Dane

His heart stopped. Dead. For a second he couldn't breathe. Lila's eyes cut to him, and instead of fear there he saw… rage? Her lips went thin and she shuddered, but Chris just jerked at her arm. She closed her eyes for a second and Dane sent up a silent prayer.

​​

Then he looked down, just for a single breath, just to get himself together, before he met his brother's gaze and spoke so calmly he surprised even himself. "You can have whatever you want. You can do whatever you want to me. But you let her go. Alive. And unhurt."

"No, Dane—" Lila breathed.

"Always the fucking sacrificial lamb, right, Dane?" Chris sneered.

"Why are you doing this, Chris?" he asked. Inside he was volcanic with rage, but he knew they needed answers too. What had he missed?

Chris laughed. "Fuck you can be ignorant, big brother."

"I don't get it. If you want me dead, or trapped, why get me out? Why shoot dad?"

Lila blinked. She didn't know that part. Chris must have noticed her tense because he smirked. He never took his eyes off Dane, but he spoke Lila. "Didn't your hero tell you that part?" he asked quietly. "Didn't he tell you how he couldn't do it? How he hesitated at the crucial fucking moment? So I did what needed to be done."

"Why not just kill me then? Why wait?" Dane asked quietly.

"Because I'm not a fucking psycho like dad," Chris spat. "He needed to die before he brought the walls down on everyone. Don't you worry, Dane. I know what you did. I know what I owed you—you saved me from him when we were little, now I saved you from him when we're big. Which is the bigger fucking job, by the way. But that makes us even. I don't owe you shit anymore."

"You never did owe me anything."

"Stop pretending like you're fucking noble! You're not noble, Dane! You're a sick motherfucker with the devil's own luck. And I'm sick of you. It's time for you to actually pay for something for once." And he pushed the gun harder against Lila's temple. She made a little noise in her throat and kept her eyes on Dane.

Dane brought his hands up, palms towards Chris and kept his face blank. "You can't do this, Chris—"

"I can do whatever the fuck I want."

"No, you don't understand…" He looked at Lila and her eyes went sad. He swallowed hard. "She's pregnant."

Chris scoffed. "I've heard that before."

"No, it was a ruse when she said that for dad, but… this is real. Lila, show him."

Lila shivered and her jaw went tight. "I have to move my hands, it's in my pocket."

"One hand," Chris said, "Slowly."

"Don't do anything, Lila, just show him."

She nodded and slid one hand desperately slowly down to the back pocket of her jeans, then held it up in front of him. "See? Two lines."

Dane's heart thundered and his breath caught. He stared at her as her face paled.

Chris glanced at it and his eyes narrowed and his mouth pulled down. "YOU ALWAYS GET FUCKING EVERYTHING!" he roared, startling Lila so badly she squeaked and dropped the test. It clattered to the floor in front of them and she kept her hands up, her chest rising and falling too quickly.

Dane shuddered with rage and terror. Help us, God. Fucking help her!

Lila shook like a leaf, but there were no tears. Her jaw stayed tight, her brows pinched in. She was so angry.

Dane followed her lead and kept his voice calm. "You don't need to hurt them, Chris," he said quietly. "Just tell me what you want and I'll make it happen."

"I can't have what I want," Chris snarled. "Because you're always in the way. But I'll settle for everything you should have had."

Dane blinked. Did that mean—

"They caught the drone, Dane. They know you're trying to get inside."

"We were only trying to find out who took control. We weren't going to do anything. I just wanted to make sure it was Felix—"

"It's not Felix, you idiot," Chris said, smirking. "It was never going to be Felix."

"Then who?"

Chris raised an eyebrow and Dane had a moment of sheer confusion before… Holy shit. "He passed it on to you?" Dane said, his voice higher than it should have been, out of sheer shock.

"Jealous? He knew, Dane, he knew you were never loyal. But he couldn't fucking stop trying because you were the only thing that made him weak. What is it about you? What do these people see? Because I don't see it—you're an arrogant ass who can't see past his own chest. So, yeah, Dane, he left it to me and they're all behind me. I'm not taking orders from anyone anymore, least of all you," he said through his teeth.

Dane frowned. "Are you sure about that, Chris? Felix is a slippery bugger. If he's getting you to do his dirty work, but he's secretly—"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, DANE," Chris roared.

Dane flinched and took a tiny step back. "Okay, okay. I'm just… tell me what you want. What do you need? You don't have to hurt them, Chris, I'll give you anything." And he stared his brother down, because Chris knew it was true, and he needed to be reminded that Dane was rock-solid in this.

Chris glanced at Lila, a wild light in his eyes. "I want you out of my life and out of this city—out of this fucking country. I want you and your fucking wife out of my face. I want the business. And I want everyone to know it was me who fixed all this. Who saved them all. That you were the one who fucked it up. All of it."

Dane glanced at Lila, her breath was heaving, but she was focused on Chris.

"So, brother," Chris continued, "like I said, I'm not the psycho, right? I don't have to kill you to win this, so I won't—unless you fuck with me. One step wrong, Dane. One fucking word, and I will shoot her dead."

Dane went cold.