As promised, the climax chapter is FINALLY here! After this, there's only one more chapter to wrap things up before I start the final editing process. It's been a long ride, but we are finally almost at the end. But, their stories will not end here... For the sequel will be following soon after.

Don't worry, I won't keep you any longer. You poor readers have waited too long already. (Those of you who hadn't given up on me and keep coming back every posting... PS. You guys are amazing)

Enjoy...

^^^

None of Dax's guys are there when we turn the corner. Only the Mexicans involved with the coup remained. The rest must have bailed the first chance they got, leaving their leader without a second thought.

I fall to the floor when Eddie drops me and my leg throbs at the impact. The scene before me is one that I've hoped to see many times but under completely different circumstances. Now, it just makes my stomach twist.

Blood drips from the Dax's mouth and collects in the pool that's already formed on his shirt. He's bent forward, his body concave and hands strapped down to the arms of a chair he's strapped in. If I hadn't known what is going on, I wouldn't even have been able to tell who he was. His eyes are slowly closing, little by little. Like he's drifting. Dax has been beaten beyond recognition and I can't even imagine the pain he's in, though I don't feel bad for him.

"Glad you could make it." King's words tear my gaze away. "Can you stand?"

"Um-"

"Try." His dull expression and hard eyes encourage me to comply.

The strain is enough to make me feel dizzy, but I push through the suffering in the hopes of getting Sabrina out of here. I transfer all the weight to my good leg and I try to ignore the small pangs that are still the aftermath of Eddie's assault earlier.

King smirks when he glances back at Dax. Amusement dances in his eyes while he admires the handiwork, and judging by the proud look on Eddie's face, he had something to do with it.

I close my eyes for a moment, in preparation for my next question. "What are you going to do with me and my friends?"

King looks conflicted for a moment. Holding the lives of three teenagers in his hand most likely isn't something he planned for, so it surely must complicate things.

The corners of Eddie's mouth quirks up. "I have a few ideas."

My glare is now directed at him. "If you ever touch her again, I swear I will-"

"You'll what? You're bleeding to death right now, pendejo." His laugh makes my jaw set. "I'll take my chances."

"Shut it, Ed," King snaps at him. "There's only one person I came here to kill. I don't plan on taking chances, especially not with three minors."

"I never said we have to kill the girl." Eddie smirks.

"Keep your sick fantasies to yourself, we don't have time for this." Brandan's eyes find mine after a careful glance towards Jeremy. "No one would miss a poor junkie kid like Whittney, but a rich white boy? Shit, the cops would be digging for years. They'd be up our asses constantly, no matter how much we pay them off."

Eddie growls. "Why do I even have to listen to you, huh? I'm not one of your little bitches. Without me, you wouldn't even have been able to get into the fucking building!"

A groan leaves Dax as he wearily fights against his restraints. "If you're going to kill me, just do it already." He spits a mixture of blood and mucus onto the floor. "Would save me from this annoying bickering."

"With pleasure!" Eddie tears his gun from the hem of his jeans, his finger already trigger ready.

"Put the gun down!" King takes his own out, the barrel aimed directly at Eddie's head. "Dammit, Torres. Now!"

Brandan's isn't the only gun that rises. Iker and Daryll immediately point their weapons in King's direction. Within seconds, everyone armed with a gun has it pointed at someone or another. It would have been a standoff if Brandan's crew wasn't double the size.

"We kill Dax my way," Braxton says, still holding his gun at Eddie. "If you want this deal to work, we have to be on the same side. That's what we agreed. You help me take Dax down and you get to settle in your birthright."

After seconds that felt like minutes of heart-stopping tension, Eddie finally lowers his gun. Brandan and the rest do so as well and I can feel my blood start to flow again.

So this little alliance is only temporary. That explains a lot, but now that I know Eddie isn't taking orders, a sharp shiver runs along my nerves. If he wanted to, he could shoot me on his own terms. But, after that display of Alpha by Brandan, I fool myself into thinking I'm in the clear.

"I don't work for you," Eddie says, as if reminding him.

"Yes. You've made that very clear." King gestures towards the younger Caine brother. "Braxton, take Eddie's piece."

Eddie grunts, but hands over the weapon. "You better be careful with it."

"It will return to you in one piece once Dax is dead. I promise you that." Braxton's part in this is still shocking, but if I had a brother like that I guess I would have sold him out to the enemy as well.

Eddie sighs. "If we're not killing them, what are we going to do?"

The question hangs in the air like knives on a string, ready to rain down on me. While King mulls it over, my heart beats away at an unnatural rate in my chest. There are things worse than death and Brandan King is definitely someone who can dish out some hefty punishments for meddling.

King doesn't answer the question. He sends Jay and Braxton to grab the others while his eyes drill into me. There's a God awful silence that is almost as daunting as King's stare.

After what feels like forever, Sabrina and Whittney finally appear. Braxton has hold of Sabrina, while Jay has a rather protective grip on his younger brother. Their wrists are no longer bound and I almost collapse where I stand when Sabrina runs into my arms. I don't even notice the pain in my leg through how relieved I am to be holding her again.

"You're okay, right?" I cup her head in my hands when we separate. "You're okay. Everything will be okay."

Whittney is now standing with us, but his focus is completely on Brandan. Mine too, when I realize where the barrel of his gun is.

"I only came here to kill one person." King repeats his words from earlier, now addressing the three of us. "I'm not letting you go because I feel bad about killing a few stupid, in over their heads, teenagers. I don't kill without reason, and trust me, you three have given me fucking plenty. Unfortunately, rich boy over here would make covering up your deaths a bigger inconvenience than letting you go."

Sabrina gives my hand a hopeful squeeze, but I don't want to reassure her when there's so much that can still go wrong.

"Don't mistake this for kindness, because I'm not kind." King's harsh eyes are now focused on me. "I may not be able to kill you, Griffin, but staying quiet is the only thing that will keep your friends alive."

A large crack of sound bursts through the loft, leaving a sharp ringing in my ears. Sabrina's scream follows as she jumps back into my arms. I hug her shaking frame while she shields her eyes in the crook of my neck.

Dax slumps forward in the chair, his head on his chest. Strands of fallen hair hang over his face, partly hiding the morbid beating he went through. The bullet found its mark in his temple and blood oozes from the hole in his skull. My stomach is turning at the sight of him. The only thing keeping him from falling to the floor is his wrists tied to the armrests.

My greatest enemy is dead.

Sabrina finally gathers the strength to look, but it must have been too much for her. She holds her hand over her nose and mouth, but is unable to keep from vomiting. I hold her hair and rub her back soothingly while she gets it all out.

"What the fuck, man?" Whittney pulls hopelessly at his hair while his eyes bulge out of his skull. The muscle in his jaw tightens when he shifts his gaze to his brother, but Jay doesn't look the slightest bit phased.

Brandan King raises a hand in Whittney's direction, a silent warning to quiet him. King's face is sprinkled with blood from the blowback of the kill. "Let Dax here be an example of what'll happen if any of you cause any more problems for me."

"You weren't kidding," Eddie huffs, tossing a vindictive glance my way before coming face to face with King. "You are really letting this motherfucker go, just like that?"

A heavy weight is lifted from my shoulders when I see King's sympathetic eyes and I give Sabrina a reassuring squeeze. The feeling that things can still go south doesn't stop eating at my mind, but if he says it's over, they have no choice but to listen to them.

"For Christ's sake, Torres!" King shakes his head and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Do I really have to remind you why killing this kid is a stupid fucking idea?"

Eddie starts to open his mouth again, most likely in retaliation, when Iker's voice is the one that breaks through the tension. "Your man on the inside just called," he warns King. "Said there was an anonymous call in the area and they've already sent a team our way. We gotta split, now."

"Let's get out of here!" King's order is directed at everyone, but a few of the Mexicans are looking to Eddie. "Whoever called must have heard the gunshots. Let's go. Now!"

Everyone starts heading for the stairwell next to the elevator, but Braxton's pained cry brings the attention back on the center of the room. Within seconds, Eddie has his gun back and the barrel is lined up right between my eyes. Time slows when all the air escapes my lungs. His lips curve into a sick smile and it's in this moment that I finally realize I don't want to die, after all.

King's voice bursts through the powerful sound of my heartbeat. "Eddie, don't!"

The sound of the gun going off is the last thing I hear before I'm knocked off my feet. A powerful buzzing vibrates in my head when all sound is muffled. My eyes open and close in an attempt to make sense of the blurry images surrounding me. I try to move, but groan when a heavy throbbing pulses in my shoulder.

A pressure is pushing down on my ribs, causing a sharp pang to travel through my nerve endings. There's a limp body lying on top of me and the blurred silhouette has to be Sabrina. When my hand finds the strength to grab her side in an attempt to move her, something sticky coats my fingers.

My whole body goes numb when I raise my fingers into view and they're painted with red. Dread tears me apart until my eyes focus and my ears pick up sound again. I push through the pain in my attempt to sit up. From the corner of my eye, I can see a brutal fist fight going down, but Sabrina is the only thing I care about.

Carefully, I roll her off of me and inspect her torso. There's a small red stripe on her side, meaning the bullet only grazed her.

"Oh my god. You're okay." Relief floods into me and I pull her into my arms. "I got you. You're okay."

"Austin." She can barely get my name out through her tears. "We're not all okay."

"What are you talking about?" The answer hits me right when the question leaves my lips. "Rina, where's Whittney?"

Her eyes are fixed on a spot behind me. I follow her gaze and a lump forms in my throat when I see his body on the ground. Whittney lies in a pool of blood with his brother at his side. A bunched up hoodie is pressed against a spot just below the ribs in Jay's attempt to stop the bleeding, but it already looks like he's lost so much.

Pain pulses in my leg when I rise to my feet to get to Whittney. He doesn't look too different now from when I saw him going through withdrawal. Sweat pearls on his forehead and his body is trembling when I kneel down next to him. A half smile reaches his lips when he sees me, but there's only pain in his eyes.

"No, no, no, no," Jay says, his voice filled with dread when he sees the blood seeping through his fingers at an alarming rate. "Don't you bleed out on me, Whitt. Don't you fucking dare!"

"We gotta go, Rhodes." Brandan King tugs at Jay's arm, but he doesn't budge.

"I'm not fucking leaving him!" Jay growls, shaking off King's hold.

"The cops are on their way." King looks over Whittney's shaking body and sighs. "He's not going to make it, man."

Sabrina is the first to react, placing her hands on top of Jays, catching his attention immediately. Their eyes connect and Jay's expression immediately softens. "Go. We'll take care of your brother." She looks down at Whitt with teary eyes. "He's our friend."

My eyes narrow when Jay just stares at her. It's a look of respect, or maybe admiration, that only lasts a second before fading into his emotionless mug. With a nod, he slides his hands out from under hers and lets Brandan pull him up.

"Don't you fucking let him die! You hear me?" He points a bloody finger at me, his eyes wild with anger and fear. "Do not let my brother fucking die."

Whittney's eyes follow his brother until him and King are long gone, then let's out a whimper. Sabrina continues to put pressure on his side, even though her whole body is shaking. I should have been the one to act so quickly, though I feel like my mind is slowly slipping away from me.

I shake my head in an attempt to clear my thoughts a little, but my vision blurs. When I try again, I feel lightheaded, but the images clear.

While keeping the pressure off my bad leg, I'm knelt beside my former best friend; the first best friend I ever had. If he was trying to stay strong before in front of his brother, it all falls apart now when his pained cry attacks my ears.

"Ah, fuck," he groans, his teeth bared. "Shit. It hurts like hell."

"I don't understand." My voice trembles as I try to make sense of everything. At first I thought it was Sabrina who pushed me out of the line of fire, but the events from the last minute slowly come back to my foggy brain. "That bullet was heading right towards me. Why would you risk your life to save me, after everything?"

His eyes start to water, tears mixing in with the cold sweat spreading over his shaking body, but through it all, he smiles.

"It's what Harry would do," he says, his words barely above a whisper.

"Harry?"

"You have to tell him for me-" Tears are now flowing freely down his cheeks and he grips my arm with urgency. "You have to tell him-" A fit of coughs keeps him from finishing his sentence. To my horror, a stream of blood trickles from the corner of his mouth.

For the first time, all the built up resentment from the past couple years doesn't matter. Memories of the good old days flood my brain with nostalgia and even though I'm numb from everything else that happened tonight, I still feel my chest ache while witnessing Whittney slowly fade into blurry vision.

I don't even realize I'm crying until I choke on my next words. "Don't talk like that." I place a comforting hand on his arm, holding him as tightly as he holds me. "We're getting you out of here. You just have to hold on, alright?"

"Austin." Sabrina's soft voice catches my attention. It's filled with remorse and when I find her gaze, her head shakes as if to agree with Brandan.

He's not going to make it.

"Tell him I'm sorry, and tell him," Whittney continues, as if it's more important than his own life right now. "Tell him I love him."

Then the sirens come. 

***

Whelp, that happened... I really hope you guys liked the chapter! Don't forget to vote if you think the chapter was deserving and I would LOVE to know what your thoughts were, so leave a comment if you feel like sharing!

I will be posting a first chapter sneak peek of the sequel sometime before posting the final chapter of BMR. It won't give anything of the final chapter away spoiler-wise, but be prepared for the huge time jump, and the new voice of the BMR series... Sabrina Williams will be the main protagonist. A cast list is already posted, so be sure to check out Recovering My Reputation after reading the chapter!

In the media, we have Whittney Rhodes, a character who is loved by some, hated by others, but will always be my baby boy. He deserves so much better than what he gets.... I love my misunderstood bean so much. *Goes into a corner and cries* 

Wanna read more of Whittney? Crossing Lines (Whittney's pov) has four chapters already posted, starting from when he's only eight and ending at his freshman year (with yet more to come). Or, are you more interested in his big reveal at the end and wondered where that came from? Those answers can be found in Crooked (Harry's pov), where Whittney plays a significant role. Remember, Austin doesn't know everything and everyone is hiding secrets Behind Their Reputations.

Til next time,

TheWriterD