Imperatrix

chapter 9

The warm water flowed down Jacks body, she stood still and tipped her face up, letting the water mix with her tears. She didn’t know how long she stood there quietly letting it sink in that he was no more. God! Her papa was no more. A shudder ran through her as she raised her hands to her face and sobbed. It was too much to bear. She couldn’t handle it.

After she was done bathing, she dressed in black shirt and blue jeans, her signature leather ankle boots on her feet. She packed her hair into a ponytail and grabbed the keys to the Audi. Jogging down the stairs, she threw the keys over to Jose, not in the mood to drive herself.

Jose was her bodyguard, and though she could defend herself efficiently, it would be unwise to go without him especially now that Dominic was dead. She sucked in a breath and looked out the window as he drove.

Jose pressed a button and Charlie Puth’s See you again began playing. Jack turned and gave him her best glare at his insensitivity. He grinned sheepishly before turning it off.

He took her to biker bar outside of town. She came down while he went to find a parking spot. This was the kind of place that jacked cars and robbed people of their watches. But she did not really care now. In fact, she wanted someone to attack her so she could beat the shit out of them. She needed to work out some of her anger and pain. Her mind was still numb with shock, twenty-four hours ago, she had a father. And now she did not.

She walked into the crowded bar and went straight to sit at the bar and drink away her sorrows. Most of the men in the bar had bandannas around their heads and wore sleeveless leather jackets sporting colorful tattoos. She ordered vodka prepared to drink away the night.

Flashback, Costa Rica.

A sixteen-year-old Lucas stood beside Jack as they both assembled a Glock 23. Dominic stood beside them watching their movements. He had insisted on teaching them to shoot himself. Lucas finished before her, he always did, and he like to gloat about it for days. He shot at the head of the cardboard target, perfectly hitting the point. But Jack was off point. She sighed dejectedly and removed her ear plugs and Lucas did the same.

“You are distracted,” Dominic commented.

And she was. She had written a test with her teacher, but she knew without doubt that she had flopped it. The said teacher was bringing her result for Dominic to see in a few hours, like he always did. And she was scared. Dominic expected nothing less than perfection.

“What is bothering you pequeño?” he asked.

“Nothing papa,” she said with her eyes downcast. She did not want to see the disappointed look in his eyes.

He nodded and looked at her for a moment before walking into the shooting range.

He shoved the cardboard aside and took its place, “Shoot,” he commanded.

“What?” Jack and Lucas exclaimed the same time.

“Are you deaf pequeño? No? Then shoot this spot above my head!”

Jack gaped at him, even Lucas looked uncomfortable. If she shot an inch lower, she could kill him.

“If you kill me, it will be on your conscience that you killed your papa.”

“Papa do not make me do this please. We can continue later,” she begged, but that was a mistake. Dominic hated doing things later. If you could do it now, why postpone?

He glared at her from across the room, his scowl was enough to make her bow her head, she muttered under her breath, “Lo siento padre .”