"Diamond?"
"Hm?"
He leaned in and pressed a kiss to my lips, "I love you."
With a smile, I kissed him back, "I love you."
"Tallia."
Someone put their hand on my shoulder and turned me around. Looking at their face under the hood of their jacket, my...
Kris had a twinkle in his eyes as he stared at the man in front of him. Zach gently pushed me behind him as if to protect me. I held his bicep as I peeked over his arm.
"Topher?"
"Larry and you will never lay a finger on my siblings. You don't deserve to be forgiven for what you've done to us."
"Topher, please, I did what I thought was right at the time."
"If you thought abandoning us was right, then why didn't you do it earlier?"
"I had no reason to, I couldn't just up and leave."
"But you did."
"Topher, let me explain. I thought the industry and underworld would leave all of you safe if I wasn't there. I knew they'd use you to get to me."
"Isn't it better if you had stayed? Without you, we were defenseless. We would've been safer with you, but you chose to run, because you're a coward. You didn't want to face the reality."
That hit home.
"I...I..." James tried to search for excuses but Kris wasn't having it. He stepped back so KT and I were right behind him.
"Leave. Landon and I are capable enough to protect them, much more than you."
"Topher, please, just give me a chance."
"We gave you a decade," I said, stepping in front of Zach to get a better view of James, "But you left for fourteen years. What gives you the right to come back into our lives?"
"Tallia, please..."
"It's no use, James. We're fine without you," Kris said, finality in his voice.
"Tian," he looked at KT and Kris stepped a little to the left to block his view.
"Leave."
"I know what I did wasn't the best choice, but if you were in my shoes, you'd do the same thing," he tried to change our minds but it was set.
"Leave," Kris ordered gently. Even though James did some pretty fucked up shit, he's still our father. We didn't want to hurt his feelings any more than we have to.
"A father will do anything for the wellbeing of their children," he was persistent and Kris' patience was wearing thin.
"'The wellbeing of their children', that includes their physical health and mental state, dad. We were healthy, but traumatized. Is this what you mean by 'a father will do anything for the wellbeing of their children'?" Kris questioned and James didn't know how to respond anymore.
"Leave, we don't need you," Kris stated.
James looked down at his feet, his whole form trembling slightly. I took a step closer, "James?"
It happened in slow motion. The front doors flew open and James turned around on instinct. We all ducked but one of the doors was going to hit him.
"James!"
Joseph pushed him onto the ground and the door just merely went over our heads and slam onto the wall.
"What the fuck?"
Landon.
Just then, bullets started flying through the air, missing us by inches. We took weapons from all over the room while still planted on the ground. I slid a rifle out from under the couch and checked the magazine.
Just 21 rounds. Are you fucking kidding me?
I put the magazine back and huddled over to the wall where the bullets couldn't get to. Everyone had their weapons in hand and was using the furniture to cover themselves.
Zach huddled next to me and checked the cylinder of the revolver in his hand.
"Two bullets, are you serious?" he put the cylinder back. I looked at the corner of the room and caught a pistol there. Using the rifle, I hooked the corner of the butt on the trigger guard and pulled it towards us.
"Check this," I tossed the pistol to him and he checked the magazine.
"Thirteen."
"So you have fifteen total. Judging from the amount of bullets firing right now, there's fifteen to twenty people with rifles. If we use the sharp corners at the arch, we can get them," I devised a shitty plan and he nodded, "Okay."
I looked at the others and they nodded before moving on the floor. I pressed my back against the wall next to the arch as I heard footsteps coming closer.
Just as they reached, we fired at them until they were almost dead. Almost.
I hung my rifle up behind my back and went to investigate the bleeding bodies.
"They must've known I'm here," James said and Landon raised an eyebrow at him, "What made you think that?"
He stepped forward and took a phone that flew out of one of their pockets, "Even though I'm registered 'dead', E.A.'s not."
He showed us the phone and on the screen was a picture of him escaping from a burning house. You could kinda see his side profile if you looked closely.
That's when all of our phones dinged. We furrowed our brows in confusion as we pulled it out from our pockets and checked.
THE UNDERWORLD
BREAKING NEWS
E.A. FINALLY FOUND
We did it, gangs. We found the man who has been terrorizing us. He was spotted running away from a house in flames. Some speculate he had set that off for show and not for a grudge.
But that doesn't matter for now. The important thing is that this man is currently in California, America. He was last spotted chasing Krystallia Estrada of Crystal Undead and her boyfriend Zachary Kingston in Golden Gate Plaza.
His exact whereabouts are unknown for now, but please do share if anyone has any insight.
"They found you," I said, waving my phone in my hand. Landon held my shoulder, "You were last seen with him, so I understand why they'd come here."
"So what do we do now?" KT asked, holding an SMG. Landon looked at James straight in the eye.
"We fight."
Thank you for choosing to read HIC. Follow me (@lephantomsoh) on Instagram to get sneak peeks and random snippets of things.
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