Truth and Lies

Iris POV

The gunshot exploded in my ears like thunder.

"Get down!" Alex yelled, tackling me to the marble floor just as another bullet smashed through the big window behind us.

Glass rained down on my back. My heart felt like it might burst from my chest. Dad—my real dad, Robert Kane—dove behind the leather couch while Alex's father grabbed a gun from somewhere I couldn't see.

"Who's shooting?" I screamed over the noise.

"Not us," Alex said through gritted teeth. His body covered mine, protecting me from the flying glass. "And not the FBI."

More gunshots. The fancy chandelier above us swayed and crashed to the floor, missing us by inches. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried not to scream.

"Castellanos!" Marco shouted from across the room. Blood still covered his shirt, but he was holding a gun now. "They followed Kane here!"

"How many?" Alex's father demanded.

"At least ten cars!"

Ten cars full of people who wanted to hurt me. I didn't even know who the Castellanos were, but they sounded scary.

Alex pulled me closer to him. "Stay down. Don't move until I tell you."

But I had to look. I lifted my head just enough to see out the broken window. Black cars surrounded the house. Men with guns crouched behind them, shooting at both the FBI agents and Alex's people.

"They're attacking everyone," I whispered.

"Smart girl," Alex said. "They want chaos. Makes it easier to grab you in the confusion."

Dad popped up from behind the couch and fired his own gun through the window. "This is exactly what I was afraid of!"

"What do you mean?" I called to him.

"Every criminal family in Chicago knows about you now! They all want to use you against me!"

That made my stomach feel sick. People were shooting at each other because of me. Because I existed.

"I should just go out there," I said. "Tell them to stop fighting."

"Absolutely not," Alex said firmly. "You step outside, you're dead in ten seconds."

Another window exploded. This time, something rolled across the floor toward us. It looked like a small metal ball.

"Grenade!" Marco yelled.

Alex grabbed me and threw both of us behind a thick stone pillar just as the explosion shook the whole house. My ears rang so loudly I couldn't hear anything else for a moment.

When the smoke cleared, part of the wall was gone. Cold Chicago air rushed in through the huge hole.

"They're coming inside," Alex's father said. He didn't sound scared, just angry. "Everyone to defensive positions."

"Wait!" Dad stood up, his gun pointed at Alex's father. "We need to work together here, Enzo!"

Alex's father—Enzo—laughed bitterly. "Work together? You've been trying to arrest me for twenty years!"

"And you've been selling drugs to kids for twenty years! But right now, we both want to keep Iris alive!"

They stared at each other across the destroyed room. Two enemies who hated each other. But Dad was right—they both wanted to protect me.

"Fine," Enzo said finally. "But when this is over, we go back to being enemies."

"Deal."

It felt strange watching my father and Alex's father shake hands. Like something impossible was happening.

Alex helped me stand up. "Can you shoot a gun?"

"What? No! I've never even held one!"

He pressed a small pistol into my hands anyway. "Point and pull the trigger. Only if someone tries to hurt you."

The gun felt cold and heavy. I didn't want to hurt anyone, but I didn't want to die either.

More shooting came from outside, getting closer. Through the hole in the wall, I could see men in dark clothes running toward the house.

"Here they come," Marco said.

The first Castellano man appeared in the hole. Dad shot him before he could climb through. The man fell backward with a yell.

But three more appeared right behind him.

The gunfight that followed was like something from a movie, except it was real and terrifying. Alex and his people shot from one side of the room while Dad fired from the other side. The Castellanos kept trying to get in through windows and doors.

I crouched behind the stone pillar, shaking. Every few seconds, someone would shout or grunt in pain. I wanted to help, but I didn't know how.

Then I saw him.

A Castellano man had snuck around to the side of the house. He was climbing through a window behind where Dad was hiding. Dad couldn't see him coming.

"Dad!" I screamed. "Behind you!"

Dad spun around just as the man raised his gun. Without thinking, I lifted my own pistol and pulled the trigger.

The kick from the gun knocked me backward. My shot went wild, hitting the wall instead of the man. But it distracted him long enough for Dad to shoot first.

"Good girl," Dad said, breathing hard.

But the fighting wasn't over. More men kept coming. And we were running out of bullets.

"We can't hold them off much longer," Alex said to his father.

"Then we need to move. Get to the safe room."

"What about the FBI outside?"

"They're fighting the Castellanos too. Enemy of our enemy."

Alex grabbed my hand. "We're leaving. Now."

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere safer."

But as we started toward a hidden door I hadn't noticed before, the front door exploded inward. Not from another grenade—someone had blown it up with a lot of explosives.

Through the smoke walked a woman I'd never seen before. She was tall and beautiful, with long dark hair and cold eyes. She held a big gun like she knew how to use it.

"Hello, everyone," she said calmly. "Looking for this?"

She stepped aside, and two men dragged someone through the doorway.

It was Elena. My aunt. The woman who raised me.

She was alive, but hurt. Blood covered one side of her face, and her hands were tied behind her back.

"Elena!" I started toward her, but Alex held me back.

"Let her go, Sofia," Enzo said to the woman.

So the woman's name was Sofia. And from the way Enzo said it, he knew her.

"Oh, I don't think so," Sofia replied with a smile that wasn't nice at all. "Elena here has been telling me such interesting stories about little Iris."

"I told you nothing," Elena said weakly.

"You didn't have to. I figured it out myself." Sofia's cold eyes found me. "Did you know, Iris, that your precious aunt has been lying to you your whole life?"

"What do you mean?"

"She never quit the FBI. She's been working undercover this whole time, reporting everything about you back to Daddy."

My world tilted. Elena was still FBI? She'd been spying on me?

"That's not true," I whispered.

Sofia laughed. "Ask her yourself."

I looked at Elena, hoping she would deny it. Hoping Sofia was lying.

But Elena's face told me everything.

"I'm sorry, sweetheart," Elena said quietly. "I was trying to protect you."

Another lie. Another person I trusted who had been keeping secrets.

"You see?" Sofia said. "Everyone lies to you, little princess. But I'm going to tell you the truth."

"What truth?"

Sofia's smile got wider and scarier. "The truth about why everyone wants you so badly. It's not just because you're Robert Kane's daughter."

She paused, enjoying the moment.

"It's because twenty years ago, your father made a deal with the devil. And you, my dear, are the payment that's finally come due."

Before anyone could ask what she meant, Sofia raised her gun.

But she didn't point it at me.

She pointed it at Alex.

"Time to collect," she said, and pulled the trigger.