Page 97 of Till Death Do Us Part

“But—”

The crack of a bullet rang through the air, and the glass buckled, thin lines running out along it. I gasped, and Yulia pushed me backwards.

“Get to the shelter! I’ll grab Caitlyn!”

My heart raced as I scooped Clara up from the floor and took off, the manor swirling with sounds of people.

Vera.

They’d been waiting for her to leave. Waiting for her to leave me here.

Vera.

Suddenly all the nervous energy from the last week was gone—no more questions about who felt what, just total certainty.

Right now, my heart reached out only for one person.

Vera.

Chapter 48

vera

Elaine.

Despite everything, despite the manor, the Blackbirds, all of it, I could only focus on one thing when I heard Jenna’s frantic radio signal.

Elaine.

Was she hurt? Was she in danger?

Was she afraid?

Dammit.

I didn’t want to have these feelings.

This was because of that fucking contract. I should never have brought the damn thing up with her. I could have just kept going without caring what happened to her.

I didn’t want to fall in love.

“Faster, Petra!” I shouted, slamming a fist on the dashboard. Petra gritted her teeth.

“I’m going faster! Your wife’s going to be fine!”

Well, faster wasn’t damn well fast enough.

I had to get rid of the damn contract. I had to get rid of the damn feelings.

Only once I’d made sure Elaine was safe, though.

After what felt like forever, we pulled to a screeching stop in front of the manor—Petra had picked up a new car at the depot after Quayle had shredded her regular one, and she wasn’t as used to the handling on this one, so we came to a sharp, drifting stop, the back wheels bouncing over landscaping stones. It worked in our favor, though—a hail of bullets came from the corner of the house, none of them quite sure where to aim, and I gritted my teeth, grabbed a flashbang from the weapons rack, and I kicked the door open and threw it.

There were a dozen of them, all heavily armed. I didn’t give a damn if there were a thousand.

Elaine was inside that building.

I didn’t normally kill people I didn’t have to. But these were the people who threatened Elaine. One of them got a bullet through the brain right away. One tried to jump me in ambush, and I broke his neck backwards over a fence. Two of them, I put bullets through their chests.