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I heard a click through the radio. Metal on metal. The sound of a gun being cocked.

"Dispatch, SWAT Alpha. Subject has cocked the weapon. Requesting immediate breach authorization."

Then the bullhorn bled through Alex's open channel, distant and muffled through the walls but loud enough to hear.

"DROP THE WEAPON! DROP THE WEAPON NOW!"

Declan didn't respond. Through the radio I could hear Alex breathing and the bullhorn repeating and Declan not moving, not speaking, not reacting to any of it. The whole world was screaming at him and he didn't care.

"You took my woman. You took my daughter. You took my life. And if she doesn't get to be with me, she doesn't get to be with anyone else."

This was my fault. I brought Declan into Alex's life the day I let Alex into mine.

Then the gunshot.

CHAPTER 27

The Promise

ALEX

"You took my woman. You took my daughter. You took my life. And if she doesn't get to be with me, she doesn't get to be with anyone else."

Declan Gallagher had a gun pointed at my chest. The bullhorn outside was still going and he didn't hear it, or didn't care.

All I could think about was Janine. We had a year of trips planned, a piggy bank filling up, a six-year-old who set three places at the table every night without being asked. We were just getting started, and Declan was going to end it right here.

I tried to speak. Say something. Bargain, reason, beg. Anything to keep his finger off the trigger. Nothing came out.

I watched Declan's finger move to the trigger, and then it all happened too quickly.

Two gunshots came from outside. Two cracks, almost simultaneous, so close together they sounded like one. The window shattered. Declan jerked sideways. The gun dropped from his hand, skittered across the floor. I kicked it to the far wall and dropped beside him.

He was on his back. His right hand was a mess of blood and bone. He was screaming, a raw, animal sound that filled the hallway and bounced off the walls.

"Dispatch, Engine 19. Subject is down. Two gunshot wounds. He needs EMS on the second floor now."

"Copy, Engine 19." Janine's voice broke on the last syllable, as if she'd been bracing for a voice that wasn't going to come.

SWAT came through the stairwell thirty seconds later. They cleared the room and secured Declan.

"Let's get you out of here, Captain."

An officer took my arm and walked me out of the building.

I don't remember walking down the stairs. I remember the officer's hand on my arm, and the door at the bottom, and then the cold air, but I couldn't tell you how I got from the hallway to the street.

The street was noise and light. I could see people moving, mouths opening, radios crackling, but none of it connected. Everything hit me at the same time and my brain couldn't sort any of it into something that made sense.

"Cap!" Sawyer was running. He reached me and pulled me into a hug so hard it knocked the air out of me. "Jesus Christ, Cap."

I tried to say I was okay. I opened my mouth and what came out was a sound I didn't recognize, something between a breath and a sob, and my legs gave. Sawyer held me up.

"I've got you. I've got you, Cap."

He pulled back and looked at my face. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm not."