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“I can get Mamma to bring her here.”
I bite my lip while considering it. “I can’t, Keir.”
He nods and gets out.
Piper gives me a soft smile from the front seat. Joey gets out with Keir, then she drives me home.
“How are you?” I ask. I feel like it’s been ages since we spoke and right now, small talk is a must.
“I think the real question is, what the fuck are you going to do?” she jokes, but I know she’s right.
“I don’t know. I mean, it’s obvious we like each other.”
“No, girl. That man doesn’t like you. I’ve known Keir all my life and not once have I seen him like this with any other woman.” She slows down as we come to my street to turn the corner, and as she does, a loud bang pops. I watch as Piper’s hands leave the steering wheel, and her eyes start to close. She manages to hit the brakes, both of us pitching forward, and I am thankful for the seat belts.
“Piper.” I race to unlatch my seat belt and climb into the front. I scan her for damage—her stomach is bleeding heavily. Blood seeps out between the fingers of her hands as she tries to put pressure on the wound. “Piper,” I repeat, terrified and confused, and her worried eyes meet mine.
“Run,” she croaks out.
I shake my head.
That’s not going to happen.
Not in this lifetime.
I unlatch her seat belt, and she clutches my shirt. “Take it, quickly.” I look down at a small knife in her hand. She pushes it at me, and I grab the handle and slide it into my pocket before I try to open the door, but the door won’t budge as it’s stuck against something.
“Fuck,” she wheezes at the sight of a man standing in front of the car, with two other men behind him. His smile is sinister as he peers through the windshield at us. Cars whizz by, not even caring what’s going down right in front of them. It’s late. I hear the sound of sirens approaching, and the man walks closer, ducking down so we can both see him.
“I should kill you,” he seethes, looking at Piper. He lifts his gun and presses it to her shoulder and pulls the trigger. Her eyes go wide before a scream tears from her mouth.
His eyes, dark as the night sky, land on me. “You. Get out, right now.”
“Do it,” Piper says, nodding.
I manage to open the passenger door and the two men grab hold of me and pin my hands behind my back.
“Don’t kill her,” one of them yells.
“She’ll bleed to death in five minutes if help doesn’t get here,” he says, looking to Piper, then to me. “Now, move.” I’m pushed into a black car, and the driver takes off before the door is even closed.
“What do you want?” I ask.
He eyes me, then shakes his head. He looks familiar. I didn’t really pay attention when he shot Piper, too lost in attempting to help her. I look back to see her car still sitting there and hope to God she doesn’t die before help arrives.
“Seems you’ve caused a shit ton of trouble,” he comments, but I keep my eyes straight ahead.
We’re driving in the direction of Keir’s apartment building and we pull up out the front. The guy grabs me by the arm hard, and pulls me from the car. He puts me in front of the buzzer and presses it. “Tell him it’s you.” He leans in closer. “And I would be real careful with what you say. I won’t flinch to add a bullet to your fucking brain,” he says.
Keir’s voice comes through the speaker. “Who is it?”
“It’s me.”
“Sailor.” The buzzer sounds, and we all go inside. I stand at the back of the elevator with the guy who shot Piper. He’s eyeing me, sneering, as if I’m dirt. The doors open and he pulls on my arm.
He’s dressed much like everyone else—suit, clean and presentable—but it’s his eyes that are familiar. He’s older—older than me, that’s for sure.
The door is opened by a shirtless Keir, his bandage fresh on his shoulder. He looks at the men in front of me before his eyes land on me.
“Papa, I thought you were dead,” Keir says almost breathlessly, a look of pure disbelief on his face that I’ve never seen from him before. I look back to the man whose death-gripping my arm, so much that I know it’s going to bruise, and don’t believe it.
This man…
… is his father?
“You are meant to follow contracts.”
Keir grinds his teeth at his father’s response as his eyes fall to me, assessing, before he pulls the door back. The men with his father enter first, followed by his father and me.
“You’ve broken years of long-standing tradition for this.” He pushes me at Keir, and Keir catches me, instantly wrapping an arm around my waist.
