Brandon exhales deeply. “No. She was released two hours ago.”
Fear clutches my throat, but it does nothing to slow me down. I race up the stairwell of Alex’s apartment before Brandon can demand me not to, and I barge through his doorway even faster than that.
The horrid thoughts that ran through my head during my thirteen-second sprint come to life when my eyes lock on Alex. His shirt has seeped through with blood, and his eyes are closed. He isn’t moving, not even the pool of blood around his mouth is quivering.
“No!” I scream at the top of my lungs, alerting the sleeping residents in Alex’s building to the crisis occurring around them.
I swing my arm wildly to the left when a flurry of blonde catches my eye. My breathing comes out in shallow pants when the gun trembling in my hands lines up with a pair of bright blue eyes. It isn’t Addison or her mother. It’s her big sister, Isla.
“Come here, sweetie, quick, come here,” I beg when I hear her mother shouting her name.
“Isla, what did I tell you about hiding?! We need to leave, now! Where are you?!”
I lower my gun to the side, making Isla’s pupils narrow before I beg her to follow my request without words. She doesn’t know me, but she must trust me. With a sob, she races to my side at the exact moment her mother exits the hallway. Kristin is clutching Addison by the scruff of her shirt, her hold not one I’ve seen any mother do—and I’ve seen a lot of shit mothers in my time.
I tug a frozen Isla behind my thigh before raising my gun to her mother’s head. “Stay where you are. Police have been called, and they’re on their way.”
That’s a total lie. I’m certain Brandon shouted something about authorities before I threw down my phone, but in my panic, I didn’t think to call 911 during my charge to Alex’s apartment.
Kristin and Addison’s eyes lift to mine at the same time. Kristin smirks when she notices how much I’m shaking; Addison screams. Her screams aren’t for me. They are for the man she adores as much as me lying lifeless at my feet.
“Awex!” Addison fights with all her might to get out of her mother’s grip. Her loose-fitting winter coat is the only thing that aids in her escape. It slips off her shoulders with a whoosh before she sprints across the room. “Wake up, Awex! Wake up!”
She bangs on Alex’s chest, praying for him to rouse in response to the sheer terror in her voice. He doesn’t. He remains perfectly still, his heart as uncooperative as mine from witnessing her gut-wrenching display of love.
She loves him nearly as much as I do.
Hoping to ease her pain, I clutch Addison’s shirt before hoisting her behind the leg Isla isn’t clutching for dear life. Although my hold is as horrid as the one her mother had on her earlier, it is the only option I had to remove her out of harm’s way, so I used it.
“Don’t you dare!” I shout when Kristin steps forward, hoping her daughters crying behind me will catch me off guard.
She’s shit out of luck. Now I’m not just protecting the man I love; I’m defending the two little girls he’d go to hell for. I don’t know them, but that won’t stop me from protecting them with everything I have. I never understood why Alex defended me at Substanz all those years ago. Now I do, and I’m going to emulate his grit.
Kristin appears to be staring straight at me, but I know her eyes aren’t locked on mine. She’s not even focused on her daughters. She wants one of the guns dumped on the kitchen counter a few spaces up from where she’s standing. I recognize one of them—it’s the Christmas gift Hugo gave me years ago. The other one is unidentifiable, but the silencer screwed on the end makes it obvious it’s the reason residents of Alex’s building weren’t alerted to his distress.
I strengthen my stance when Kristin takes another step forward. “They’re my daughters, Regan; you can’t just take them.”
Although surprised she knows my name, I keep my composure cool. “Don’t act like you care about them. You killed their father.”
She doesn’t attempt to deny my claim. “Because he wanted to take them from me. . . like you’re trying to. I’ll never let that happen.”
“I’m not taking them away from you. I’mprotectingthem from you.”
My finger curls around the trigger when she takes another step forward. She smirks at me, stupidly mistaking my determination like many women and men have in my life. It will cost her dearly. I’m not some naïve idiot who’ll sit by and watch a man I love be injured and not do anything about it. I’ll maim. I’ll hurt.I’ll even kill if I have to.
“Go, leave. I’ll let you go.” I lock my eyes with Kristin, ensuring she can see the determination in them before saying, “But you’re not taking the girls with you.” Isla’s deep exhalation flutters against my thigh during my last sentence.
Kristin shakes her head. “I’m not leaving without them.”
Her deep rumble cautions me to slide off the safety of Alex’s gun. “Why? Because they’re your ticket to easy street? Tokens in the sympathy game you’ve been playing on Alex the past fifteen months? It has to stop, Kristin. You can’t use people’s guilt against them!”
Kristin’s composure snaps. She races toward me, snagging the pistol from the kitchen counter in the process. Time slows when I line up my target before pulling back the trigger of my gun. Three pops blast my eardrums.Bang. Bang. Bang.
I don’t feel the recoil Alex warned of, but the noise is near deafening. My breathing stills to barely a wheeze as my wide eyes take in the scene. Kristin is still standing. She has bullet wounds in her stomach, chest, and right rib, but she’s still standing.How?
When she raises a shaky hand, the one holding a gun, a fourth pop shatters my eardrums. This one wasn’t from me. It came from my side, from the man slumped on the ground unconscious in his own pool of blood. Except he’s no longer unconscious. His eyes are open and bloodshot, and he has his service pistol in his hand.
“Awex!” Addison squeals at the same time Kristin’s lifeless frame slumps to the ground. She skids to a stop next to Alex as FBI agent after FBI agent swarm his apartment.
