AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ronald didn’t waste any time as he leaned his big body through the window, cutting at the thick rope. He cut Nicole’s first, and as soon as she was free, he helped her through the window.
She turned and looked at me over her shoulder as Ronald helped her through the small window. “I’m not leaving without you.”
I nodded my head, trying to listen for any sound from the other room as he cut the rope. My wrists were on fire and I clenched my teeth as he freed them, trying to pull me out the window. But I hesitated, jumping back, out of his reach.
“Juliette,” he hissed and fixed me with a hard look. “Don’t do this right now. We don’t have time for this.”
“Nah.” I heard Conlon’s raised voice from the other room. “I’m not gonna shoot you. I’ll let you walk out of here tonight. But not before I take the thing you love the most, just like you did to me.”
His footsteps were approaching the door quickly and Ronald made one final grab for me, wrapping a big hand around my elbow and tugging me toward the window. The doorknob jiggled and then opened, and there stood Conlon. His thin, lanky frame took up the space in the narrow door frame, and the anger on his face was evident.
As was the metal of the gun that he held in his left hand.
Uh oh.
His eyes went from me to Ronald, and then back to me again. His nostrils flared, the gun shaking in his hand.
“You fucking cunt,” Conlon said in disbelief.
Everything happened so quickly after that, but it felt like slow motion. Conlon raised the gun and pointed it at Ronald with cold, malicious intent in his eyes. Nicole screamed into the night.
And there was Logan, standing behind Conlon with a gun of his own, his arm raised as he pointed it directly between his shoulders.
“Conlon!” he shouted.
Gunshots rang out.
My ears were ringing as I threw myself to the ground.
All I could hear was screaming, and I didn’t even realize it was coming from me.
Chapter 20
I hated violence. Growing up, I hated old westerns that always ended in shootouts and I hated those stupid Fast and Furious movies because there was always death, destruction and mayhem. Anarchy. Now, I wasn’t naive enough to think that life was filled with puppies and rainbows, happily ever afters all around. Life was filled with misery, with anger, with vengeance. I suppose I just never thought I would be in the middle of a shootout.
Then again, who does?
Gran- God rest her soul- was probably rolling over in her grave. She didn’t raise me to get involved with this kind of drama, didn’t raise me to risk my life and put myself in situations where I could be hurt, or worse. Jesus, she didn’t even let me watch R rated movies until I was fifteen years old and now I was practically living in one.
I was on the ground, screaming until my voice was raw, while shots rang out above me. There were flashing lights and I clapped my hands over my ears, frozen with fear. Voices were breaking through the screams, however, as I looked up and saw that Conlon was no longer in the doorway, but Ronald was still halfway through the window, gripping his shoulder as a grimace appeared on his face.
“Juliette!” he yelled, motioning for me to come to the window. “Get the fuck out here. Now.”
But how could I leave? Where was Logan? Was he wounded? Worse? Fear flew through me as I crawled across the dirty floor, a scream erupting from me as something slammed into my side. Knocking me off balance.
Mac.
I wrapped my arms around his wet, furry neck as he licked my face, barking loud in my ear as his tail wagged. He was completely oblivious to what was going on around him, he was just happy to see me. His mother.
His mother who needed to protect him and get him the hell out of dodge.
“Juliette!” Ronald yelled again, motioning for me to stand and jump out the window.
“I can’t leave Logan,” I responded as I stood, hauling Mac up into my arms as I heard a commotion from the next room. The scarce furniture that was out there flew across the room as Conlon and Logan fought in a tangle of limbs on the ground.
“I’ll get him,” Ron responded. When I still wasn’t convinced, he grabbed my arm and shook me. “I’ll. Get. Him. Let’s go.”
Reluctantly and with tears in my eyes, I handed Mac over to him, watching as my dog looked back at me with his ears back, unimpressed with the fact that he had to go out the window. I followed soon after, hauling myself out the small window and landing in the snow, the wind instantly biting into my skin as my hair whipped around my face.
