Just My Luck

Chapter 17

The doors crashed against the concrete walls, the tremulous sound echoing throughout the surprisingly meager room.

The room looked oddly empty. "No, this has to be right," Grayson yelled, tugging his hands roughly through his hair, practically ripping it from his head.

"Oh, it is," a cool voice drew.

Every single one of us had our guns aimed to the sound of the voice in an instant.

Walking out of the shadows was an unfamiliar man. "Look at you all with your big guns," he chuckled darkly. "You almost look impressive."

"Who are you?" Grayson sneered, aiming his rifle at the man's head.

He cocked his head to the side with a slight grin. "I think you already know the answer to that, Grayson," he grinned.

"Christopher," he spat, his gun groaning under the strength of his hold.

"Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!" Christopher boomed, slowly clapping his hands together in a mocking manner.

"Laugh all you want," Grayson bit, "but when we're done with you, there won't be anything left of you to laugh."

"You underestimate me, Ashford. If I actually had a heart, you might have broken it," he faked a pout. "Do you really think I was dumb enough to come here alone?"

From behind his shadowy figure came three buff men. All of them trained their weapons upon us. Unfortunately for us, that meant it was an even fight – four on four.

I could feel the tension in the air shift to a slightly unsure one between the Syndicate members.

"I'm surprised you made it this far, boy," Christopher snarled the word. "Then again, you do have your father's fight."

Grayson adjusted the gun on his shoulder. "You don't have the right to talk about my father – not when you're the reason he's dead." His voice was deadly, a rough, gravelly hiss. Raw emotion poured from every crevice of his body.

"You saw the show, Grayson." His calm facade was quickly fading, revealing his burning anger. "You know as well as I do that I had every right for what I did. They killed my little brother, right in front of me. It was only fair they share the same fate. A life for a life, as they say."

"But I had nothing to do with that," Grayson snapped passionately. "Why blame me for it? My parents didn't kill your brother."

"Oh, but their little excuse of a gang was responsible for it," he barked back. "I vowed to kill every member of the Ashford family. Unfortunately for you, that includes you."

"He's innocent in all of this," I piped up, a sudden wave of bravery washing over me. I don't know what got into me, but the urge to protect Grayson was overpowering.

Grayson's head snapped in my direction, eye silently begging me to stay quiet.

"Ah, Adeline. I almost forgot about you." He took a step closer to me, causing every member of the Syndicate to raise their guns even higher; the sound of fingers pressing ever so slightly against the trigger was enough to cause Christopher to pause.

The gesture was admittingly sweet, but only made the atmosphere more tense.

A smirk curled Christopher's lips. "I see you wrapped them all around your little finger, haven't you, Della?" My father's nickname for me sounded wretched rolling from his mouth.

"Do not call me that," I spoke through gnashed teeth.

He clucked his tongue. "Your father really didn't do you justice, dear. Then again, you were just a child back then. But now..." His eyes raked over my body.