With Love

Chapter Forty-Three

*WARNING* Graphic violence will occur in this chapter. Please be advised.*

To everyone that yelled at me on Instagram to finish the chapter when I asked for motivation, thank you, I appreciate you all.

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Uncle George raised his arms slowly, his fingers shaking. The gun remained steady in my hand. Everything slowly fell into place. Behind him, Santiago stood wide-eyed, hanging onto the door frame of my parent's room.

I gritted my teeth together, my throat in pain from yelling at him. Silent tears streamed down my face.

My uncle opened his mouth. "Anastasia, we're family, why would I—?"

"My father is my blood and even he betrays me regularly," I said in a monotone voice, "your words mean nothing to me." My voice cracked. His facial expression showed one of fear and sadness but his eyes told me a different story. I tilted the gun sideways. "How could you do this to us?" I whispered, "To your husband."

Immediately his face changed, a certain kind of anguish causing the wrinkles in his aged face to become more prominent. "I didn't kill him," he scrambled to his knees, "I would never hurt Ronnie."

I scoffed. "You may as well have with this bloody list."

He stiffened. "I had to put his name down otherwise it would have been too suspicious." He tried to defend himself, looking manic. "I didn't think that Ronnie would be the first target on that list, I wanted them to kill your father!" He roared.

Eyes rolling, I threw my arms wide, making him duck from the uncontrolled gun action. "So then why the fuck didn't you just make a kill list with just his name? You dragged the whole family into it."

Uncle George stared at me with hopeless eyes. "I wanted this lifestyle to be over."

"Why?" I yelled, annoyance coating my words at his stupid replies. "You could have just left, no one would blame you, you think we want to be living the lives we do?" I spoke loudly, my voice taking on a hysterical tone, pressing the gun to his forehead. "News flash, we don't," I whispered.

"Ana?" Finn's voice called out to me and that's when I realized the sound of chaos had disappeared leaving my voice to carry throughout the house. "Ana, what are you doing?"

I sighed, closing my eyes for a split second. Uncle George surged forward, knocking the gun from my grip, causing my arm to seize up in pain from the bullet graze I got earlier. I dropped into a crouch and swept my leg out, knocking him off balance.

Kicking the gun out of reach, I stood up and glared down at my uncle lying on the floor. "Santiago," his head snapped up in attention, "Get my father." Uncle George's chest heaved. "We're going to have a little family chat."

Using my good arm, I grabbed my uncle by his collar and dragged him forward a few steps. Elijah stared down at my uncle, a horrified and hurt expression on his face. Jasper's face was blank. Franco stood to the side with Finn, who pressed his hands over a bleeding wound from Franco's side.

Uncle George sat up, a scowl on his face and his hair sticking up at odd angles. He pushed himself onto his knees and reached out to grab my hand. "Ana, please—."

I stepped back and he fell forward, his chin hitting the tiled floor. "You've lost all my respect and all my trust in a matter of seconds," I said, looking down at him, "save your begging for someone willing to listen." My head cocked to the side, keeping one eye on Uncle George. "The mercenaries?"

Jasper stepped forward, his hands in his pockets. "Dealt with." I nodded, giving my uncle my full attention.

"Anastasia, we're family," Uncle George pleaded, pushing up onto his hands.