Kalista does as I say, banging, kicking, and screaming in the back of the car. I pull up outside the church entrance, and Dan moves for the rear passenger door. Flinging my door open, I stop him. “Don’t! She’s a live wire. She’s going to come out swingin,’” I warn.
He nods once and steps away, eyeing the door, listening to her thrashing around behind it. “She’s all fucking yours, brother.”
I flip him off, then brace myself for her to come at me, opening the door slowly, but there’s no sign of her until the door is fully open. She dashes out, attempting to get around me.
“Uh-uh, sweetheart,” I say, snatching her up around the waist. Her arms and legs swing wildly, hitting anything they can reach.
She’s doing good, real good. Better than some of the chicks I’ve actually had to do this to. It takes me a minute to fasten her arms to her sides. “Stop kicking, or I’ll duct tape your legs together,” I warn, and she immediately complies.
“Good girl,” I croon, keeping up the act, then take her inside the church where my father and over a dozen guards are waiting. He’s sitting where the priest would deliver his sermons from. I don’t know what it’s called, but I’m not surprised that it’s where he’s positioned himself. He does have quite the god complex.
I sit Kalista on an old, dusty, half-burnt-out pew. “Don’t get any ideas, sweetheart. There’s nowhere to run,” I say, positioning myself in front of her, then turning my attention to my father.
He’s pleased, his smile serine, his posture relaxed. “Well done, boys,” he says to Dan and me, before trying to look at Kalista dead-on. “Get out of the damn way, Michael,” he demands.
Glancing over my shoulder, I shoot Kalista a look that I hope she understands, then I step to the side.
The longer he stares at her, the more clouded his gaze becomes. I glance at Dan; he seems to see it too.
I clear my throat. “What are we doing with her?” I ask, trying to gain his attention.
It’s as if he doesn’t even hear me, his focus solely intent on Kalista. It’s as if he’s somewhere else.
Discreetly, I tally the number of men he’s got in the church with us. I count nineteen, twenty including Dan. Half a dozen more linger outside the crumbling walls.
Abe and his team stashed weapons through the woods surrounding the church as well as inside it. I can’t spot any, I hope it’s because they’re hidden well, not because my father’s men have already found them.
Dan speaks up, “Ah, sir, what do you want us to do with her?”
This time, our father answers, “We’re going to extinguish the light from her pretty eyes, slowly, and painfully.”
My gut clenches with his words. I’ve carried out hits on his behalf over the years, but never on any women. The way he’s looking at Kalista right now turns my stomach inside out. Not just because she’s my sister, but because he looks like a kid on Christmas morning opening the best gift he could ever wish for.
“I won’t do it,” I tell him, crossing my arms over my chest. “You want us to torture her? No, that’s beyond the scope of our limitations. We don’t torture women. End of story.”
For the first time since his eyes landed on Kalista, my father’s gaze shifts off of her and onto me. “You think you can go against a direct order? You foolish boy. I don’t need you to carry out my commands.” He stretches his open hand out around the room, gesturing to his paid guards. “Anyone of them will take your place if you refuse me, and you will be joining her. You and that little whore sister of yours can writhe in pain together,” he says with a joker-like smile.
“So it’s true then? We share a mother? And what? You can’t hurt her so you’ll go second best and take it out on us? Your own son?” I remind him of who I am, because at this point he doesn’t look like he even knows my name.
He’s officially lost the fucking plot. I glance to Dan. “You going to go along with this shit?”
Dan’s eyes fixate on our father, studying him as he stands in the little booth above us, spewing his commands down on those beneath him. Dan frowns, dropping his gaze to Kalista’s tear-stained face. “She’s your sister?”
I nod, and Dan looks from her to me, and back again. “Jesus, this is even more fucked up that I thought.”
“ENOUGH!” our father booms from his podium. I catch a glimmer of silver right before the sound of a shot being fired rings in my ears. I throw myself in front of Kalista, but Dan shoves me, sending me stumbling back instead of towards her.
Commotion breaks out as soon as that first shot is fired. Round after round are released in the small area and I drop to the floor, crawling towards Kalista who’s now lying on the ground beneath a pew. Dust drifts around the room, catching in the sunlight raining down through the holes in the ceiling.
When I finally reach her, I discover her torso covered in red stains.
“Kalista,” I yell as I shake her. Her eyes flicker open momentarily, then roll back into her head. I check her pulse, but it’s strong. It should be weak if she’s bleeding out like this.