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So loud. Disorienting. Deafening.
Though I barely felt them as they pierced my skin.
I just kept going. Barreling into him, colliding with the beast and taking him to the ground. We rolled, both trying to pin the other. He got on top of me, but I managed to shove him back enough so I could let go of two more shots right into his chest.
His eyes went wide before he slumped forward, and I grunted as I tossed him off, gasping as I tried to orient myself to the mayhem.
To the shots and chaos that had rained before everything had gone deathly quiet.
The utter silence that rang out before soft whimpers started to rise into the dusky, smoke-laden air.
That heavy air wheezed into my lungs, and I felt disoriented. Lightheaded. Though I forced myself to sit up and stagger to my feet. I pressed my hand to my side where blood was gushing as I squinted, scanning the area.
Caleb stood over Samson, his gun still pointed his direction, even though Samson was sprawled out, facedown.
Dead.
Cody had come to stand over Jack who was in a similar position, and he nudged him with the toe of his boot to make sure he wasn’t moving.
Ryder had crouched in front of the girl Samson had used as a shield, the woman bleeding heavily from the arm.
And Savannah.
Savannah wept where she was now sitting up, still bound, tears sliding down that striking, unforgettable face.
I dropped to my knees in front of her. I reached out and touched her cheek.
Love rushed out as I was slammed with relief.
She was safe.
“I found you,” I managed to force out. That time, I knew exactly why it came out sounding like it meant something.
This woman who I’d discovered hiding in the woods.
My little trespasser.
“I found you.”
Then I slumped to the side.
FIFTY-SIX
SAVANNAH
I found you. I found you.
A scream tore from my soul as Ezra fell. Blood poured from his abdomen.
I flailed to get loose of the ropes around my wrists and ankles.
So I could get to him.
Hold him.
Jessica was suddenly in front of me, her fingers frantic as she started to rip at the bindings, her head lowered as she kept mumbling, “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”
I had so many questions. So much love and hurt and sorrow. So many things that needed to be said, but I couldn’t say anything once she freed me.
My only instinct was to get to Ezra. I scrambled to his side, my trembling hands touching his face, his lips, his jaw. “Ezra. Please. Open your eyes.”
I found you.
I found you.
I pressed those trembling hands low on his abdomen and to the side. Blood seeped between my fingers.
“Ezra, please, you’re going to be okay. Please be okay.”
A flurry suddenly burst around us again as footsteps and voices clashed as more officers ran into the basement. It seemed to snap everyone out of the shock, and the room was instantly riddled with the cries of the women who’d been held here, taking in the carnage strewn around the room.
Cody, Ryder, and Caleb rushed up, skidding to a stop when they came to hover over us.
“Fuck.”
“Get the paramedics in here.”
“Hurry, please!”
Their voices drifted through the bleary haze that blurred my sight.
But this overbearing, beautiful man was the only thing I could see.
My love.
My forever.
My safe place.
FIFTY-SEVEN
SAVANNAH
Loving had always been my greatest burden. What had hurt me the most because loving had only left me hollowed out.
Those vacancies, the wounds, the hurts driven so much deeper because it was never offered in return.
The echo of it had only amplified the emptiness.
Yet, I’d given myself fully to my sister. My devotion. My love. My everything. I’d shored up the rest, guarded myself from caring at all costs because I’d never believed I would find a person worthy of the gamble of being hurt again.
It was so much better to go it alone than to risk the pain of losing.
But I wasn’t alone where I sat in the waiting room of the hospital in Poplar where Ezra had been taken. I was surrounded. Surrounded by this care and love and concern that I’d never known.
True and real and resolute.
Dakota held my hand on one side and Paisley the other, and Beth had pulled up a chair in front of me and was rubbing my knee.
Caleb, Ryder, and Cody were there, too, though they were stalking back and forth across the room, unable to sit still, the adrenaline still clearly ticking through their systems, the bedlam they’d been partner to trembling as shock through their veins.
We knew the FBI was on their way and they’d be questioned soon, and a raid had been ordered on Jack Harris’ property. Samson and Jack Harris were dead. Unquestionably, their misdeeds had gone deep and dark. Stretching far and wide.
The three women were safe, currently admitted to this hospital until it could be determined what type of care they needed, including my sister. My sister who I hadn’t been allowed to speak with yet, though I wasn’t sure I could even handle it right then. Not when it felt like I was being shredded while I waited for news on Ezra.
