A Beautiful Lie (Playing with Fire #1)(121)

All eyes were now on Milo, and he smiled to himself in satisfaction. He liked that people would stop what they were doing to listen to him. He wished his father would have stuck around to see the respect he was being given right now. Unfortunately, he could hear the distant beat of helicopter blades and knew that his father’s ride would be there shortly. His father hadn’t been lying when he said he had a prior engagement. He knew his father would wait for him as long as he could. Things were closing in on them and they needed to get out of the country fast if they were going to make it out alive.

“What is the matter with you?” Felipe asked angrily. “Don’t just stand there! Shoot them!” he shouted, gesturing towards Garrett and Parker. “No wonder your father thinks you are worthless. You allowed a woman to outsmart you and bring a gun in here right under your nose! Did you even think to search her? What if she’d shot the President, you stupid idiota!”

Milo shifted his body, turned his gun on Felipe, and fired before the man could utter one more insult. The right side of his face exploded in a bloody mess before the man slumped to the ground. He wasn’t about to let some lowlife guard disgrace him in his father’s home.

Next, he turned his gun on Parker and had a small moment of regret that it had come to this. She looked up from the dead body sprawled at her feet and her eyes grew wide with shock. He pulled the trigger and enjoyed a moment of satisfaction at hearing an anguished shout from his former best friend on the opposite side of the room.

Parker didn’t have time to think, only react. It took her one heartbeat to pull herself out of the daze and realize Milo was going to kill her if she didn’t move. The gun went off at the same time her feet left the floor and she dove away from its trajectory. She landed roughly on her shoulder a few feet away, sliding a few more feet until she slammed into the wall where Garrett had been standing. She could hear him yelling and cursing, but it all sounded like it was coming from underwater. His voice sounded far away and muffled. She raised herself up on her elbow and a burning pain shot through her side. She ignored the burn and shook her head to try and clear it. She glanced over and saw Garrett on top of Milo, pummeling him with his fists. Her backup gun that Garrett must have dropped at some point laid a few feet away from her.

Parker didn’t want to distract him by shouting his name, but something didn’t feel right. She struggled to get into a sitting position, feeling entirely too vulnerable lying on the floor. Garrett heard her grunts and a small whimper escape past her lips. He paused, holding onto the front of Milo’s shirt with his fist in the air, and then turned his head towards her.

“Parker!” Garrett shouted. “Are you hit?”

He scanned Parker’s face and body for any sign of a gunshot wound but she was curled into herself and he couldn’t see clearly. She was struggling to sit up so he took that as a good sign. As soon as Milo had fired off the shot at her, Garrett hadn’t even realized how loudly he’d screamed. He’d watched the man turn his gun on her in slow motion, and he’d shoved the guard off of him with strength he hadn't even known he possessed and charged Milo. Garrett had barreled into the side of him, knocking them both to ground, Milo’s gun skittering across the floor in the process.

Milo took advantage of Garrett’s hesitation as he checked on Parker and brought his fist up to the side of Garrett’s head. The force of the blow toppled Garrett off of him, and Milo lunged for the gun he’d dropped, snatching it up and scrambling further away from Garrett.

“This will all be easier if you just stop fighting, Garrett,” Milo told him as he stood up, spit some blood out of his mouth, and then wiped his chin with the back of one hand. “Don’t you want to die with dignity? Let’s make this quick so I can leave with my father.”

A short bark of laughter came from Alejandro, the guard who had been trying to sneak out of the room undetected as soon as Garrett shoved him away and went for Milo. He’d seen Milo shoot his friend Felipe without any warning. He knew exactly what his fate would be if he stuck around in this basement. However, hearing the delusional words coming out of Milo’s mouth made it hard for him to keep quiet. He knew he’d never make it out of the room now anyway. The only good news was he would have the last laugh.

“I’m sorry, but do you find this funny?” Milo asked him angrily as he pointed the gun in his direction.

“Si, se?or. I find it funny that you actually believe your father has any plans on taking you with him,” Alejandro said with a smile, pushing his hands in his pockets and leaning up against the wall.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. Of course he’s taking me with him. I’m his son. I’m the heir to his business and his only descendant,” Milo explained with a frustrated roll of his eyes.

Milo cocked his gun, figuring he might as well shut this guard up as well before he moved on to Parker and Garrett.

“You are a fool. You honestly think you are his only heir? You think all of the women he’s enjoyed over the years never produced other offspring? Right now three of his sons are upstairs working as guards. He promised them the same things he’s promised you. Only he didn’t order their execution before he left,” Alejandro explained with a smug smile.

The color drained from Milo’s face as he listened to the words the guard spoke. He didn’t want to believe they were true, but deep down, he knew they were. He was and always would be a loser. A little boy that no one gave a shit about, always getting the raw end of the deal when everyone around him got everything their hearts desired. He knew he could never live up to his father’s expectations, and his father knew that as well. With every turn in his life, he’d made the wrong choices. He chose to never fight back when his stepfather used him as a punching bag. He chose to move into a home filled with happiness and love, knowing he would always be an outsider and only given those things out of pity. Milo had chosen his father’s twisted life over the frivolous idea of love and friendship, thinking it would finally be his turn. And now, once again, he was being cast aside like garbage.