Page 144 of Vega

Lowe was about to fire at one of the dogs, but then Promise’s voice cut through the chaos again. “Zurück!”

Both dogs stopped inches from Lux, turned at once, and ran back through the doorway behind her.

Then she started bussin’. Promise wasn’t hiding behind men. She moved with purpose, firing from one angle, shifting, then firing again before anybody could settle on her position. One bullet tore into the wall near my head. Another hit the toolbox beside Prodigy and sent metal drawers crashing open.

“She can shoot!” Lowe barked.

“No shit!” Lux yelled, still trying to catch his breath.

Roman appeared behind Promise for one second.

My focus snapped to him. I moved toward the storage room. Wise and Saint fired over me, clearing space while I crossed the shop floor. Roman backed deeper into the room, and Promise covered him with clean shots that kept forcing me behind cars and toolboxes. Every time I moved, she made me pay for that shit.

I had almost made it to the storage room when Lowe made a sound I had never heard come out of him before. I spun around to see that a shot had tore through his thigh and knocked his leg from under him. The second slammed into his hip before he could catch himself. The third hit his side and spun him into the car beside him hard enough to make metal groan.

“Lowe!” Lux screamed, and his brother’s name came out broken and panicked.

Lowe dropped to the concrete awkwardly. His legs folded beneath him, but one of them didn’t move right after that. His foot dragged across the floor when he tried to push himself back, and the look on his face told me something inside him had stopped working as it should. Blood started to spread too fast. He tried to lift his gun, but his arm shook, and his body sagged against the tire beside him. His mouth opened, but nothing came out at first. Then he coughed, and blood hit his lips.

It didn’t look like Lowe had simply been shot; it looked like Lowe was leaving us.

“No, no, no!” Lux bellowed as he ran towards Lowe. He dropped beside him, tears pooling in his eyes. “Stay with me, bro! You fucking stay with me!”

Wise grabbed Lowe by the back of his shirt and dragged him behind the car. “He’s hit bad! It’s bad!” he shouted at us.

That changed everything. Roman was still alive. The reason Sonnet couldn’t live free stood on the other side of that storage room, and every part of me wanted to keep going until he stopped breathing.

Then Lowe coughed up blood onto the concrete.

Family came first.

“Get him outta here!” I bellowed.

Big A ran in with Saint covering him. Prodigy fired toward Promise while Wise helped Lux lift Lowe. Promise stepped out again, firing toward us with no fear in her expression. I shot back and almost caught her near the shoulder.

She jerked, grabbed the doorframe, and still fired again. But Roman grabbed her arm and pulled her deeper into the storage room.

I turned from the storage room and helped cover our exit. We backed out through smoke, glass, and gunfire. Saint and Prodigy fired through the hallway while Big A and Lux dragged Lowe toward the van. Reek had the UPS truck angled across the street, blocking traffic and giving us space to move.

Lowe’s head rolled to the side as Lux kept yelling his name. “Stay up, bro! Stay with me! Don’t fuckin’ do this to me!”

We put him into the van, and Wise jumped in after him. Prodigy climbed in next. Saint fired twice more through the broken front window before Big A yanked him inside.

I was the last one in. The van pulled off, tires burning against the street. I turned from the back window and saw Lowe on the floor with Lux’s hands pressed against him, trying to hold in blood that kept pushing through his fingers.

Lowe’s eyes kept rolling, then fighting their way back open. His lips moved, but no real words came out. Every sound he made was wet and weak.

“Stay with me,” Lux begged. “Lowe, don’t do this shit! Stay with me, bro!”

I had seen men die before. I had caused it. I had watched life leave bodies and felt nothing but the end of a good business day. This was different, though. This felt like something inside me was dying along with him. Every time his eyes started to close, a piece of me went with him.

I had never felt pain like that before. I usually killed who came against me, but I couldn’t end this feeling with violence. I couldn’t put my hands on it, couldn’t shoot it, couldn’t make it pay. All I could do was sit there as part of me died in that van too.

26

SONNET ELLISON

Vega’s breakfast plate sat untouched on the kitchen island for hours. I stared at it from the stool across the island, feeling my stomach in knots. I hadn’t eaten either. I couldn’t. I kept checking my phone every few minutes, even though Vega’s messages had given me nothing useful.