Choose Your Side

Choose Your Side

Maya's POV

I grabbed the gun from Vincent's dead hand and shot the nearest FBI agent.
The bullet hit him in the shoulder and he spun around, dropping his weapon.
"Maya, no!" Agent Chen screamed.
But I was already moving.
I shot another agent in the leg before anyone could react.
"Kill them all!" Agent Chen had ordered.
Well, two could play that game.
"Maya, stop shooting!" Dante yelled.
"They want us dead!" I shouted back.
"So do half the people in New York!"
"Then we kill them first!"
I fired again, this time at an agent who was aiming at Marcus.
The man dove for cover behind an overturned desk.
Agent Chen was staring at me with horror.
"What have you become?" she whispered.
"I became what you made me!"
"I made you strong, not violent!"
"Same thing!"
I kept shooting until the gun clicked empty.
The FBI agents were all taking cover now, but none of them were dead.
I wasn't trying to kill them. Just stop them from killing the four men I cared about.
"Maya," Agent Chen said quietly. "Put the gun down."
"No."
"This isn't you."
"Yes, it is."
"The Maya I raised would never—"
"The Maya you raised was a lie!"
I threw the empty gun at her feet.
"Everything about my life has been a lie!"
Agent Chen looked around the room. At Vincent's body. At the bleeding FBI agents. At the four heirs who were watching me like I was a stranger.
"Maya, come with me. Now. Before this gets worse."
"It can't get worse."
"Yes, it can."
"How?"
"Because in about five minutes, this building is going to be surrounded by every federal agent in New York. And they're not going to ask questions first."
"Let them come."
"Maya—"
"I'm not leaving without them." I pointed at Dante, Marcus, Luca, and Adrian.
"They're criminals."
"So am I now."
"No, you're not."
"I just shot three federal agents!"
"To protect people you care about. That's different."
"Is it?"
Agent Chen stepped closer to me, careful not to step on any of the blood.
"Maya, listen to me. I know you're angry. I know you feel betrayed. But if you come with me now, I can protect you."
"Protect me from what?"
"From spending the rest of your life in prison."
"What about them?" I asked, looking at the four heirs.
"What about them?"
"Will you protect them too?"
Agent Chen was quiet for a long moment.
"I can't."
"Then I'm not going."
"Maya, they're killers."
"So are you."
"That's different."
"How is it different?"
"I kill bad people. They kill innocent people."
"Do they?"
Agent Chen didn't have an answer for that.
"Maya," Dante said quietly. "She's right about one thing. This place is going to be crawling with federal agents soon."
"So we leave."
"How? The building is surrounded."
"There has to be a way."
"The helicopter," Adrian said.
"What helicopter?"
"Isabella's escape route. The rope outside the window."
I looked toward the broken window. The rope was still hanging there.
"Where does it go?"
"Roof. Then helicopter."
"Isabella's helicopter?"
"It's a helicopter. Who cares whose it is?"
He had a point.
"Can we all fit?"
"We'll have to."
Agent Chen was listening to our conversation with growing alarm.
"Maya, don't do this."
"Do what?"
"Don't run. Don't become a fugitive."
"Why not?"
"Because once you run, you can never come back."
"Come back to what? A life built on lies?"
"Come back to being normal."
I laughed.
"Normal? Agent Chen, I haven't been normal since the day I found out you weren't really my aunt."
"I am your aunt."
"No, you're not. You're my mother."
Agent Chen went pale.
"Vincent told me before he died," I continued. "My real mother. The woman who's been lying to me my entire life."
"Maya—"
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"To protect you."
"From what?"
"From Ivan. From the truth about what your family really is."
"What is my family really?"
"Monsters."
"And what does that make me?"
Agent Chen stared at me.
"I don't know anymore."
The words hurt more than they should have.
"Maya," Marcus said. "We need to go. Now."
He was right. I could hear footsteps in the hallway. Lots of them.
"Last chance," Agent Chen said to me. "Come with me. Let me save you."
"Save me from what?"
"From becoming like them."
I looked at Dante, Marcus, Luca, and Adrian. Four men who had kidnapped me. Who had lied to me. Who had changed my entire life.
Four men who had also protected me. Who had cared about me. Who had made me feel like I belonged somewhere.
"What if I want to be like them?"
"You don't mean that."
"Yes, I do."
"Maya—"
"Mom," I said, using the word for the first time. "I love you. But I choose them."
Agent Chen's face crumpled.
"Then I'm sorry."
She raised her gun and pointed it at me.
"I can't let you leave with them."
"You're going to shoot your own daughter?"
"To save you from making the biggest mistake of your life? Yes."
I stared at the woman who had raised me. Who had taught me to be strong. Who had prepared me for this world without telling me what I was preparing for.
"You won't shoot me," I said.
"Don't test me."
"You've had twenty years to tell me the truth. You didn't. You've had twenty years to trust me with who I really am. You didn't. Why should I trust you now?"
"Because I'm your mother."
"Mothers don't point guns at their children."
"This mother does. When her child is about to destroy her life."
The footsteps in the hallway were getting closer.
"Time's up," Adrian said.
"Maya," Agent Chen said one last time. "Please."
I walked over to where she was standing.
Her gun was still pointed at my chest.
"I'm going to give you one chance," I said quietly. "Put the gun down and let us leave."
"I can't do that."
"Then you're going to have to shoot me."
"Maya—"
"Because I'm not leaving them behind."
"They're using you!"
"Maybe. But at least they're honest about it."
Agent Chen's hand was shaking now.
"I raised you better than this."
"You raised me to make hard choices. Well, this is my choice."
I started walking toward the window where the rope was hanging.
"Maya, stop!"
I kept walking.
"MAYA!"
I was almost to the window when I heard the gunshot.
The bullet whistled past my ear and hit the wall.
I turned around slowly.
Agent Chen was crying.
"The next one won't miss," she said.
"Yes, it will."
"Why?"
"Because you love me too much to kill me."
"Don't bet your life on that."
"I'm betting my life on a lot of things right now."
I reached the window and grabbed the rope.
"Maya," Dante said. "Are you sure about this?"
"No. But I'm sure about you guys."
"We're not good people."
"Neither am I anymore."
I started climbing out the window.
Behind me, I heard Agent Chen sob.
"Maya, please don't do this."
"I love you, Mom. But this is who I am now."
"No, it's not."
"Yes, it is."
I was halfway out the window when she said the words that stopped my heart.
"Your grandfather is already dead, Maya."
I froze.
"What?"
"Ivan Volkov is dead. Has been for three days."
I stared at her.
"You're lying."
"I'm not lying."
"How?"
"Poison. Someone in his own organization."
"Who?"
Agent Chen looked directly at the four heirs.
"Ask them."