I'm halfway into the house, walking through the dark narrow hallway when I hear voices from the other side of the house. I cloak my gun and hold it down next to my thighs as I make my way around. My eyes snap up to the security cameras, and I carve my body around the areas of view to avoid them as much as I can.

There's a louder voice roaring from the floor upstairs. Whoever was talking sounded furious, thumping the ground with their boot-like shoes.

"How could you let one man. One fucking man play you," The voice is firm and angry.

"Jelly was the one in charge. I went to pee," another voice speaks up defensively.

Two voices. A third-person reference.

That means at least three people were present upstairs.

The first voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite place my hands on who it was.

"What about the cameras?" the first voice asks.

Luca. It was Luca. He sounded a lot different when angry.

"Out. He took them out, " an entirely different voice replies.

I look up to the cameras I had been avoiding all afternoon, and that's when I noticed the red lights were off.

"The bastard could have taken off, " Jelly growls. A clattering sound follows his voice.

Typical of Jelly to ruin things when he's mad.

"Fuck, shit. Tiger's on his way here, " Luca says breathlessly. "He's gonna kill us all."

The room is silent for a while, with only pulsing sounds heard. "I'm calling a lockdown, " Luca declares.

My eyes widen at his words. A lockdown?

"Woah, a lockdown?" Jelly objects, voicing out my exact thoughts.

Lockdown meant end game. It was the code for kill or be killed. At that moment, I realized I just walked in at the worst time possible, and I wasn't going to get out alive unless I killed everyone present.

"And it's kill on sight, " Luca growls.

"But-"

"I don't care what my father says! Kill him. When you see him."

Before I could put on foot in front of the other, a door to my left yanks open, and I'm hauled inside.

My hands instinctively reach for my gun, but the person beats me to it. He kicks my gun from my hands with his shin, pinning me to a wall.

Then the cold metal makes contact with the skin of my forehead, drawing blood from my veins. He levels the revolver, pressing the gun deeper into my bones.

Blood draws from my veins. My heartbeat thumps louder with each passing second. I close my eyes.

The only thing that ran through my mind was Aaron's words earlier. He was right. I should have called Kelch.

She already had enough on her plate, and I only made it worse by ignoring her. I should have spoken to her.

I should have heard her laugh. I should have made her laugh.

"And that's how you get yourself killed, " he declares with a drop of his hands.

Wait. My brow arches. That voice-

I stop dead- a chilling sensation runs through my spine. My eyes snap open.

A pair of dark eyes stare back at me, the lips twisted in a snarl. With Jay, you could hardly tell.

"You're alive?" I let out a sigh of relief. Even though I was confused, I pull him in for a hug, patting his back.

"And you have five seconds to unhand me," Jay replies, but he returns my hug.

Pulling away, I shake my head, my eyes trailing over every inch of his body. The bruises on his face come boldly in a hideous purple-black color. His forehead is swollen and solid. His eyes are slightly inward, still shadowy. His red blood stains the white color of his sclera. There are numerous cuts on the exposed area of Jay's skin, with some so deep, you could see the laceration of the muscles.

I take in a sharp breath. "That must hurt like hell." My guilt devours me as a snake would its prey. Slowly, but surely.

"I'm sorry, " I mutter at the ground, unable to stare Jay in the eyes.

A firm hand yanks my head up. Jay pats my shoulders while staring directly into my eyes.

"It's not your fault. Those bitches are at fault," He says, pointing at the door. "Don't go all soft on me now."

"How- what happened?" I stutter.

"Isn't it obvious?"

"I mean what's going on? Where have you been? Why did they keep you alive?"

"If I wanted to answer this many questions, I would have stayed in high school, Stone, " Jay rolls his eyes.

I stare at him blankly.

"Fine, " He lets out a low huff. "They captured me after you left with Dove, but I had a plan. I had to wait for Luca to leave the country before I could make my escape. There's a secret dungeon upstairs where I've been held and tortured. That's all."

Jay speaks as if what he went through wasn't a big deal.

"You could have found a way to contact me outside. I had no idea you were still alive." I wanted to yell out furiously, but I didn't. Things must have been very hard for him.

"And put you in danger? No. I could handle this."

"It's not your place to decide what's dangerous and what's not for me."

Finally, I understood Aaron's anger.

"How could you not reach out! You can take out half the guys here without blinking. Why didn't you leave sooner?"

"I had a plan, " He simply replies.

"Well, your plan is stupid. Luca's back, and he's in here."

"That was also a part of my plan, " Jay proudly nods his head. "You see, there were eleven men here in the beginning. Luca took six with him when he went to Italy, leaving only..." he trails off, making calculations in his head.

"Five, " I roll my eyes.

"I was getting to it, " Jay snaps. "Anyway, I made my escape yesterday. I could have easily left, but I waited because I knew Luca would come running once he knew I escaped. And Luca's like you, young, dumb, and irrational. I knew he'd run back without his men, and I'd get to kill him."

Jay had a determined look on his face. He really meant death.

Realization dawns on me. I remember Luca's words.

"You're wrong, " I shake my head. "Luca's up there with other men."

"I left Jelly and Shark alive to send a message to him."

No, that's not it. I shake my head. "Russo's coming, " My head snaps to Jay.

"That's not possible. I know Russo has important work to do in Italy from my sources," Jay frowns. He walks hastily from me and grabs an Ipad from the bed.

I follow him, peeping over his shoulder. "Oh shit, " I exclaim when I sight the screen. "You hacked the security cameras?"

"Yes, I'm a genius. I know, " He smirks and closes the app. He opens a tracking application and works his way around. He then turns the screen, propping it in my face. "See, Russo's in Italy."

"But that's not possible, " I shake my head, replaying Luca's exact words. "He said, Tiger's on his way here."

Jay freezes. Almost like a movie, I could see the blood draining from his face as he got paler and paler by the minute.

"Tiger?" Jay asks with a raise of his brows.

I nod. Was I missing something?

"Fuck, " Jay curses, throwing the iPad on the bed. The device bounces on the bed and makes contact with the bed stand, leading to a loud bang. "That means Luca never went to Italy."

He stops again, collecting his thoughts before letting out a heavy groan from the back of his throat. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck shit."

"Dude, are you trying to draw attention to us," I whisper, but Jay didn't seem to care.

"Fuck. Fuck, " He prances around the room, taking deep breaths and running his hands through his hair. "Fuck."

"Calm down. We can take them before Tiger gets here, " I rush to Jay, placing my hands on his shoulders.

He shrugs me off violently. "You need to get out of here now!"

"You're insane. I'm not going anywhere without you."

Jay grabs me by the throat and bangs my head on the wall, tightening his grip on my throat. "You will listen to me."

Feeling the air drain from my lungs, I panic. I've had enough. I use the sole of my boots to kick Jay in the groin. It works, and he releases his grasp on my neck a little.

My elbow rises to shove him in the face, and I follow by punching him with my fist, all in the flash of a blink.

I pin him to the ground, stepping on his chest with my shoes. "No. You will listen to me."

Never once in my life had I ever stepped up to Jay. This would be the first. And I probably was able to get this far because he didn't expect it from me.

Jay taps the ground. I release my pressure on him as he pushes my foot away.

"Never try that again, " he growls in my face as soon as he's up.

I raise my head, mirroring his stance. "Same to you."

We glare at each other for what seems to be a while, waiting for the other to cower in fear.

Jay gives up, turning his head to spit on the ground. A tooth comes out of his mouth mixed with his blood-stained saliva.

"I totally would have taken you down if I wasn't injured," Jay snarls. But, I could see the glint of pride hidden behind the snarl.

"Did you expect to take Luca, Jelly, and Shark with that body?"

Jay shakes his head. "I've got this bad boy over here, " he taps his gun. "No one uses it better than I do."

"Well, there's a kill on sight order for you," I repeat what I heard earlier.

"All the more reason for you to leave, " Jay replies, working on his pad.

"I can't go anywhere. There's also a lockdown order, " I huff.

Jay's head snaps. "Stone! You've got to give the important information first!"

Jay jolts upright, grabs the iPad, balances it on his knees, and snaps it in half.

"If worse comes to worst, you give this to my cousin, Kayden. It will get Russo off your back," Jay hands me a USB. "You remember Kayden, don't you?"

I shake my head. I knew what he was trying to do. "No. You keep it. We are getting out of here together."

Jay smiles and ruffles my hair. "You're a good kid, Stone. You've got good friends. You've got a family. The girl you love is still alive. You've got it all. So many things you can't afford to lose."

"And you're one of them. I can't afford to lose you," I fight my rising panic.

"Look kid, I've lived enough-"

I close my eyes and raise my head upwards. "I'm not looking at anything, and I've heard enough."

At that moment, Jay's hands cover my nose and shove an item down my throat. He blocks my mode of breathing, leaving me no choice but to swallow the USB.

"You fucking cunt, " I push him away from me, knocking him to the ground.

"You remind me a lot of myself, " Jay chuckle, dusting himself up.

"I don't want to hear it, " I spit. Jay was only ten years older than me, yet he liked to act like he was my father.

"If I had what you have now, I wouldn't have been as reckless as I was. As reckless as you're trying to be."

"Oh, boo-boo, " I snap. "So you've had a hard life. Tough shit. Everyone's got bullshit. I'm not going to live your life for you. You have to live it for yourself. Do the things you always fucking wanted to do! I'm not your second chance at life!"

Jay nods his head, his eyes trained on his gun. "Remember when I said you have things you can't afford to lose. You have more than one. I have only one."

"Yes. That's what I'm saying. That's why we need to make it out together. Stay alive and fight for that thing."

"That's what I'm trying to do, " Jay says, his hands on the doorknob, waiting for the right moment to leave.

I walk to stand behind him, confused as to why he broke his pad. Now, we have no way of tracking the location of Luca and the gang.

He nods without looking at me and opens the door.

Immediately the door opens, a deafening silence fills my eardrum- a reaction to the gunshot sound that just went off.

Tiny splatters of blood spill on my face from the impact. The room slowly disappears as black dots fill my sight.

Eyes wide open, a hole in the head, Jay drops to the ground with a thud. My body goes numb with shock, yet it felt like a thousand tiny needles pricked into my skin.

Once Jay drops, my eyes set on the shooter.

My dad.

••••••••••••••

A/n: If you've forgotten Jay, you can skim through chapters 33 and 34 to help you remember ❤️

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