First Line Friday Prompt - Fiction Cafe Writer's Group

To save his own life, he would have to kill. That was something he had never thought he would have to do. He wasn't even sure he could pull it off.
 If he didn't do this, they would kill him, and then kill them as well. He had been ordered to take out the people he cared for more than anything. His own family.
Brent Sinclair took a deep breath, staring at his children. Gabe was only seven years old, Jacey five. They hadn't even lived their lives, how could he possibly cut them so short?
His gaze moved to his wife. Myra was at the stove making lunch for her family. What was he going to do? He couldn't hurt them, for any reason.
He would have to find a way to protect them from this threat. The only way he could do that was to tell Myra what was going on. He really didn't want to tell her about the trouble he was in.
He had been involved in some things he wasn't proud of. How did anyone tell the people they loved something like that? No, he would have to let that secret die with him.
"Brent?" Myra looked at him.
He swallowed hard, looking at her. She was such a sweet person. She didn't deserve to be murdered for what he had done. None of them did.
"What?" He smiled at her.
"Are you okay?" She handed him a plate.
"I'm fine." Brent took a bite of food.
"Daddy, can we play baseball later?" Gabe asked him.
"Sure buddy." He ruffled his sons hair. "Eat first, okay."
"Okay." The boy took a bite of his sandwich.
"What about me, Daddy?" Jacey scratched her nose.
"You too, Princess." Brent smiled at her.
This was killing him inside. He wanted to take them and hide some place safe. Unfortunately he knew they wouldn't be safe anywhere on the planet. Dimitri Kendrick would always find them.
The man had connections all over the world.

No one ever got away from him, or his goons.

That meant he had no choice but to do what he was told. He would prefer to do it himself, rather than have Dimitri do it. It would be a lot less painful if he did it.

He knew that Dimitri would torture them first. That was his favorite thing to do to the families of the people who betrayed him. He refused to let that happen to his wife and babies.

“Brent, is something wrong?” Myra asked him. “You seem a bit distracted today.”

“Just tired, I guess.” He lied.

He never lied to her, at least when they were face to face. It hadn't been easy to do. They had always been open and honest with one another.

He couldn't believe the things he had kept from her. Telling her would only destroy her. It would destroy all the trust between them. He couldn't hurt her like that.

He watched his children talking rapidly, laughing at each other. They had always meant everything to him. How could he have been such a fool? What he had done was going to get them killed. No father should do something like that to his children.

They were so happy at that exact moment. He had to make all that change in the blink of an eye. After tonight they would no longer feel happiness, or any other emotion. It was an unfair and cruel fate for someone so young.

He looked at his phone on the table. He really didn't want to answer it. He took a deep breath, looking at the number on the caller id.

“I need to get this.” He stood up. “It's work.”

Brent walked out onto the back porch, closing the door behind him. He waited until he was sure no one could hear him before answering it.

“Hello.” He swallowed hard again.

“Brent.” Dimitri's voice came on the line. “I changed my mind. I don't want you to kill your family while they sleep. I want you to do it NOW!”