“We’re going to my dad’s, Ror. He’s getting a doctor for us.”
“Okay, little star,” he murmured.
She sat back and looked over at me, her eyes dark. I put my hand out.
“Gun?”
She fumbled in her purse and took it out, handing it to me. I checked it over and then frowned when I realised it’d been fired.
“What the fuck, Ash? Why did you fire this? And how the hell do you even know how?”
“Shit, I forgot, I need to tell Viktor. They might have to dig the bullet out of a tree.”
I stared at her as she fiddled with her phone again.
“You going to explain this to me or not?”
She put her phone down in her lap and rubbed her face.
“I know how to use a gun… you think Frank would let me off without learning that?”
She had a point there. Russo would’ve taught her a lot of things.
“Why did you fire it?”
“Carlo is a dick and wasn’t taking me seriously.”
“So you figured you shoot up a tree?”
She shrugged. I handed the gun off to Xav in the front and he shoved it in the glove compartment. There wasn’t much we could do about that shit now.
“I told him I was coming for them and he didn’t believe me. I was angry and hurting. The guy just fucking made us crash, I wasn’t really thinking clearly, you know. I wanted him away from me and Ror so I could check him over. He came to kill us but the idiot didn’t bring a weapon. He thought making us crash would do the trick.”
I shook my head. The fact Ash had even threatened someone with a gun just went to show how angry she was and how she’d protect Rory through everything. She’d do that for all of us. I didn’t like her putting herself in danger, but then again if she hadn’t, what would her cousin have done?
“So you shot the tree and then what? Did he leave?”
“No, he called me a psycho bitch and that just made me lose my shit. I may have told him to tell Frank I would be the one sending him to his maker.”
“You did what?”
She looked at her hands which curled into fists in her lap.
“I want to watch the life drain out of his eyes. I want to be the one who ends him.”
For someone who was adamant about not hurting other people, Ash looked deadly as shit right now and very serious.
“You want to kill Frank?”
“Yes.”
The whole car went silent. She hadn’t mentioned this before when we were hatching a plan to destroy Russo. I knew she wanted to be the instigator in his downfall, but this wasn’t something any of us expected judging by the looks on the boys’ faces. Xav was staring at her from the front with wide eyes. Eric’s face was hard as he glanced back in the rearview mirror. And Rory was turned to her with a slight frown on his face.
“Why didn’t you say anything when we were planning his demise?”
She raised her face to me.
“Do you really think I could openly admit to my mother I want to kill her husband? That I want to murder the man who raised me in cold blood? It sounds crazy… especially since I refused to kill for him. I just can’t allow him to walk this earth any longer. It needs to be me. It has to. He raised me to be the queen of his kingdom. Wouldn’t it be poetic fucking justice if I wield the axe which cuts him down? It should be me.”
I put my hand on her clenched fist.
“Are you sure you want to be a killer, little girl? I can tell you it’s not something you can easily live with.”
She blinked.
“You’ve… killed?”
It had to be done. And none of wanted to discuss what we did that day. What we did for Rory. It was better left in the past where it belonged. It wasn’t the only time I’d killed, but it was the worst one. The rest had been necessary to keep us safe.
“Yes. All of us have.”
There was no point denying it to her. She’d been raised with criminals so she knew the deal. And there would be more bloodshed before we were done with Russo. That was unavoidable.
“Oh… I didn’t think… I hadn’t considered that.”
“You don’t have to kill him, little girl. No one expects that of you. One of us will. We’ve always known it could come to this.”
She sighed and reached out, taking one of my hands in hers.
“I knew you wouldn’t like it if I told you.”
I didn’t want her to kill anyone. Ash had no idea how it felt. She might have watched Frank do it, but that wasn’t the same as taking away someone else’s life. Even if she thought she wanted to, the reality would be very different. I wasn’t sure if her need to get back at him was clouding her judgement or not.
“I’m merely saying you have a choice. I think I speak for all of us when I say no one wants to put you in that position.”
Ash leant her head back against the headrest and closed her eyes. She’d been through a hell of a lot in the past couple of hours and I’m sure we didn’t need to be discussing this right now. I stroked her hand with my thumb.
“I just want this all to end,” she whispered. “I need it to. I’m so tired, Quinn. I’m tired of living in fear. I just want a normal life with you all… is that asking too much?”
“No, little girl, it’s not. It’s what we want too.”
“Are you sure? Is this really what you all want? Me? This? Us?”
She opened her eyes and the sadness in them ripped into my heart.
“Is this enough? Because
