A tear of sheer panic rolled down the side of Kelly's frozen face, his mind screaming for his body to move, but the paralysis kept him locked in place.
"You made my boyfriend who he is today," Adrian rasped, his knuckles whitening around the gun. "All the bad names people call him, all the darkness people see in him, a lot of it traces back to people like you."
His grip tightened around the weapon.
"I could pull this trigger right now and end your miserable life. But I won't. I refuse to let a piece of trash like you be the reason my own life changes for the worse, just like you changed Matteo's."
Adrian slowly lowered the barrel, his eyes shifting down to Kelly's lower body. A brutal, unforgiving look settled over his face. "But I am going to do something you'll forever regret for the rest of your life."
Adrian deliberately aimed the pistol straight at Kelly's right knee.
Bang!
The gunshot exploded through the narrow hallway.
