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Trees met his friend’s stare. What the fuck was Zy doing?
“What do you mean?” Aspen asked.
“Give Tessa her daughter. A baby doesn’t belong in this situation, and I know you don’t want to kill her.”
The woman screwed up her face like he was an idiot. “I don’t give a shit. She’s just a whining, crying kid.”
“But Hallie can’t give you information. I can. I know everything you want to know. Every. Single. Thing. So let the baby go, and I’ll come with you in her place.”
Tessa gasped. “Zy!”
“It’s okay, baby,” Zy said to Tessa, laying a reassuring hand over his heart.
Zy intended to trade his life for Hallie’s? Fuck no. Not if Trees had anything to say about it.
Tears rolled down Tessa’s face like her heart was breaking. “Zy…”
“Shh.”
“Why should I take that deal?” Aspen grabbed a squirming Hallie viciously and poked the side of her head with the barrel again, her finger dangerously close to the trigger.
Instinct kicked in, and Trees started game-planning. No one was dying here today—except the fuckers helping the cartel.
“Because it’s a good deal,” Zy argued. “You let Tessa, her daughter, and my associate”—he gestured to Trees—“go. I’ll stay here with you three and tell you all the secrets EM has been keeping.”
“Or your two cohorts could simply put down their weapons and I can take all of you prisoner while I extract the information I need from you,” Aspen shot back. “If not, I’ll off the baby. You’ve got ten seconds to decide.”
“Hey!” Cash piped up. “This isn’t what we talked about.”
“Shut the fuck up, pipsqueak,” Hector growled. “You don’t get a say in this.”
Aspen turned to Tessa. “Drop the gun. Or the kid loses her head.”
She froze and turned to Zy with a panicked stare.
“Don’t do it, baby.”
“You better fucking do it,” Aspen shouted. “Five seconds.”
The situation was escalating too quickly. Trees braced for the worst. He could shoot Hector, no sweat. He could probably even nail Cash, too. But he wouldn’t be able to shoot Aspen before she shot the baby.
That outcome wasn’t acceptable.
“Now, bitch!” Aspen insisted. “Five, four, three…”
“No!” Cash stomped toward the woman. “That’s my daughter, too.”
“Now you care? You were the one who suggested kidnapping her.”
He confronted Aspen, who gripped a screeching Hallie. “But you promised we’d give her back as soon as you got the information you wanted.”
Was Cash really that naive?
“Are you living in dreamland?” EM’s former temp rolled her eyes. “How the fuck did you think we were going to give back a baby?”
“Y-you planned to kill her all along?”
Aspen glared at Hector. “Bringing this idiot in was your worst idea ever.”
“Hey, it got us information,” he shot back.
Aspen scoffed. “But what a pain in the ass…”
Cash lunged in her face. “Answer me. You planned to kill my daughter?”
“Duh.”
His face thundered over. “The hell you are.”
Cash tried to pluck the baby from Aspen’s grip, but the woman refused to let go. Hallie shrieked in fear.
When Hector tried to break free to help Aspen, Trees cocked his weapon. “Give me a reason, motherfucker. I would love to pull the trigger.”
In fact, he almost hoped the bastard fought back. Trees didn’t look forward to killing—but he’d make an exception for the man who had tormented and raped Laila for six fucking years.
Finally, Cash managed to pry the little girl from Aspen’s grip, holding her tight against his chest. “Don’t you dare touch her again.”
“Or you’ll do what?” Aspen pointed her gun at him. “Never mind. I’ll just bury you both together.”
Cash’s eyes widened as if he finally grasped that Aspen wasn’t fucking around. He set the baby on her feet and started backing away.
“Hallie!” Tessa called to her daughter, who went running, her little arms flailing.
A deafening gunshot filled the air, and Trees was half worried that Aspen had followed through on her threat to off the girl, but Hallie threw herself against Tessa’s leg, seemingly unharmed. But Cash lay ominously still mere feet away. A hole in the middle of his forehead spilled blood all over the beige carpet.
“Tessa!” Zy gestured her to toss him the gun.
She did. He caught it as she scooped Hallie into her arms, clutching her daughter against her protectively.
“Go!” Zy pointed to the slider.
But when she reached for the back door, Aspen raised her gun. “You’re not going anywhere, bitch!”
Another shot exploded, echoing in the room. Instead of seeing a hole in Tessa, Trees watched Aspen look down, seemingly shocked by the bullet Zy had put through her left shoulder and the blood spreading across her pale T-shirt.
“Honey!” Hector lurched for her.
“Stop!” Trees snarled, wrapping his finger around the trigger in warning.
The asshole ignored him, racing toward Aspen—leaving Trees little choice. He popped off a shot at Hector without a second thought. It hit him in the ass and sent him sprawling face-first into the carpet inches from Cash’s lifeless body. The hit wouldn’t kill him, but it would sure as fuck slow him down.
