Page 69 of Love At Close Range

One got his gun up and fired in our direction causing Rook to move behind a stack of pallets while I shifted to the opposite side. I caught the man when he stepped out trying to get a better shot and put him down. Out the corner of my eye, I saw a nigga moving toward the table where Reiana and Rhyse were. I shot his before he made it into clear sight. The last man closest to Reiana grabbed her making her release Rhyse as he pulled her away.. He wrapped an arm around her chest and dragged her up against him.

“Ma!” Rhyse yelled out for her.

“Drop that shit!” he yelled, pressing his gun against her head.

That made me stop in my tracks. Reiana’s eyes found mine and she was scared, but she wasn’t panicking.

“Lennox,” she whimpered.

“I got you,” I assured her.

“I said drop it!” The man demanded again as he jerked Reiana toward him again.

Reiana’s eyes found mine, and I held them for a second. I couldn’t say anything without letting him know what I was about to do, so I lowered my gun slightly and nodded toward Rhyse.

Catching on quickly, Reiana dropped down and pulled Rhyse with her, giving me the opening I needed. I fired once, catching the nigga clean before he had a chance to react. His body hit the floor behind them, and before I could make it all the way across the room, Reiana was already pulling Rhyse to his feet.

“Lennox!”

I lowered my gun as they ran toward me and met them halfway. Reiana threw her arms around my neck, and I caught her against me while Rhyse wrapped himself around my waist.

“Did they hurt either one of you?” I asked, looking Reiana over before checking Rhyse.

“No.” Her voice cracked as she shook her head. “They scared the hell out of us, but they didn’t hurt us.”

“Dad, I thought you weren’t going to find us,” Rhyse said as he tightened his grip on me.

That shit fucked me up more than it should have, but I didn’t let it show.

“I’ll never not find you, son,” I assured him.

Reiana buried her face in my chest, and I felt her body shake when she finally let out everything she had been holding in. “I was trying so hard not to let him know how scared I was,” she cried.

“You did good, baby.” I kissed her forehead before pulling back enough to look at both of them again. “I’ve got y’all now.”

“Get them outta here,” Rook said from behind me. “I’m going to check the rest of this shit.”

I didn’t need to be told twice. I kept one arm around Reiana and reached for Rhyse with the other as I led them toward the same door Rook and I had come through. My only concern was getting them away from that warehouse and putting some distance between them and everything that had just happened.

Once we were outside, Reiana looked back toward the building before turning to me. “How did you find us?” She asked.

“I put an AirTag in Rhyse’s wallet,” I revealed to her.

Her eyes widened slightly before the realization settled in. She looked down at Rhyse and then back at me, relief washing over her face. “Thank God you did,” she breathed out.

My attention went to the cut near her temple. I hadn’t gotten a good look at it inside, but now I could see the dried blood along the side of her face. “What happened to your face?”

“They busted my window when they grabbed us. Some of the glass caught me when they pulled me out,” Reiana explained.

“That’s all?” I asked as I touched the side of her face, careful not to get too close to the cut.

“Yeah.” She covered my hand with hers. “I’m okay.”

I nodded, even though seeing any kind of mark on her had me ready to kill Dorian and everybody associated with my bare hands.

“Who were those men?” Reiana asked.

“Cyrus’s,” was all I said because I’d already given her the heads up about who he was.