I can’t even focus on what’s going on because when I hear my brother’s voice, I’m completely overcome by shock.
“GIVE ME MY FUCKING SISTER!” his voice blasts through the hallway.
But before I can shout his name, the gunfire erupts.
“Milo! Get back in there!” Nathan roars at him.
Nathan and Kai each duck and roll to a different side of the two main staircases while Milo crawls back into the room and closes the door.
“Lana, Felix is worried about you!” Dylan’s voice calls. “Can you please come out here? Thanks, girl!” But his chipper voice does nothing to calm my nerves.
I can see Kai’s face twisting with rage the second he hears his voice, and he jumps down the stairs where Dylan’s standing and engages with him. “You motherfucker, I’ve been waiting for a chance to kill you.”
Dylan laughs.
BANG!
The bullet narrowly avoids his head.
“Oh, I remember you,” Dylan muses. “How’s the eye?”
Kai roars and shoots all the bullets left in his gun, missing all of the shots because of his rage, and then he charges at him with his knife.
“Fucking Skull & Serpents in our fucking house? No fucking way, you’re gonna die today!” Ezra yells as he shoots at both Dylan and Felix.
Alistair jumps out from behind a pillar and shoots him in the arm, and Ezra groans as he slumps against the banister near the stairs. “Don’t fucking shoot at my friends,” Alistair growls.
Gunshots fill the hall from left and right as more Phantoms emerge from their rooms, ready to kill whoever set foot in their domain. And I’m in the middle of it all.
What the fuck do I do?
I have to put a stop to this.
“I’LL KILL EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU!” Felix yells.
“Felix!” I shout, but he can’t hear me over the gunshots ricocheting off the walls and floors.
A bullet flies into the door through which Milo just fled, and when I look around to see who shot at him, it’s none other than Penelope Ricci, my brother’s girlfriend. Or rather, all of their fucking girlfriends.
“Penelope?” I yell.
When her eyes connect with mine, she mouths, “Oops,” but she continues shooting at the other Phantoms like she’s hell-bent on making them pay for something they didn’t actually do.
Paintings on the walls are left with holes as I run down the steps on my bare feet, wearing only a towel. Behind me, Phantoms shoot at Skull & Serpent guys and vice versa, none of them giving a shit who gets hurt. It’s like an all-out war in the Phantom house.
Nathan rushes down the stairs and heads into Milo’s room, yelling at one of his Phantoms to protect the door at all costs before he leaves again and focuses on the intruders.
“Motherfucker.” He storms toward Felix to face him head-on.
Felix tries to shoot him, but his gun empties swiftly, and he chucks it aside, only to pull out a knife instead.
“I’ve been waiting for this,” Nathan growls.
“Well, come and get it, then!” Felix shouts back. “You touch my sister, you deserve to fucking die!”
“Nathan, don’t!” Kai yells from the top of the stairs, but Nathan’s too consumed by hatred to listen.
So I rush down the last few steps in my towel. Nathan almost has his knife in Felix’s shoulder when I bolt between them and spread my arms. “STOP!”
“Lana?” His eyes widen. “You’re here … in a fucking towel?”
“I was showering,” I reply, incensed. “Pull back your guys.”
“Fuck no, those Phantoms fucking stole you, and now they’re gonna pay for it!” Felix barks, and he tries to shove me aside, but I stand my ground and push him back.
“They didn’t steal shit. I came here out of my own accord,” I retort.
He blinks a couple of times, his face contorting with confusion. “What the—”
“Come on and kill me then, motherfucker!” Nathan roars from behind me. “Or I swear to God, I’ll chop off all your remaining fingers for daring to take one of mine!”
Felix’s nostrils flare. “You motherf—”
“STOP!” I yell at Felix, and then I direct my attention at all of them, including Kai, Dylan, Alistair, and Ezra. “Stop! All of you!”
Dylan’s got Kai by the collar, with his knife pointed at his leftover eye while Kai’s knife is pointed at Dylan’s heart. Both of them are unwilling to let go, but they both focus on me.
Even Penelope stops shooting and homes in on me.
“Stop fighting!” I scream. “Enough!”
“Give me one good fucking reason, Lana,” Felix says through gritted teeth, throwing every ounce of his rage into his voice. “They extorted you!”
My eyes widen.
How does he know?
Jason swiftly hides behind a pillar at which Kai just shot, and my pupils dilate at the sight of him.
“You …” I grit when our eyes briefly connect. “You told him?”
“He did his fucking job,” Felix replies. “Jason cares about you.” Felix narrows his eyes at Nathan. “Unlike those fuckers.”
Nathan still points his knife at Felix. “I’d be real careful about your words if I were you. You don’t fucking know us.”
“You’re Phantom scum who hurt Penelope and her sister, and now you’re trying to hurt my sister for revenge,” Felix says.
“This isn’t fucking revenge,” I explain. “It’s more than that.”
Penelope approaches and places a hand on Felix’s shoulder. “Felix, maybe we should listen to her?”
“You’re delirious,” he tells me, ignoring her.
And I’m so goddamn tired of this that I just give him a hard slap.
He stares at me in disbelief while Penelope steps back to let us fight it out.
“Listen to me! I want to be here.”
He just stares at me for a moment before his hand slowly rises to touch his cheek.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I don’t want to hurt my own damn brother. But for once in your life, can you please listen to me instead of what you think is supposed to happen?”
“Lana,” he mutters.
“All of you, stop and come here,” I bark at Dylan, Kai, Alistair, and Ezra.
After a few seconds, they all stop pointing their knives at each other and make their way to their friends, keeping a keen eye on their enemies, like they’re ready to be at each other’s throats again.
Phantoms on one side, Skull & Serpents on the other.
What a mess.
Nathan and Kai clutch their knives tightly as if they’re ready to strike, but I hold up my arm, and they finally back down. “Let me take care of this.”
“I trust you,” Nathan says.
“You trust her?” Felix parrots like he can’t believe his ears. “What the hell is this? You’d better explain fast.”
“Jason didn’t tell you the full truth,” I say, setting my gaze on him. “Or did he not tell you he literally told me to my face that he believed it was my fault I was being extorted?”
Felix’s brows furrow, and he snaps his fingers. A Skull & Serpent grabs Jason and drags him to the front.
“Is that true, Jason?” Felix asks.
Jason stammers, “It’s not like that. I tried to tell her, but—”
“No, you didn’t want to support me, you made that very clear.” I interrupt. “And then as icing on the cake, you literally came at me when I told you to leave me alone. You kept running after me and cornering me, forcing Kai to intervene.”
Penelope’s jaw drops. “Jason? What the fuck, is that true?”
“Kai?” Felix says through gritted teeth. “So you’re on first-name basis with them now?”
“Oh …” Penelope folds her arms. “So this is why you asked me about those boys.”
“She asked you about them?” Felix snarls at her.
She raises her brow at him. “You made her a list.”
“Because I didn’t want her to even talk with them!”
“Talking isn’t all we’ve done,” Kai muses.
Felix raises his fist, but I grab it and lower it. “Don’t. He’s baiting you.”
“So what? I don’t care. He deserves a fist to the jaw for that comment,” he growls back.
“I get that you’re protective of me. You care about me, just like I care about you,” I say, looking him in the eyes. “But I don’t need your protection. Not on this one.”
“So what, you’re just hanging out here with these Phantoms?”
“Hanging out is an understatement.” I turn my head as Milo casually strolls down the stairs. “We’ve been having a lot of fun with her.”
“Fun?” Felix reiterates, his face almost turning red with rage. “You’ve had sex with my sister?”
Felix raises his gun again, pointing it straight at Milo’s face.
