Justice. He came for me.
I grab Corinda instinctively and push her behind the pedestal as the doorway fills. Justice and Alexei stand there like two different kinds of storms.
Justice hits first. He reaches Wynd and tackles him, bringing him down hard. Alexei moves for Stacia, but Stacia yanks a gun from her side and shoots him. Alexei jerks back, blood spattering across his face, shock written all over him. She laughs, and a knife flashes out of nowhere. Alexei’s right hand moves as he throws, the blade spinning wildly, embedding perfectly in her throat.
She falls back, the gun clattering from her hand. She clutches at the knife, gurgling, and falls hard. I watch as her body shudders, convulses, and then the light leaves her eyes.
Alexei frowns and grabs his upper chest.
I move Corinda over to him. “How bad?” I ask.
“I don’t know,” he gasps. He collapses to his knees. “Kind of hurts.”
Oh shit. I look over at Justice, but he’s busy pummeling the ever-living shit out of Wynd. Wynd’s face is hamburger meat. I’m not sure there’s a nose left I recognize. Justice looks up, fury all over him, blood splattered across his face.
“I think Alexei took a bad one,” I say, holding Corinda as best I can. She’s barely steady.
Justice turns and punches again. One more blow snaps down on Wynd’s face. I hear bones crack, a percussive cascade, then the body shudders and goes still. Justice, his face splashed with blood, moves toward us. “Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m good,” I say, though my mouth’s dry.
Alexei tears his jacket off and looks down at the wound. Blood pours from him, pooling dark on the floor. Sirens and alarms burst to life above us—blares and the sound of men running, boots on stairs echoing through the shafts. “Shit. Hold on.”
“Guns out,” Justice says.
Alexei pulls a pistol from his boot. Justice pulls his too. I run over and grab the gun Stacia dropped, the cold metal slick with her blood.
“We can’t just keep shooting people,” I say, the panic making my voice thin.
Alexei’s eyelids flutter.
“No,” I cry out. He can’t die. Rosalie will be crushed. I stand and run into the server room, carrying the citrine out to place beside him.
“What are you doing?” Justice asks.
I gulp. “I’m not sure.” I plant my hand on the crystal and the other over Alexei’s heart. It’s beating slowly and not as strong as I like. I shut my eyes and think of Rosalie. Of her sweetness and her loyalty. Of her being my sister. A hum sets up around us.
“Holy shit,” Justice murmurs.
I tap into his energy, pulling strength from him. From the garnets and obsidian gems on his watch. I mentallypicture a strong amethyst stone, Alexei’s stone, and shove healing power into the man.
He gasps and sits upright. “What the hell?” He looks down and then presses a hand against his still-bleeding wound.
I shudder and sit back. At least I bought him some time.
“More soldiers are coming,” Corinda says listlessly.
“You’re right,” Justice says, his voice calm as he raises it so the oncoming men can hear him. “Wynd and Stacia are dead. The new owners of TimeGem Moments, Ella and Corinda, are alive. We’re taking them up the elevator. Anybody that comes at us dies.”
He hoists Alexei over his shoulder. Alexei drops his head back and groans as blood runs down his temple, streaking the Russian’s cheek. I wrap an arm around Corinda and guide her toward the elevator. Her legs are shaky, but she moves.
Hopefully we can get out in time. The alarms keep wailing. Footsteps close in. I can feel my heart hammering like it’s trying to escape my ribs. We press our backs to cold metal and wait for the doors to close on whatever comes next.
The elevator doors shut, and I look up at Justice, a brutal man with blood splashed across his deadly angled face.
He came for me.
THIRTY-NINE
