AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And when I couldn’t hear a single footstep, didn’t hear a squeak that indicated where they were, it merely made me question if I’d heard right in the first place, but then I figured that it would make sense for there to be no noise. After all, if the carpets I had down in all the rooms protected us from making random sounds, why wouldn’t it help our intruders?
A gentle hushing noise, so soft that I almost missed it, and would have if Brennan’s breathing hadn’t calmed me down, ricocheted outside in the hall.
I tensed, preparing myself for anything, and when the door opened, gliding inward, panic filled me because my senses hadn’t failed me, but I forced myself to calm down as the door carried on moving inward gently, as if the person was trying to make sure that the hinges didn’t squeak. I waited until a shadow hovered in the open space, then I sucked in a breath, aimed my gun, and fired.
The explosion triggered the intruder’s weapon, but even though I heard the whistle of the bullet, it missed.
Mine didn’t.
His yelp of agony was quickly hushed up, but I heard the bastard drop to his knees. The thump was heavy, heavy enough for me to feel the vibration through the rug under my butt.
I waited, watching, not wanting to give away my location, so I stared into the darkness, pierced only by the glow of the streetlamp, and waited for the home invader to make a decision. Was he going to get up, was he going to take another shot?
Behind me, about two feet to the left of my head, the dust and plaster from the dry wall cracked and shifted, sending little plumes of motes into the air. They tickled my nose, making it next to impossible not to sneeze. I drew in a breath, trying to stop it, but nothing would.
The explosive sneeze triggered a gunshot from across the room, but it also gave me a location—he was hiding beside the foot of my bed.
I’d never be able to get a shot at him there.
Of course, Seamus said there were two men, and this was only one of them.
Was the other in the house? Or somewhere in the hall? Just waiting on us to rush out, thinking we were safe, only for us to fall into his clutches?
My heart started roaring again, but even though I could hear the gentle whisper of Brennan’s breathing, it wasn’t enough this time.
I had two invaders in my home. Two people who maybe wanted me dead, and who, very likely, wanted my son alive to kidnap. I could just imagine what the O’Donnellys would be extorted to pay for his safe keeping.
The only heir to the O’Donnelly throne?
Jesus Christ.
I pinched the bridge of my nose when another sneeze started to build as dust made its way into my sensory receptors. But this time, as my eyelids clamped down with the beginnings of the internal explosion, I blindly pressed my finger to the trigger and pulled.
When the guy yelped again, I tensed, unable to believe that had worked, and figured he’d moved out into the open because he’d been about to take a shot at me. But I still wasn’t taking any chances. Waiting for the bastard to make another pop at me, I aimed my gun higher, finding it next to impossible not to carry on firing into the dark, Scarface style, but that would only waste precious ammo, and while I had some of that in the cupboard downstairs, that was exactly the issue.
It was downstairs.
Only the shooter didn’t make another move. Had I killed him?
Were we safe?
Grimly, and feeling the sweat beading my brow, making my skin slick with it, as well as the strong scent of body odor from my pits as I went through worse sweats than I’d endured during childbirth, I waited for something, anything…
And I got it.
Sirens.
I wanted to cry. I wanted to whoop and holler with joy.
I was the daughter of a gang member, I’d been raised in the life, had been reared to understand that business was business, and that sometimes, Daddy would come back from work with blood on his fists and bruises on his face, and to accept it as normal.
Regular.
I’d also been taught that the cops were pigs and never to call on them unless I had to.
But here and now?
I’d never been so happy for a bunch of blues to make their way onto my property.
