Leo looked up in shock, less because of the gun pointed in his direction than from the person holding it. "You son of a bitch," Leo angrily shook his head at the man. "I gave you a chance. I accepted you when you had nothing."
"Oh come on, Leo," he responded. "Don't look so surprised. You always knew this about me." The man's expression turned serious as he held the gun steady, pointed at Leo's forehead. "Now where are the diamonds… little brother."
Leo didn't move. He stared at Trey in disgust as he thought about the past few months he had spent with his long lost brother – it was all a lie.
"The diamonds," Trey repeated impatiently. "Now!"
"Or what?" Leo rhetorically questioned. "What? You'll shoot me now instead of after you get the diamonds?"
"You know I can do worse than that, Leo," Trey smirked at him. "There is a lot more than one bullet in here." A shiver ran up Leo's spine as he understood his brother's implication. Trey had easy access to his family: Greenlee, David, Maggie – Leo's whole world. Trey had to be stopped now.
"Alright, alright," Leo conceded, very slowly getting up from the bed and consciously trying to exaggerate the severity of his injuries. "Give me a sec." He finally stood up straight and began walking gingerly, faking a limp.
"Let's go! Hurry up!" Trey anxiously tried to speed up his little brother. As soon as he got those diamonds and took care of the loose end standing in front of him, he was getting the hell out of this dump of a town and on his way to the high life.
"Relax," Leo told him, making his way towards the dresser in the corner of the room. "You're not the one who just took a hundred foot fall, okay. I'm moving as fast as I can over here." He finally reached the dresser and pulled out the bag of diamonds from the top drawer.
"Let me see the bag!" Trey ordered loudly. Leo began to approach Trey to hand him the diamonds when Trey repositioned the gun, letting him know not to come any closer. "Put them on the ground and then kick the bag over here!"
"Hello! You taken a look at me lately?" Leo yelled. "Does it look like I'm in any condition to stop you?"
"Do it!" Trey commanded, repositioning the gun again to let Leo know that he was willing to use it.
Leo slowly bent down, making sure that Trey could see him grimacing, and placed the bag on the ground.
"Now kick it here!" Trey ordered.
Leo rose up slowly, shaking his head in disappointment at Trey. "Things could have been so much better than this," Leo stated sadly. "You had a family willing to take you in; you could have had a real life. Take it from me: the con life won't make you happy, Trey. Whatever you want out of life you won't find with that money."
"Oh and you're my role model now!" Trey shot back, clearly affected by Leo's remark. Even he could admit to himself that it felt good having a family for the first time in his life. "Don't talk to me about how to live my life! You don't know the first thing about… you know what? Shut the hell up and kick me the diamonds!... Now, damn it!"
Leo again made sure Trey could see his fake limp. He lightly kicked the bag, sending it only a couple feet. Trey stared angrily at his little brother for failing to do what he was told. Leo shrugged him off. "I can barely move my leg, Trey," he explained. "That's the best I can do."
Trey looked furious. "You mocking me now, Leo?"
"Just stating a fact," he responded.
"Fine. I'll get them myself," Trey gave in. "Get down on the floor!"
Leo slowly moved his body towards the ground, ending up on one knee. Trey held the gun steady at Leo and he walked forward to retrieve the bag.
"Just a little closer," Leo thought as he discreetly planted his back foot. In his current condition he would be no match for Trey in a fair fight; but if he could get the jump on him, he stood a chance of making it out of the cabin alive. "Come on, just get your eyes off of me and onto the diamonds… yeah that's it… almost there… a little more… 1… 2…" Leo waited for his opening. Trey bent down for the diamonds and his eyes lit up when he realized they were in fact the real deal. Leo saw the look in his eyes; his focus was split.
"3!" Leo yelled, springing at his brother.
----------
Greenlee drove off the road and between the same row of trees she had been through that morning to reach Cabin 32. The entire drive over she had been rehearsing what she was going to tell Leo to convince him to let her stay. She knew he would argue with her, but he didn't know what it was like to mourn him – he didn't know what she had gone through. Maybe she could convince him to run away with her; somewhere that no one would ever find them. Or maybe if he agreed to tell everyone he was alive, they could have Anna give them personal security guards or something. Whatever it was going to be, they were going to be together again – she wasn't going to leave the cabin any other way.
An eerie feeling came over Greenlee as she saw the front of the cabin. The car that was there this morning was no longer there, but the door was halfway open; something wasn't right. She stopped her car in front of the cabin and uneasily walked towards the door. She could hear noises coming from the inside but couldn't make out what was going on. Then a noise shot out that was unmistakable:
Bang!
"Leo. Oh my God, Leo!" Greenlee whispered in terror, afraid her worst fear had come true. She burst through the door, frantically looking around for her husband. She saw him lying on the ground just outside the door to his room and ran towards him. Leo was clutching his left arm in obvious pain when he noticed her. His expression turned from pain to horror as he saw her running up to him.
"Greenlee, you have to get out of here!" Leo worriedly pleaded. "You need to run!"
"Are you nuts!" she cried. "We need to get you to a hospital! Let me see your arm!"
Leo's panicked expression turned away from his wife and towards the man who was exiting his room, his eyes frozen wide in fear. "Leo," Greenlee tried to force his attention back to her. "Leo, look at me!" her eyes filling with tears as her voice started to choke up. "Come on, baby, I can't lose you again!"
Sporting a cut lip, Trey looked angrily at Leo. He put the bag of diamonds in his coat pocket and reached his now free hand up to his lip, clearing off the blood. His other hand held the gun tightly as he lifted it up, preparing to finish the job. "Son of a bitch. You're going to regret that, Leo."
Hearing Trey's voice, Greenlee turned around to see that it was her brother-in-law that Leo had been so worried about all along. Her eyes widened at the sight of the gun pointed at her husband.
"Trey! What are you doing?" she cried.
The sight of his sister-in-law gave Trey pause. "I… I don't want you to get hurt, Greenlee. Just get off of him and… and I'll let you go."
"Please, Greens," Leo weakly got the words out as he tried to push her away with his good arm. "You need to go. Save yourself."
Greenlee turned her head back to her husband. "I'm not leaving you," she whispered. "For us, we fight to the death, remember?"
Trey's hand shook as he held the gun. "Greenlee, please," he begged, his voice quivering uncomfortably. "Please don't make me hurt you?"
Greenlee looked up at Trey, her big brown eyes begging him to have mercy on her husband. "Trey, stop this. He's your brother, Trey. Please, let him go?"
Trey shook his head, trying to gain back control of the situation, but Greenlee's presence was clearly affecting him. "I can't… I'm sorry, Greenlee," he told her, his voice sounding surprisingly genuine.
"You've already got your blood money," Leo mustered out, his eyes closed shut as he tried to block out the pain from the bullet wound. "Take it and run."
"We need to get him to a hospital, Trey!" Greenlee pleaded.
Trey looked at Greenlee apologetically, knowing what he had to do. His arm slowly moved sideways; the gun now aimed at his sister-in-law.
"No, don't," Leo tried to yell.
Trey didn't seem to hear his brother as his gaze stayed on a terrified Greenlee. "I'm sorry it had to be like this, Greenlee," he apologized; his voice unsteady. "You know? I cared about you. Then the second Leo says he wants you back – that's it, we're done."
Greenlee's terror started to fade. She knew the look of a killer. She had seen it in Vanessa many times. She even saw it in Trey when she first saw him aiming at Leo. But Trey lost that look as he aimed at her; she didn't think he had it in him to kill her.
"We had a good thing going," Trey continued.
"We never had a thing," Greenlee responded quizzically.
"But we could have!" Trey shot back, trying unsuccessfully to hold back his emotions. "You could have loved me, I know it; the way I was starting to love you. But then Leo comes back into the picture and I get tossed aside, just like I always got tossed aside by one foster home after another."
Greenlee slowly stood up with a certain poise about her. She felt confident from how Trey was talking to her that he wouldn't hurt her.
"Okay, Trey, I'm sorry," she offered. "I didn't know you felt so strongly."
"Greenlee?" Leo started to question what she was doing, but the pain wouldn't let him get out any more words than that. Greenlee looked back at him. It was time for her to save him – and she knew exactly what she had to do.
She slowly took off her jacket, her eyes locked on Trey's. Still wearing her fancy dress from this morning, Greenlee looked good and she knew it. "Maybe I can still love you, Trey, but you have to give me the chance."
Trey's eyes widened as he looked at her. Sweat formed on his forehead as he tried to regain himself. "What are you trying to pull, Greenlee?" Trey questioned, unconfidently pointing the gun at her. "I know how you feel about my brother so don't go thinking you can play me."
"Then you also know I would do anything to save him," she answered. She looked back at Leo, who was struggling to not black out from the pain coming from his arm, and then back up at Trey. "Anything," she repeated suggestively, lightly brushing the left strap of her dress off of her shoulder.
Trey slowly lowered the gun as she walked towards him. He looked down at the gorgeous petite woman in awe, as if the rest of the world had stopped existing.
"So," Greenlee continued. "You got a phone with you?"
Trey nodded, excitedly pulling a cell phone out of his pants pocket.
"Then here's the deal," she told him. "We call the hospital for Leo, and the two of us will be on a flight to Bora Bora, the Bahamas, or anywhere else it is you want to go before the ambulance can even get here." She moved closer to him and rose up on the tips of her toes to move her mouth up next to his ear. "Do we have a deal?" she whispered.
"Seal it with a kiss," Trey grinned widely, his inner dork coming to the surface.
Greenlee playfully chuckled. "Whatever you say," she answered seductively. She slowly rose up to kiss him. Trey's smile was ear to ear as he waited for her lips to reach his. He closed his eyes and opened his mouth ready for his fantasy to come true. Greenlee saw his eyes close and smiled – self-defense class was about to come in handy. She lifted her knee with all her strength straight into the one area that would stop any man in his tracks. Trey collapsed to the floor – the cell phone dropping from his hand. Greenlee frantically picked it up and dialed 911 as she ran back towards a half-conscious Leo. "Stay with me, Leo," she hysterically patted his cheek, trying to keep him awake. "I need an ambulance at Cabin 32 now!" she yelled into the phone immediately after someone answered her call. "My husband – he was shot. Please hurry!" She looked up and noticed Trey was stumbling back onto his feet. He angrily pointed the gun at Leo. Greenlee's eyes grew wide in terror.
"No!" she screamed, jumping on top of her husband's body.
Bang!
----------
Trey stumbled his way out of the cabin and through the trees as fast as he could. Greenlee's below the belt blow hadn't worn off yet, but he had to get out of there as soon as possible – before the cops and ambulances arrived. He crossed the road and hobbled through some more trees until he reached his car, parked hidden from view from the main road. He took one last look back towards the cabin as he clutched the door handle to the drivers' seat, mentally kicking himself for letting Greenlee use him like that. Remembering his mission, he felt for the bag of diamonds in his coat pocket – still there. He didn't need Greenlee to be happy; it was all about the money. Now he just had to get out of the country before anyone could find out what happened. He smiled and opened the car door to begin his escape, but collapsed before he could enter; a sudden searing pain in his left leg forcing him to the ground. The gun dropped from his hand, falling a couple feet away. He looked down at his leg to see a dart sticking out of it – he'd been shot.
Trey panicked when he realized he could no longer move his leg; he must have been hit with some sort of tranquilizer. His vision began to blur as he looked around for his attacker. He made out two figures approaching him: one a large figure and the other a shorter image that seemed familiar.
"Nice shot, Bruno," a woman's voice complemented the larger man. She bent down, face to face with Trey. Trey struggled to focus his vision on the woman, but with the face now only inches away from him, he could tell exactly who it was.
"Trey, darling," the woman told him matter-of-factly. "You don't look so well."
Trey gasped in fear. "Va… Vanessa! But you're dead. He saw your body!"
"Trey, Trey, Trey," Vanessa shook her head at her son. "Did Bubba tell you that? Or should I call him Jason Long. Ah yes. Good labor – far too young to die."
Trey tried to use his arms to push himself towards his gun, but realized he had lost control of them too. "Don't bother, my dear," Vanessa smiled. "You'll be paralyzed for the next fifteen minutes… well, if I let you live that long that is."
"You set me up," Trey realized, his voice shaking.
"Come now, darling," Vanessa laughed. "Everyone knows that when you want to hire someone, it's a good idea to do background checks, make phone calls – all that nice stuff to find out about their past, previous employers – the whole deal. If you wanted to be like you dear mother so bad, you should have just asked me for guidance. I could have molded you into something useful like Leo used to be. Alas, another worthless son. You see, Trey: it was all so perfect; my diamonds, Greenlee dead, and you taking the fall for it all." She paused, chuckling at her own brilliance. "You were supposed to go to prison for Greenlee's murder, Trey. You were my ticket out of this blasted hellhole. But you had to save that wretched little swine and it's going to cost you your life. Just tell me this, Trey, hmm: why is it that my entire offspring has to go gaga over that girl, huh? What is so bloody special about her?"
Trey struggled to stay with his mother as he tried to fight off the affects of the tranquilizer. "But how," he struggled to get the words out. "How did… you…?"
"…Survive?" Vanessa finished his sentence. "I can't give away all my secrets, darling; even to a dead man." She patted down her son in search for the diamonds, finding them in a coat pocket. She held them up, admiring their glow. "Thank you for my diamonds, Trey. Your mother is proud of you for trying." Vanessa stood up and turned toward the large man by her side. "Be a dear and take care of the messy stuff, Bruno. You know what to do after that."
Vanessa turned around and began walking away. The sound of sirens hurriedly approached from the distance, drowning out Trey's pleas for his life. A gunshot rang out from behind her as she looked down at her diamonds – back home with mama.