Page 114 of Royal Desire

He tries to wrench the handgun toward me, but I’m on top of him. I might be bigger and stronger, but desperation is an interesting bitch. With all his might, Dad strains to turn it on me.

I lift my other arm and try to elbow him in the side while I focus on the pistol. He gets his finger on the trigger and discharges two quick rounds that ricochet off the side of the mountain. I put my other hand on the firearm and pull it up to point in the air at the same time I lift my head and slam it back into his.

That was enough of a shock. His grasp loosens a touch, but it’s all I need. I yank the gun from his hand and roll. He tries to stay with me, but he can’t keep up.

I climb to my feet as fast as I can and back away. I train it on him where he’s struggling to get up when flashing lights round the bend and reflect off everything around us. I don’t take my eyes off Dad.

He looks from the flashing lights to me. “You don’t have a shred of loyalty in you. You’re a pathetic excuse for a son.”

I shake my head. “You’re a wretched excuse of a human. My goal in life is to be everything you’re not. I’ve hated you since I was old enough to know I could. You’ll never hurt the people I love again.”

Dad looks from me to the weapon and back to me again. His age shows as he pulls himself to his feet. “You might hate me, but I’m not going anywhere. I’m going to make your life fucking miserable for ruining mine.”

I shake my head. “You’ll never have that kind of power over me again.”

He stumbles to his feet. “What, are you going to kill me? You don’t have the balls. I’m not going anywhere. And I’m going to fight for what you took from me. I’ll get it all back and ruin you in the process.”

“Feel free to dig your own grave or find your way back to prison. I have faith those are the only things you’ll succeed in.”

Dad squints into the flashing lights that are shining from behind me. He shakes his head and mutters, “No way. I’ll never go back.”

Tires screech to a halt. I hear Dean yell through the dark night as he runs our way. “Police! Put your hands up, Owen. It’s over.”

Dad moves, but not to put his hands up.

I tense when I see him reach into the deep pocket of his cargos. He pulls out another gun, a smaller one.

Dean yells from behind me. “Payne!”

I don’t need the warning.

Dad hardly has a chance to raise his arm. This is the easiest decision I’ve ever made other than to love Ruby.

I pull the trigger once.

The micro pistol he was hiding hits the ground before he does. His eyes widen.

He looks from me to his chest before he falls to his knees.

Then to his face.

Dean comes to a stop beside me as we both stare at my father. Blood seeps from him onto the cold, hard road. Neither of us says a word. The only things I can hear are Dean’s breaths from running and my heart beating in my ears like a gong.

Finally, Dean speaks. “Fuck.”

“Yeah. Fuck.”

Dean’s police radio crackles and someone from the station hits him up. “Dude, Dean, you there?”

Dean doesn’t answer the dispatcher and turns to me. “You okay?”

“If I say that I’m more than fine, are you going to put that in your report?”

He shakes his head. “Self-defense. I was witness to it. That’s the only thing going in my report.”

The dispatcher has no patience. “Dude! Where the hell are you?”

Dean puts his comm to his mouth. “I radioed in that I was on my way to an accident on the highway going north out of town. We’re at mile marker eleven. I’ve got one gunshot victim—fatal. I need backup. Lots of it. This is a mess.”