Page 234 of Lethal King

“She seems alright. We’re in her studio now. I’ve got one eye on her and one eye on the escape hatch, just in case.”

“Hopefully it won’t come to that.”

“Hopefully.”

Pushing myself off the trunk, I check each of the four pistols I have holstered around my body. Each one is locked and loaded. I’m ready for action. My ammo is hot. My pulse is calm and steady.

My focus is clear.

Staring out into the clearing ahead, I glare down Leander’s tacky mansion.

Rozalia is in there.

I’ll do whatever it takes to get her out.

Glancing back over my shoulder, I see that Tytus has slid down the trunk of his tree. He’s bleeding again.

“You stay here,” I tell him. “I’ll take care of Leander and Roz.”

“No,” he mumbles. “I can help.”

But when he tries to stand up again, his knees give out on him.

Fuck. It’s like staring at a wounded bear.

“You’ll just get in my way,” I tell him, holstering my gun.

“I’ll get in the way of you dying,” he huffs. A small coughing fit follows.

I roll my eyes. “Are you really trying to convince me that if it came down to it, you’d try to save my life?”

“Hardly,” Tytus replies, slapping his own cheek to wake himself up. “I’m just pointing out the obvious. The more targets those bastards have to shoot at, the less likely they’ll be shooting at you.”

I just shake my head.

“You should have let me take you to the hospital,” I grumble.

“Why? So you could chain me to a bed? I’m not my sister. Caging me isn’t going to make me fall in love with you.”

His words shatter my focus.

“That’s not why she fell in love with me,” I mindlessly bark, not even bothering to deny the obvious anymore—no matter how intense the truth is. “

“Ah, so you think she’s in love with you, too…” he chuckles, sliding back down onto his ass. “That makes four of us.”

“Four?”

“Me. Leander. Drago, and you. We all see it.”

“That’s some shit company.”

“It will get a whole lot shittier if I don’t come in there with you,” Tytus coughs. “Unless you want to end up like Drago…”

His voice drops as it trails off. A spark of sadness undercuts his words.

“is Drago in there?” I ask, pointing through the trees towards the mansion.

“No. Drago’s dead,” Tytus sighs.