Page 53 of Flawed Revenge

All her fears about whether she had it in her to shoot to protect her child flew out the window. She was a mama bear, and cub was in danger, protecting Ariella was the only option.

Angling her body to shield her daughter as best as she could, Kate swung the weapon that felt so heavy in her hand toward the wheelchair woman and fired.

Badly.

Not a single one of her shots found the target, and the older woman laughed at her. Actually laughed.

“That’s a little bit dramatic, isn’t it?” the woman asked when the gun began to click instead of firing because it was out of bullets. “Shooting at a woman who’s in a wheelchair? What kind of threat do you think I am?”

The answer to that question was possibly the biggest threat of all.

Gray hair streaked with lingering strands of red, green eyes, and a light smattering of freckles Kate could make out only because the woman had a light on her wheelchair that illuminated her. She knew who this woman had to be.

“You're River Gardner,” she whispered. There was no one else she could be. The woman looked just like you’d expect Rose to look in another forty or so years. This was the woman Leo and the others were hoping might have samples of the older versions of the drug the guys had been injected with. Samples that might save Ariella’s life by boosting her immune system, without giving her the same side effects that had caused Leo to break her heart and walk away rather than risk killing her.

“And you're Kate Gage, former fiancée of one Leo Michaels, now known as Lion.” The woman’s gaze dipped to her hand, still clutching the now useless weapon. “Or no longer former, I see. That’s good. Very good. Means he’ll make sure he comes for you and the child. I am safe in assuming that the child is one you share with Mr. Michaels?”

“Stay away from my daughter,” Kate snarled, throwing the gun onto the ground and dragging Ariella up with her as she shoved to her feet. Maybe this woman had samples of the drugs they needed, but this wasn't something she planned on finding out while she was alone out there with her nine-year-old.

“Unfortunately, I can't do that, Ms. Gage. I'm sure you understand. My son has made a real mess of things, and I dislike that there is as much animosity between us as there is, but I need to get those men back, and I can't think of a better way of doing that than by taking you and your daughter home with me.”

If River Gardner thought that she was going anywhere with her, the lady was delusional.

Not wanting to waste time arguing with the crazy old woman, Kate took off running, dragging Ariella along with her. Outrunning the woman shouldn’t be a problem, after all, she was in a wheelchair and they were out in the forest where there were roots, sticks, and other debris littered about.

“This is silly, Ms. Gage,” Mrs. Gardner called out. “I wasn't expecting this to be as easy as it’s turned out to be, but either way, I wasn't leaving here without dealing with this problem. You’ve saved me from having to blow up that farmhouse with everybody inside it.”

“No.” She gasped, tears blurring her eyes as she thought of the guys, the women who had embraced her into their family, all being wiped off the face of the earth.

Men dressed in black began to appear, stepping out from the trees, surrounding her, pointing weapons at her and her daughter.

This couldn’t be happening.

She couldn’t be getting kidnapped along with her little girl.

“Please,” she whimpered, not at all above begging if it saved Ariella’s life.

“The easy way or the hard way, Ms. Gage. It’s entirely up to you how this goes,” River Gardner told her. “But the outcome is the same either way.”

Chapter

Sixteen

March 18th

3:39 A.M.

“How in the hell did they even get past us?” Steel growled.

“Because we weren't looking for a little girl and her mom, we were looking for them,” Lion replied, jerking his head at the front door of the abandoned farmhouse where at least two dozen bodies were littered on the forest floor outside. Not just looking for threats but enjoying the chance to indulge their need to unleash their anger and shed blood.

Annoyed as he was with himself—with all of them, although he placed the blame more squarely on his own shoulders because Kate and Ariella were his responsibility—he didn't want to waste time discussing how they’d messed up so badly. All he wanted to do was get out there and find his girls.

Knowing they were all alone out in the vast forest, with so many unknowns, had him practically vibrating with anxiety. So many things could go wrong, and he wasn't there to protect them. Ariella was just a little girl, a sick little girl at that, and Kate was injured, in more pain from her broken ribs than she was pretending to be, and he hadn't helped that with their sex session last night.

“I tried to stop them, but I couldn’t without going out. I thought it would give them a better chance at not being noticed if there was just the two of them,” Rose piped up, none of the girls at all fazed by the fact that he and his teammates were streaked with blood. Seemed he wasn't the only one who’d needed to blow off a little steam.

“You made the right choice, little ladybug,” Steel assured her.