Submitting to my Ex Uncle-Chapter 249

The room smelled of gun oil and blood. Every breath was a countdown.

Amara raised her head slowly, her neck trembling with effort. Her eyes, dull from pain, found Carlos. There was no fear in them. Rather, she looked disgusted.

Her lip bled as she spoke. "You know what your problem is, Carlos?"

He tilted his head, amused. "Enlighten me."

Amara gave a faint, broken laugh. It trembled and still cut through the silence. "You’ve spent your whole life proving you’re dangerous, when the truth is you’ve never scared anyone who mattered."

She leaned forward just enough for him to hear the next line like a whisper meant for his bones. "You’ll die screaming for someone to remember you. And no one will. That’s why even hell won’t take you. You’d make the devil look pathetic."

For a second, the world went silent.

Carlos’s smirk faltered. His eyes darkened, then snapped cold again. "What did you just say?"

Amara’s cracked lips curved up weakly. "You heard me."

Carlos’s hand moved before his thought caught up. His gun lifted, and a shot tore through the air like thunder.

Celeste screamed.

The sound that left her throat wasn’t human. It was raw, ripping through her chest. "AMARA!"

Amara’s body jerked once, her head slumping forward, with blood blooming across her shirt.

Everything after that happened in fragments.

Elias was the first to move.

He lunged forward, catching her before she hit the floor limply while still bound to her chair. "No....no, no, no..." His voice cracked. "Amara, hey, hey—look at me!" His hands were shaking as he held her face.

Blood smeared across his palm.

Her eyes fluttered once, trying to focus on him.

Carlos laughed. It was sharp, and cruel. "So that’s it? That’s who you throw your loyalty away for? My God, Elias—"

Before he could finish, Elias snapped his gun from his belt and aimed it directly at Carlos’s face.

The sound of it cocking froze every man in the room.

Carlos’s men immediately pointed their own guns at Elias.

Carlos chuckled. The kind of laugh that made your stomach twist. "I win," he said softly. Then louder, "I fucking win!" 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

He raised his arms, grinning wildly. "I knew it. I knew you’d betray me for her. You think I didn’t see this coming? You think I didn’t raise you better?"

Elias’s hand trembled on the trigger. His chest heaved.

Carlos took a slow step forward, ignoring the gun aimed at him. "I made you, boy. I gave you a name. A life. I took you from nothing, and this is how you repay me? Over a woman?"

Elias’s jaw clenched.

Carlos smiled, twisting the knife deeper. "You think she’d love you if she knew who you really were? You think she’d want a monster?"

Elias’s eyes glistened. He blinked hard, trying to clear it. His gun shook, his teeth grinding audibly.

Behind them, Dominic caught Celeste’s eyes.

One look, and that was all it took.

She knew.

He shifted slightly, slow, and deliberate. His right hand slid down his boot.

Carlos kept talking, stepping closer, every word dripping with venom. "You’ll never be more than the weapon I made you. You’ll always—"

He didn’t finish.

Dominic moved quickly.

The knife flashed once, and then stabbed deeper into Carlos’s leg.

Carlos’s scream split the air as the blade drove deep into his leg. He dropped to one knee, clutching it, with blood spilling fast.

The men spun, half of them turning toward Dominic, half toward Elias.

But before they could react, a noise thundered from the hallway outside. It was the sound of a door slamming open, footsteps pounding, and someone shouting.

The distraction was all Dominic needed.

He lunged for the table, grabbed one of the guns lying across the papers, and flung another across the floor toward Celeste.

"Catch!"

Celeste’s hands were still bound behind her, but she moved with pure instinct.

She hooked her foot around the gun’s handle, lifted it, flipped it into the air, and caught it behind her back.

In the same motion, she twisted her wrists, aimed blindly behind her, and fired.

The man behind her dropped dead instantly.

Dominic turned, shot the one who’d been pressing a gun to her head, and smiled. It was a fleeting, proud smile through the chaos.

"Good girl," he muttered under his breath, before turning his aim again.

He let out two shots, then three.

Bodies fell before the echoes even faded.

Carlos tried crawling away, dragging his injured leg, with blood painting the floor. His gun had fallen far away from him. "You’ll—"

Dominic didn’t wait. He raised his gun, and without hesitation, he put a bullet through Carlos’s eye, and then his head.

Silence fell over the place.

Then, nust the slow dripping of blood.

Elias fired, two clean shots to the last men standing. And then it was over. The room reeked of gunpowder and smoke when everything was done

Dominic dropped his weapon and rushed to Celeste, cutting through her ropes. "Hey, hey, I’ve got you—"

The moment her hands were free, she shoved him away, stumbling toward Amara. "No, no. Not you. Not Amara!"

She fell to her knees beside her friend. Blood soaked Amara’s shirt, staining Celeste’s hands as she reached for her.

"Amara," she choked. "Hey, stay with me—look at me, okay? Please."

Amara’s lips parted, a faint breath leaving her.

Celeste didn’t even realize she was sobbing until the sound broke out of her. "You’re okay. You’re okay. We’ll get you help. Right, Dominic?"

She stopped abruptly when she saw Elias. She wanted to grab his collars, and shot him. That was what she felt until she saw him properly.

He was kneeling beside them, with blood blooming across his abdomen. One hand pressed against the wound. Another clutched his chest. His breathing was uneven.

Celeste’s voice cracked. "Elias?"

He looked at her, then at Amara. His face was pale. He smiled weakly, even as blood filled his mouth.

"I—" he started, his voice hoarse, "I loved her. I can’t turn things around, but I loved her."

Celeste’s tears blurred her vision. "Elias, stop—"

He shook his head slowly. "No. She should know. Even if it’s too late." He turned to Amara, who could barely keep her eyes open. "I really did, Amara. I swear I did."

His hand found hers, weak, and trembling, but sure. He squeezed it once.

Amara’s lips moved, barely. "Eli..."

He exhaled, long and soft, still holding her hand. Then his head fell forward.

Celeste’s cry tore through the room, raw and shaking.

Dominic’s arms went around her, but she shoved him away. "No—no, not yet!" she screamed. "Not like this!"

Her hands pressed against Amara’s wound, slippery with blood, but it didn’t stop.

It kept coming.

Dominic crouched beside her, his voice breaking low. "Celeste, she’s... she’s gone."

"No," she whispered. "She promised me. She said we’d be fine."

Her tears fell on Amara’s face, mixing with the blood.

Outside, the world was quiet again. The storm was over. But inside that room, it felt like everything was still breaking.

Dominic stayed there, on his knees beside the woman he loved and the friend they’d just lost, his hand resting on Celeste’s trembling shoulder.

Elias lay slumped forward, still holding Amara’s hand.

It was the quietest victory. Yet, the most painful one. If this was what someone told her victory would be, she would never had wished for one.

Celeste leaned her head against Dominic’s shoulder, her eyes empty. "She didn’t deserve this," she whispered.

Dominic’s jaw clenched, his eyes fixed on Carlos’s body. "None of you did."