Page 62 of Dark Reunion

Guards returned fire blindly, rounds sparking against stone. Carlos bellowed curses, his voice more rage than pain as blood darkened his sleeve.

“Get me out! Médicos, ahora.” Carlos’s men swarmed him, dragging him toward the open door and the hallway beyond, his protests a mix of command and humiliation.

Dean didn’t look that way. He had no interest in Carlos’s pride bleeding on marble. His eyes scanned lines, shadows, muzzle flares. The shooter wasn’t a pro. His shots were rushed, angles sloppy. A professional would’ve got Carlos in the head and then disappeared into the night.

Dean slid to the edge of the overturned table, angling himself low and taking aim. Another crack split the air. The shot gouged the wood inches from his shoulder.

He spotted movement in the shadows. He took aim and fired back, forcing the shooter to run. Killing wasn’t his job here, and honestly anyone wanting to kill Carlos was a friend in some respects, but not when those bullets landed in the same room as his family…

It worked. The shooter had gotten up and ran.

“Ricco,” Dean barked. “He’s on the run, on the roof across the way.” Ricco gave the barest of nods and slipped toward the stairwell, hunting the shooter.

He pivoted again, firing at the shadow making sure to keep whoever it was moving further away. The shots stopped. Silence was only broken by the children’s sobs and the barked orders of men scattering through the compound.

Carlos’s voice echoed from the hall, ragged but still arrogant. “Find him! Flay him alive!” His fury bled into the walls.

Dean stayed low and went straight to Maeve. When she looked at him, he glanced around then then held out the gun for her to take. With a nod she hid it under her skirt. Ava still covered a crying Isabella, but they were safest that way until the coast was clear.

“Daddy,” Aiden and Tate cried.

“Stay down, until I say it is safe.” They nodded.

Dean crawled to Yasmine and Andrés who was crying. He brushed glass off Yasmine’s shoulder. His heart thudded hard enough to hurt.

“We’re okay,” he murmured, voice certain because they needed to feel his calm. “I’ve got you. Always.”

Yasmine’s eyes locked on his, reading everything he couldn’t say aloud.

Dean looked toward the door Carlos had vanished through, blood still streaking the marble. His father was wounded, humiliated, and paranoid. The compound had been breached.

The cracks were widening, and it wouldn’t be long now before this was all over.