Cole jogs my memory of my childhood, after I used to play with my brothers on this very pavilion. It jogs my memory of a time after I felt regular. When the darkness didn’t devour me. After I may very well be a younger, carefree boy.

“Why not, Cole? Huh?”

I rise up and wave my gun at my brother. Flashbacks of us taking part in on this very area run in my head. The laughter. The screams of enjoyment. Clark doesn’t even elevate his gun in the direction of me. He stands agency, by no means taking his eyes off me.

“You weren’t at all times like this, and I don’t perceive why you’ve chosen this life.”

“No. You left. I used to be the one who needed to step as much as the plate and settle for my half inside our household.”

“You possibly can have carried out what Damien and I did. It didn’t have to finish like this. You possibly can have instructed him to do his personal soiled work, however you by no means did. You thrived from the eye.”

Are they tears I see unshed in my brother’s eyes?

“You don’t have any concept. None of you will have any concept. I killed, I tortured, I begged, I stole. I destroyed anybody I used to be instructed to go after. I had no selection.”

“Everybody has a selection, Cole. It’s by no means too late. You possibly can cease this proper now. Stroll away. Do your time for the crimes you’ve dedicated and begin afresh.”

“All the time the optimist, huh? You haven’t obtained a clue.”

“Effectively, we’ve got time. Fill me in, brother.”

I snicker. It’s too late to behave just like the doting brother now. That ship sailed, sank, and decayed a very long time in the past. There isn’t a turning again. I’m by no means getting back from the issues I’ve carried out. Absolution isn’t a phrase that may be put in a sentence with my title.

“I’ll hand myself in.” Clark’s shoulders calm down. It’s solely now that I see how tense he was. “Solely after I’m prepared. After I’ve obtained payback for the life I’ve been compelled to stay.”

“And meaning what, Cole? Who has performed a component in making you this evil particular person?”

“Wouldn’t you prefer to know?” I elevate my gun shortly and hearth my first bullet at Clark’s proper shoulder. He flies backward, his gun touchdown a number of toes away from him. “I by no means clarify myself to anybody.”

I stroll over to him, decide up his gun, and unload it, letting the bullets fall to the bottom. Clark’s left hand is placing stress on his shoulder. The colour has drained from his face. I don’t know why he seems shocked that I shot him. He’s nothing to me now. I look over his physique on the bottom and our eyes join.

“Why, Cole?”

“I want you all gone. Someday… sooner or later, I hope you’ll perceive.”

I straighten up and shoot him within the different shoulder. I may finish his life shortly, however I don’t. By capturing his shoulders, it’ll depart him out of motion lengthy sufficient for me to do what I’ve to do. If somebody finds Clark earlier than he bleeds out, then somebody up above have to be taking care of him. If he succumbs to his wounds, then… so be it.

I stroll again to my deserted automotive and resolve the place I’m going subsequent. I’ve began this campaign, and now I have to end it. I’ve no selection.

Regrets are for the weak.

Chapter 31

Damien

“The place is Clark?” I burst by way of my brother’s entrance door and are available head to head with a tearful Nancy and frightened gazes from the Shawland Brothers. “What’s happening?”

Caleb walks in the direction of me first. “Nancy can’t come up with Clark. We’ve known as all his recognized to us numbers. We’re making an attempt to trace down his cell proper now. Chris is operating a tracker and making an attempt to see who the final particular person was to contact him.”

I clear my throat. “The clinic known as me. Kally was in search of him. She wished to talk to Clark.”

“I’ve been involved with Kally. I’ve reassured her that she wants to remain put so we all know she’s secure. I feel I obtained by way of to her,” says Caleb. “We have to discover Clark, although.”

Caleb turns again to the worktop in entrance of him and no matter he’s doing on his laptop. I take out my cell and name Clark. The decision goes straight to voicemail. This isn’t like him; he at all times has his cell on him. He by no means simply disappears.

“He by no means turns his cell off,” cries Nancy.

“It may have died,” says Chris reassuringly.

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