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He is a fearsome man.
The driver of our car floors it and we are pressed back against the leather seats as he takes a wild left turn. The white SUV makes the same turn as we do, pulling up so that we are side-by-side. The traffic flowing against us veers wildly out of the way but the madman behind the wheel of the other SUV doesn’t slow or stop. It merely swerves all over the place in its attempts to pull even with us.
Our driver slams on the brakes and we skid sideways. My eyes go wide, and I clench at Hades’s hand. For a second, my body doesn’t know which direction it’s even being flung in. Soon the driver throws the car into reverse and slams on the gas, looking backward as he navigates down the street. I hear Hades murmuring under his breath.
But what is he supposed to do? I don’t know.
A second later, two cars pull out into the middle of the street, blocking us and denying us access to escape. The white SUV has reversed its path as well and it traces our path exactly.
When we come to a screeching halt, it does, too. As soon as the SUV slows down enough, the doors fly open, and Constantine gets out. There’s a grin on his face, ugly as sin. He lifts glasses from his eyes and brandishes his huge firearm.
He carefully and neatly shoots the two security guards several times, somehow avoiding me and Hades. The bullets hit the car in a bright, loud burst.
I duck, hanging on for my life and praying that Hades has a plan.
Chapter22
Hades
As our car skids to a halt, my pulse throbs in my neck. That’s all I can hear for a moment as the armed security guards sitting in front of us begin to open their car doors. One of them seems to be in better condition than the other, climbing out of the passenger seat and raising his sleek black gun to fire at Constantine.
He’s standing behind his open door but Constantine glances over at him and casually fires his own weapon back. Though the shot seems impossible, it hits the guard in the chest, and he goes down hard.
I mutter a curse out loud and pull my weapon out, assessing the situation. Getting Penny to safety is going to be my primary concern right now. But the security guards have both opened their doors, so there is no longer a barrier in place between Constantine and us.
No, it’s better if I try to draw them away from the car and have Penny run for it when she can. Locking my jaw, I look at her, the expression on my face stony.
“Yer going to have to run for it.”
She looks at me, grabbing at my hand wildly.
“What?” she breathes.
I start sliding over toward the door that faces outward toward the other SUV. She clings to me, but I grab her hands and look her in the eyes, scanning her face. I see fear and grief written there, two emotions that I had hoped to never see on her face again.
“I am going to draw Constantine out. While I do that, I need ye to run. As far and as fast as ye can possibly go. Do not stop for anyone, no matter who they are. You are not safe until I come find ye. Do ye understand?”
She looks at me, terror in her eyes. When she tosses her hair and lifts her chin in rebellion, I see the sheen of tears in her eyes.
“You can’t really think that I would abandon you.”
I reach for the door latch, pressing my hand on it. This is the hardest thing that I ever have to do but I stare her down.
“This is not about ye and me anymore. We have to think about the baby. And I need more than anything to know that ye and the baby are okay. So ye had better run if ye know what’s good for ye.”
Penny looks a little shocked. She opens her mouth to say something else, but I open my door and pile out of the car, slamming it behind me.
Instantly I am greeted with a hail of bullets. I can’t even tell where they’re coming from or who exactly is shooting at me. I duck behind the opened driver’s side door and wait for a break in the gunfire.
I hear Penny open the back door as I pop my head up, firing off a couple of shots. My aim is not to actually not hit anything. Rather, it is only to distract Constantine by making as much noise as possible. I fire several shots directly into the broad side of their vehicle, blowing out the windows. Constantine and Penny’s father duck their heads down.
I lower myself and glance back, but I find an empty backseat. Penny has gone, running to safety.
My heart clenches in my chest. Constantine fires a shot that hits the door only inches from my head. I flinch away from the sound, feeling the bullet's impact as it travels through the door. I pop my clip out and reload it, readying myself for another volley of gunfire.
Constantine shouts out from behind the white SUV where he is sheltering.
“If I take you, Hades, I’ll take Persephone too. I don’t just want one of you. I want to grind you into the ground and let you die knowing that you’ll never get to meet the baby.”
