Page 152 of Pink

For the first time since they landed on the roof, Lev hit the button on the comm in his ear, daring to ask, “Is she alive?”

He wasn’t sure he wanted an answer.

He also needed one.

The same way he needed to make it out of here alive because he had a daughter waiting for him at home. Just like he needed Gigi safe and happy again with him because he could no longer imagine a world where she wasn’t in it. There was no possible way he could return to his child and tell her that Gigi would no longer be in their lives. Not when they just found her.

All Corrado replied, the sound of a boat’s engine gunning hard in the background, was, “She’s in a bad way. Real bad. Fuck, it’s bad.”

But that wasn’t dead, and that’s what counted. Lev could help Gigi deal with the rest if she was alive to do it.

“Hospital bad?” he heard Alessio ask.

Lev was rounding the corner at the end of the hallway, his jog slowing to a crawl as he realized just how close he was to Jensen and the rest of the man’s guards in the house when their voices echoed around the corner.

Right there.

He was just feet away.

“Yeah, man,” Corrado replied. “That kind of bad.”

Lev didn’t hesitate to hit the comm in his ear and say, “Then get her to a hospital.”

They could deal with the consequences later.

Surely.

And then he rounded the corner.

Lev didn’t have time to consider the scene in front of him when he entered the office. Nothing beyond the guards in the office and Jensen further out on the veranda where he was shouted over the railing at something—or someone—down below. Lev was only one man with one gun facing three guards dressed in black with guns of their own. Two had their backs turned. One stared right at him.

He took that asshole out first. His second spray of shots hit another one of the guards. He jerked back out of view of the doorway, his spine cracking against the stone wall when the third started firing his way. Bullets hit the wall in spatters, making stone and plaster spray Lev a little too close for comfort.

“Holy fuck,” he grunted.

Yeah.

Way too damn close.

Not willing to put his body in the line of fire, even if he did have a bulletproof vest strapped to his chest, Lev stuck his gun around the corner and pulled back the trigger until he’d emptied the clip. Yanking the gun back, he knew he didn’t hit the asshole when footsteps approached as he dropped the used magazine and reached for the spare at the strap on his back. He barely had time to slam the new one into the gun and raise the riffle when the asshole came around the corner with his own weapon raised.

Lev’s rifle met the guard’s forehead, the spray of blood arching up the wall and even hitting him in the face when he pulled back the trigger. He could taste the splatters of blood on his lips when he rushed the office, the gun high to his shoulder and ready to fire all over again.

Except there stood Jensen with a pistol aimed right at Lev.

The two men said nothing, their weapons not at all equal in size or power, but both able to kill. There was an almost psychotic gleam in Jensen’s eye as the man grinned at the sight of Lev, like he hadn’t expected anything different.

“Should have just let the bitch go,” the man said.

“Not likely.”

“She’s not worth much now—not after I’ve had my way with her. She’s certainly not going to be like she was. I can’t say I’m very sorry about that. It was worth everything. Every dollar. Every bit of bullshit. All of it.”

Lev’s jaw worked to release the tension in his clenching teeth, but it was the only show he gave to Jensen that his words had any impact. “Your life, too?”

Jensen barked out a laugh. “Oh, you don’t seriously think you’re making it out of here alive, do you?”

Yes.

He absolutely did.

During their conversation, the two men had started to circle one another. It continued until it was Lev’s back facing the veranda, and Jensen on the other side of the office. Not daring to glance over his shoulder, Lev took a step backward and then another, keeping his gun trained on the asshole across the way.

Where was Alessio?

Why hadn’t Corrado checked in again?

The screeching of an alarm overhead started without warning. It had first gone off when they hit the roof, but then it stopped. The sudden distraction had Lev foolishly looking away from the biggest threat he faced, and he knew his error the second he made it.

A bullet plugged into his chest. The pain was instant. It spread wide and fast, taking his breath with it. The force sent him flying back a step. His back hit the railing and knocked him off balance so that he was falling backward, over it. Jensen’s smile was the last thing he saw … and Alessio behind the man, his gun aimed.

More blood sprayed when Alessio took the shot.

Then it was the sky overhead.

His back hit the water below.

Everything went black.