ZACH

 

As I’m collecting the files into my hands to put them back into the safe, one of them in particular catches my eye. I cock my head sideways, not being able to believe what I’m seeing. I collect the particular file in my hand, but it’s mostly empty with only a few discreet pages hidden within the yellow folder.

But it’s the name on the folder that’s caught my attention: Dominic Ford.

“What the hell is this?” I question her, shaking the file furiously in my hands, holding it so tight that it creases under the pressure of my hands.

She shakes her head wildly, wets her lips and then softly, “I told you he's not the man he claims to be.”

“No!” I scream and tear the folder in half and then begin to dismantle it into tiny little pieces. I point a finger square at her, my blood pumping through my veins. “I'm not letting him go down for this.”

“It's too late,” she whispers under her breath. “Everything’s been set into motion and they’re going to be here any second. Everyone on that rooftop is going down. Even without the evidence, someone up there will squeal on your friend…”

I don’t have time to think about why she’s never told me this. And though my curiosity was piqued at least a little bit, I have no interest in knowing what’s in the file I’ve now torn to shreds.

I grit my teeth and grind out, “Get out of here,” before turning away from her and marching towards the front door.

“Where are you going?” She hooks a hand around my arm, forcing me to twist back to face her.

“I'm going to get my brother.” I shake her grip loose from my arm before spinning back around once more with the intention of going straight up to that rooftop and not caring who the hell sees me.

“He's not your brother,” she shouts from behind me, and it forces me to grit my teeth.

Though I know I’m running out of time, I feel like I need to stop and say something to her. I know at the end of the day, this isn’t her fault, but I’m not about to leave someone I love behind to be fed to the wolves.

“Remember what I said about choosing your own family?” I twist back to her one last time and close the short distance between the two of us. I place a palm on either of her cheeks and force her to look me in the eyes. “Well, I chose my family and Dom is a part of that. He’s a brother to me just like Zane and I need you to understand that. And I need you to understand why I’m doing what I’m doing, why I’m about to go up to that rooftop.”

“I get it.” She’s so soft spoken and it’s not like her at all. “I’m just scared.”

“What are you so afraid of?”

“I’m afraid that if you go up there that you won’t come back down.” She sniffles and then wipes her nose with her upper arm. “I’m afraid of losing you when I’m just about to find myself.”

I lower my head against hers and close my eyes. “You’re not going to lose me,” I say with the conviction of a promise, but I’m not sure of anything anymore. “I’ll be right down.”

She pushes herself backwards and wipes away her tears once more before patting her hands dry on her brown pants. It’s amazing how she can make anything look sexy, including a dirty and ugly brown delivery uniform, but now is so not the time to think about these things.

“Give me a kiss goodbye?” I take a step towards her but she places a hand between us so that I’m unable to reach her without swatting her hand away.

“No.” She shakes her head defiantly and reaches down to collect the safe in her arms before stepping past me. She stops and hooks a gaze directly into my eyes. “You can kiss me when you’re done saving your brother.”

She forces a gentle smile before she rushes past me and I stand completely still for a second, realizing that I’m about to risk my life to save Dom, all the while the girl I think I’m falling in love with is walking away.

She disappears out of the office and then quickly, I do the same. I take one final glance at her as she approaches the elevator and pushes the down button before I head the opposite direction to hit the stairwell that leads to the rooftop.

# # #

Once I reach the top of the stairs, I push open the rooftop door and peek outside. There’s a man standing on stage talking, but it’s not Richard. Must be somebody warming up the crowd for him, I suppose. The man who speaks is older, probably around seventy years old with thin white hair on top of his head. He’s frail and fragile but well spoken.

“We lost a damn good man earlier this year,” he says into the microphone, his voice blaring from the speakers. “Seth Grimm was a man of immeasurable fortitude and he taught me so much in the thirty years I knew him. He is gravely missed…”

Yeah, I decide to tune his old ass out. I don’t need to hear how great of a man Seth was because it’s all bullshit. And that man up at the podium knows that. He simply doesn’t care. Lola was right; these people are all the same. They will watch after each other and cover up crimes for one another and they will do it with smiles on their faces.

People like this don’t deserve to smile, but they’re going to deserve what’s coming for them. When the coast is clear, I slip out the door and onto the rooftop. Thankfully the crowd seems to be too preoccupied with the keynote speaker at the forefront of the space and they don’t notice me, dressed in a delivery uniform—completely out of place in the sea of well-ironed suits. I’ll stick out like a sore thumb if any of them turn around and that will not end well.

I search for Richard with my eyes as I approach the crowd from behind but I don’t see him anywhere, but I’m not too concerned with Richard right now. I’m more interested in finding Dom and getting him out of here before the authorities arrive, which by my estimate could be any second know.

I finally pinpoint someone that shares the same physique as Dom, tall and muscular with broad shoulders and short-cut hair. He’s standing in the back of the crowd so I approach him from behind and then step to stand beside him. When I glance out of the corner of my eye, I realize that it’s him.

He cocks his head sideways and takes notice of me, furrows one brow before dragging his palm over his mouth. He nods with his head, nods towards the elevator and I spin around and head towards it, but I don’t get very far before he’s grabbing onto my arm and forcing me to face him.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he questions from above me—I may be tall, but he’s even taller. He stands above most people like an absolute giant with the capability of scaring random people on the streets with just one sour look. “And why are you dressed like that? Why do you look so stupid?”

My eyes widen at the audacity he has to be questioning me right now. “No, we’re not going down that road.”

“What road?”

“Why are you here with these people?”

He smacks his lips together, takes a quick look over his shoulder and then narrows his eyes on me. “What the hell do you mean? It’s a business meeting.”

I step close to him, real damn close so that I’m right up against him. “Do you have any idea the things these people are capable of?”

He rolls his eyes and crosses his arms over each other as if he doesn’t have a clue what I’m talking about. “They’re capable of making money. That’s what they’re capable of.”

“Don’t pretend like I’m stupid,” I grind out, all of a sudden wishing I would have read his file before tearing it to shreds so that I would have some leverage in this conversation right now. If I at least had a clue what he’s doing with these people then I’d be better prepared to engage with him right now. “These people are terrible people.”

“Newsflash,” he scowls, “but you don’t know any of these people.”

“You know what I went through with Seth Grimm before.”

“Not exactly.” He shakes his head again. “It’s not like you ever told anyone what happened. The two of you brothers just left town one day saying that you were away on important matters.”

I scoff and bite into my lip, beyond annoyed that he’s either lying to me or playing stupid. And I don’t know which one is worse, but I know he’s not like the rest of the men on this rooftop. I know that he has a soul and spends his life helping those in need. I have great intuition. I could see the goodness in Lola’s heart well before she even realized it existed.

“You need to get out of here,” I warn him and grab him roughly by the arm, and then I decide to lie to him to force him to get his ass into gear. “There’s a bomb that’s about to blow.”

“What?” he begins to yell but I throw a hand over his mouth. He grabs my hand and knocks it out of the way, and then leans in close to me. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Just what I said.” I exhale sharply and place both hands in front of me, steadying them in place. “Look, you’re not like the rest of these guys. And I don’t know why you’re here and I also don’t care. I just need you to follow me and get the hell out of dodge before this building is blown to smithereens.”

“You’re being serious?” he questions, his voice ragged and raw like there’s gravel in his throat or something. He passes a quick glance over his shoulder at the men standing behind him continuing to listen to the speaker. And when he turns back to me, he’s wearing a severe face. “Let’s go.”

“It’s about damn time,” I say and begin pacing backwards before spinning on my feet and ripping the rooftop door open.

When Dom runs past, I turn and pull the door closed gently as to not alert anyone to our presence. We make our way down the steps one floor at a time without saying a word to each other. He’s too worried about trying to survive right now and I just know that he’s going to kill me when he finds out that I lied about the bomb… Sort of, anyways.

We finally make our way to the first floor and though the both of us are drenched in sweat, we race forward and out the front door of the Grimm Industries office building. Once we’re down the steps and on the solid, hard pavement. We both come to a stop and bend to our knees to catch our breaths.

And I chuckle lightly as I look over and see him heaving. He flips me off and shakes his head, laughs too…

And then there’s a loud explosion.

I feel the heat against my skin as the sounds pierce through my ears, and then I’m thrown to the ground as debris begins to rain down all around us. I fight to catch my breath, fight to rise to my feet but the explosion got the better of me. I’m exhausted and struggling to find my breath.

From somewhere out of my sight, I hear Dom launching into a fit of dry coughing and as I roll over onto my back, I look up to see a shadow pass over me.

It’s none other than Richard himself with a gun aimed right at my head. He’s wearing a sinister smile and I think to myself that this might really be it. I don’t know what the hell just happened, but I’m sure he’s about to explain it to me in dumb-downed rhetoric.

“I decided on a new plan,” he says and kicks my gun that’s lying on the ground away from me. “Just because I know you’re wondering and I don’t want you to go to the grave not knowing what happened. It’s just simple courtesy you know.” He shrugs with apathy. “I wasn’t going to let those explosives go to waste.” He takes another step towards me. “And now there are just a few loose ends to tie up and I’ll be a goddamn king.” He smiles flatly and clicks his tongue against his cheek. “Any last words?”

I swallow harshly but can’t bring myself to say a word.

But in my mind, all I can think about is how I’ll never see Lola again.

And that just about kills me.

“No?” He stretches his arm out and cocks the gun. “Didn’t think so—”

A gun goes off and his body goes limp first and then stumbles sideways until his dead body lands with a crack against the asphalt, his head cracking wide open on impact.

And then I look to my left to see her…

Lola standing there with a gun in her hands. “I told you I wasn’t going to leave you.”