Sebastian pushed off the wall and kicked the door open wider, gun raised.
Brooks looked up at him.
His face was covered in a black stocking mask.
A bloody knife in his left hand.
A gun in his right.
Sebastian ducked just as Brooks pulled the trigger.
Two, three, four, five shots blasted into the wall across the hallway.
Scrambling to the floor, Sebastian rolled toward the corner and secured his weapon. The shots continued as Brooks raced out of the room, shooting barely above Sebastian’s head.
Sebastian pressed his body against the floor, then turned and aimed at Brooks.
He got off two shots before the man disappeared into the living room.
Bullets flew through the air from the automatic weapon.
Sebastian crawled to the end of the short hallway.
Brooks raced through the open door and disappeared into the night.
“Fuck,” Sebastian muttered.
As much as he wanted to go after the bastard, he couldn’t.
Not with Gabrielle unconscious.
Not without knowing what Brooks had done to her.
The thought that the fucker might have …
He stopped the thoughts before the rage consumed him.
Caring for Gabrielle was the only thing that mattered right now.
Putting his gun back into the holster, he walked into the bedroom.
A man lay on the ground. His polo shirt was torn open, revealing a bare chest with a message written in dark lipstick.
She’s mine.
Blood poured from stab wounds in his abdomen.
Was this the guard Shannon had assigned to protect Gabrielle?
Brooks stabbed the man because he thought this was the bodyguard Gabrielle had fallen in love with.
A thud resounded behind him.
Sebastian turned around, gun raised and pointed at …
“Lachlan?” Sebastian lowered his gun. “What the fuck?”
“Thought you’d need backup, and I was right,” Lachlan said, then looked down at the guard’s body. “What the hell happened here?” Lachlan dropped to his knees beside the bleeding man and felt his neck for a pulse.
