Page 65 of Darkest Deeds
She stomps her foot. “Because if I wanted to shoot you, I would’ve grabbed it as I was untying your shoe this morning when it was two fucking inches away from my face!”
I’m a man of logic. Argue with me out of emotion, and I’ll shut down every time. However, present hard cold facts that can’t be disputed, and I have no comeback.
I hand her the gun and hope I didn’t just fuck up.
When Ava gets to the back of the house, she pushes the gate open, stopping when she sees the same little girl from before. She’s lying curled up on the lanai under a patio table. I follow behind Ava, who hides her gun behind her back and approaches her slowly as if the little girl’s a frightened deer in the woods.
“Hi,” Ava says, sitting down beside her. “I’m Ava. What’s your name?”
“Paige,” the little girl whispers. The closer I get, the more I see what Ava saw back at the diner. The little girl’s dress is torn, and there’s a bruise on her cheek. However, it’s the way she’s holding herself, pain etched across her face in a permanent scar that turn my stomach. I want to shoot my way through every wall and window until I see blood, but Ava seems calmer than ever.
“It’s nice to meet you, Paige. I’ll tell you what. I’m going to go inside and talk to your dad for a minute. Can you do me a huge favor and stay here no matter what you hear?” Paige nods, and Ava smiles. “Take your fingers like this and put them in your ears for me.” She demonstrates by plugging her ears and Paige mimics her. “Perfect! Now stay like that for me, okay?”
“Ava?” I ask, but she doesn’t hear me. She’s already up and through the back door, gun drawn. Yet again, I run after her, but when I catch up with her, I lose every breath in my chest.
My girl is standing in an enormous black-and-white stainless steel kitchen pointing my gun at who I assume to be Senator Dresden. There’s not an ounce of fear in her. She’s beautiful—my perfect wicked queen.
I fucking love her.
“Hey,” the man says, his lip curling up. “I know you.”
My euphoria plummets.
What the hell?
“I didn’t think you’d recognize me.” Ava aims the gun between his eyes. “You know, since I’m not naked and dripping in blood.”
I don’t know what the hell is going on here, but the words I’m hearing are being drowned out by the sounds of roaring and clawing inside my chest.
The man makes a deep sound in his throat. “Some things you never forget.”
The same words Ava said outside.
No, a voice in my head roars. No, no, no, no, no.
“Why her?” Ava’s voice cracks as her calm façade starts to break. “Why Paige? She’s an innocent little girl!”
The senator smiles, his eyes trailing down Ava’s body. “So were you.”
Ava doesn’t just pull the trigger; she unloads the gun. The first one’s a clean shot to the head that takes Dresden down, but she keeps going until all she’s doing is clicking a trigger that doesn’t fire.
“Pchelka,” I say softly, lowering the gun. “He’s gone.”
Ava blinks, her eyebrows drawing together. “Paige,” she whispers. Spinning around, she runs back to the lanai where Paige still lies curled under the table with her fingers in her ears. As she opens her mouth, the sound of a garage door opening stops her. She looks up at me, and I’m about to grab both of them and run when a blood curdling scream echoes from inside.
Ava turns back to Paige. “Does your Mommy make you cry like Daddy does?”
The little girl shakes her head.
“Does she know?”
Again, the girl shakes her head.
Satisfied, Ava puts her finger to her lips and points toward the tattered dress. “Our special secret.” Lifting her index finger and her thumb to her mouth she pretends to twist a key. The girl stares at her for a few seconds before smiling and returning the gesture.
“Don’t tell anyone we helped you. Pinkie promise?”
The girl smiles even bigger and curls her little pinkie around Ava’s.