger twitch.

"I hate you." He snarls.

"I know. It's fine. I didn't ask you to like me, I didn't ask you for anything. The only thing that bothers me about you, is what you did to my family. That's why today, I'll be the one to kill you. You think it's fine just fucking around with people's feelings and lives, right? So I'll fuck around with yours." I stop at the barrel of the gun, letting it sit on my forehead.

Somethings crawling at my throat, pulling me deeper and deeper into a dark place. Somewhere with no sound or light, only hatred.

"Rose."

I'm going to fucking kill this guy. It's all his fault. He's the reason my life turned to shit.

"Rose."

I can't believe I was in the dark for so long, I even felt bad for his son for a second. I-

"Rose!"

I snap my head around to see Ryder grabbing me with his free arm, and holding me on his chest. He begins slowly patting my head and stroking through my hair. I keep my eyes on David, sending him my coldest glare.

"I'm right here. You're not alone anymore, ok? Rose, listen to me. I'll share whatever you're feeling right now so it's not too heavy on you. Don't let this guy control you Rose. If you want revenge then, we'll get it together." Ryder whispers to me.

My breathing, that I didn't realize had speed up, gradually comes back to normal as I hear his voice and his words.

He's right. This guy has been controlling the course of my life and I didn't even know it. I can't let him control me again, not now.

I nod, listening to Ryder's heartbeat rock me back to what I should be at a time like this. Stable.

David puts his gun down as my father follows. Caleb stands tense, still staring at the weapon.

"You can't take her away. She's the next ruler of an organization much bigger than you, the people you see here, and many more."

Just as my father mentions these words, shouts of Ryder's men saying something about backup reaches us.

"You called for more soldiers?" I ask my father.

He looks at me with a sad smile on.

"As much as I want you to be happy, Rose. This is your responsibility. You can't be with some gangleader who will end up wasting your life. I want you to be on top, a queen, like you were meant to be. I love you, and I respect you but sacrifices have to be made. He's one of them. If he doesn't leave peacefully, we'll have to use force." My father tries to sound gentle but the man I grew up with echoes in his words.

You have no choice. Is what I'm hearing, just like always.

I know he cares about me, but I need to live my own life. This isn't the place for that.

I can only shake my head at my Dad and he sighs, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

"Then I'm sorry, honey."

A gunshot goes off and David drops dead.

As if a match thrown into gasoline, total war breaks out.

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2.36M

6/24/19

I'm currently getting ready to take a test so bye guys

Ciao.