Page 79 of Diary from an Inked Throne

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NYAH

Dear Diary,

I broke Luca’s heart with one question.

The gunshot cracked painfully right beside my ear, the noise so loud an instant ringing drowned out everything else.

I flinched, chaos surrounding me, and yet something deep in my mind processed the bullet wound appearing on my father’s Botoxed forehead. Blood dripping, his eyes turning from focused and sharp to unseeing in an instant.

His body fell forward at an alarming rate of speed, gravity taking over, his knees hitting the cold concrete, his body slumping forward to hit the bars. He landed face down on the floor, blood pooling almost instantly beneath him from the gaping head wound Luca had given him.

I stared, unable to comprehend it all enough to speak.

He’d been saying words just a second ago, begging me for his life, promising me he hadn’t done it.

And now he was dead.

I stared at Luca.

Dax pushed me behind him, putting himself between me and Luca, still holding the gun.

Dax shoved him in the chest. “What did you do?! Why didn’t you let him speak? He was going to tell us what he knew about my mother’s killer!”

He knelt to the floor, flipping my father over enough for us to know once and for all that the man was dead, and there was no bringing him back to answer our questions.

Dax backed off from the dead body, shaking his head in disgust and anger, but all of it directed at Luca. “Was it you? Who killed my mother? You knew about the Lynx Killer. You were there that night when her body was found at the clubhouse.”

I stared at Dax in shock. “Dax!”

But Dax wasn’t done. He whirled on me. “Your father was just about to tell us who it was! Is it a coincidence Luca stepped in and made sure he couldn’t? That was supposed to be your kill, Nyah! That’s what we agreed, that you would get to be the one who pulled the trigger!”

He was right, it was what we’d agreed as we’d planned this attack. But I couldn’t hear his accusations about Luca. I didn’t want to believe any of that.

And yet it made sense.

Luca had taken the gun right out of my hand and used it to silence my father once and for all.

I shook my head at Luca. “What if he was telling the truth? What if it wasn’t him and you just killed an innocent man?”

Luca’s eyes widened. He looked between me and Dax, his shock all over his face. “Are you two serious right now?” He glared at me. “Innocent, princess? Is that what you’re trying to call him?” He curled his lip and reached for me, faster than anyone could stop him. He grabbed my shirt, ripping it up, exposing this scar on my chest where I’d been branded with the Guerra name. “This is who your father is, Nyah! He’s why you have these scars on your skin!” He moved in closer, so I was sandwiched between him and Lynx.

But all I saw was Luca.

And the pure agony on his face when he whispered, “I fucking love you. I would never do anything to hurt you, Lynx, or Dax. I thought you knew that.”

I instantly knew he was right. That even if my father had been telling the truth about Virginia, that he was guilty of many, many other sins.

That he deserved to die.

But Luca wasn’t done, his hurt came through in his voice, loud and clear. “I made you a promise, back at the Slayers’ clubhouse. I promised I’d kill him so you didn’t have to. Because no one should have to kill their own flesh and blood.” Anger took the place of the hurt in his expression. He turned to Dax. “I loved your mother, and you fucking know that. If I was a bigger man, maybe I’d give you a pass because you’re grieving.” He breathed out a long sigh. “But I’m not the bigger man. Not tonight.”

Dax and I both tried to talk at once, but Luca held up his hand, his exhaustion clear.

“I don’t want to hear it. Frankly, you can both go to hell.”

And when he walked away, I couldn’t blame him.