SurvivorZ: Grave Harbor

36

ERICA

Erica DiMarco's world stopped with the pounding of gunfire and the wails of the damned. She fell against Eve's arms, her gaze pinned to the body of her father lying in a pool of his own blood. Around her, everyone who used to work for him gabbled like frightened hens. She didn't share their fear. The fury bubbling through her veins made it impossible to feel anything else.

Someone walked over to his supine body and stared down at him. Her eyes traveled from Tommy's feet to his face. The expression he wore skirted somewhere between anger and grief, but that wasn't what Erica saw. She saw guilt. In that instant, she found a suitable target for her rage.

Erica pushed Eve away and glared at him. "This is all your fault!" she cried.

A new emotion flickered across Tommy's features for the first time – pain. He gawked at her as though she had physically struck him.

Eve jumped to his defense. "That's not fair. Tommy was—"

"He was in charge of security," Erica snapped. "That bastard snuck in under his watch." She eyed Tommy. "Or did he? Maybe you let him in on purpose."

"Stop it," Tommy muttered under his breath.

She took a confrontational step towards him. "Is that it, brother? I know you were always jealous of dad. You're like a greedy child always wanting to play with someone else's toys."

She glanced at Mona DiMarco, directing his gaze there also. Their stepmother didn't lift her head. She remained in her own little world, bawling her eyes out in the panic room.

"What happened? Did you finally realize you're too chicken shit to pull the trigger on him yourself?"

"Stop," Tommy hissed.

"You killed our father!" Erica screamed.

"Erica!" Eve barked.

Erica faced her, spraying tears from her moist, reddened eyes. She didn't even realize she was crying until now. Eve stared back at her, tightlipped, and gently shook her head.

With a scowl, Erica turned away and looked outside. The dead were pouring over the walls everywhere, chasing her father's men across the grounds. A part of her knew the sight should terrify her, but she honestly couldn't muster enough interest to care anymore. Her father was dead. Next to that, nothing else mattered.

God knows, he wasn't perfect. He was a DiMarco, after all. The two of them may never have seen eye to eye when it came to her role in the family business, but he was the only person in her life who truly cared about her. His choice to distance her from their criminal empire was only his way of keeping her safe. Though the exclusion galled her, she loved him for the sentiment all the same.

Her heart felt empty. Where it once held the treasure of her father's love, Erica now filled it with burning hatred for the ones who stole him from her. She was only sorry that she missed the chance to end the life of his shooter. Now all she had to look forward to was destroying the man who provided him with his opportunity in the first place.

She gave Tommy a sideways glare and bared her teeth in a silent growl. Her brother would pay dearly for his part in today's tragedy. She wouldn't rest until she made certain of it.

"Lulu?" Swiping the tears from her makeup-stained cheeks, Mona jumped to her feet. Erica gave her a hateful look. From the dopey fear etched on her face, she must have finally realized that her hands were cold without her precious fur ball to warm them.

She staggered from the panic room as if someone had punched her in the gut. With barely a glance at her dead husband, Mona bolted for the door. "Lulu?"