Page 79 of Too Broken to Love

No, no, no⁠—

Her breath jammed further down her body.

Breathe. Breathe. Bre⁠—

A shuddering inhale tore open her lungs. She snapped her gaze up the hill just as Shadow barreled toward her, his twisted features flashing in the moonlight.

He slammed into her, smashing her against the tree again.

The fear she’d locked in a cage exploded from its prison. Frank wasn’t the only threat trying to steal the beauty in her life anymore. The father she hated and feared, yet still loved, had somehow become her hero in this nightmare game where the villains were real and ruthless and where everyone she loved was a player.

Shadow hauled her up by the hair. Her voice returned on a whimper as she clawed and screamed until her lungs burned. Through the darkness and fear swirling in her vision, she caught sight of her superhero.

“Hudson.” Her voice cracked as Shadow raised his weapon. “Run.”

Pain knifed through Hudson’s bicep as Tessa’s warning tore through the gunshot’s boom. The bullet didn’t stop him.

Didn’t hurt him.

Didn’t break him.

But realizing the reason Tessa had taken the ring off hit him harder than a bullet.

The woman he’d fallen completely and hopelessly in love with had just screamed at him to leave her with a human trafficker. He didn’t know what threat she was protecting him from, but, fuck, if her selfless actions didn’t piss him off and make his heart burst at the same time.

Weapon steady, unlike his pulse, he forced himself to slow down and assess Tessa’s condition. The barrel of a gun pressed against a knotted bruise on her temple. Fear burned in her eyes like wildfire. Mascara-saturated tears trailed down to an angry bruise on her cheek almost as dark as her burgundy gown.

Rage flamed in his own cheeks and spread to his hand holding the gun. “Let her go.”

Tessa shook her head. “You shouldn’t have come, Hudson. They said if you showed up and ruined their plans again, they’d blow up the mansion with everyone in it.”

Like hell they would. Hudson tapped on his earpiece. “Get everyone out of the house and sweep for explosives.”

Ragged relief tore from Tessa’s throat. Her ruined gown clung to her trembling frame. Dirt clumped to her scratched bare knee. The subtle lift to her torso and her shallow breaths suggested her ribs were as damaged as his. Yet despite all the pain and fear she’d endured tonight, she’d not only sacrificed herself for him, but for everyone he loved.

And she thought he was the superhero.

He didn’t have to force a chuckle into the words he knew would give her something else to focus on besides the gun to her head and her worry for him. “I appreciate that you protected me, but that’s not the way this relationship works, little thief. I do the protecting.”

The fear in Tessa’s frenzied gaze shifted. “What?”

The enforcer spat blood on the ground. “Shut up, you two.” More blood dripped from the corner of his lower lip. Pieces of grass clung to his chin and dammed up the flow, but nothing stopped the bullet hole in the arm clamped around Tessa’s waist from darkening his black T-shirt with a crimson stain.

“I wasn’t talking to you, asshole.” Hudson held his aim and inched closer. “I’m talking to my woman.”

The enforcer shifted the gun to Tessa’s bruised cheek. “Don’t come any closer, or I’ll kill her.”

Tessa’s harsh cry pierced Hudson’s heart. He halted his advance.

Dammit. He’d shot to incapacitate, not kill, so they could get information about the smuggling operation. Now his finger pulsed against the trigger. He could take the enforcer out as easily as he could have snapped Nathaniel’s neck, but Tessa already had nightmares. He couldn’t add more fuel to her trauma.

Watching him kill a man—and he’d have to go for the fatal shot to ensure she didn’t get hurt—might irrevocably break something inside her too. He’d never forgive himself if he caused her more pain.

He pulled air into his nose, slow and steady. Tessa’s rose scent redirected his brutal thoughts, but he didn’t ease his finger from the trigger. Instead of squeezing, he harnessed his fury and switched tactics like he’d done in the car with Nathaniel. Except this time, the caring doctor who had coaxed out information wasn’t on duty.

“You won’t kill her.” He held back a chuckle as the enforcer’s eye twitched. He’d meant for his tight, sardonic tone to be taken as a statement of absolute fact and a dire-level warning. “Damaged goods won’t fetch a high price from your buyers. And based on our intel, the punishment for delivering compromised cargo is steep. Deadly steep if the product isn’t delivered at all.”

“There’s plenty of time for her to heal before being delivered.”