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“Yes.”
I jumped off the platform, landing in a crouch. My heels had barely hit the floor before another shot rang out, followed by a second. Morgan hadn’t moved though, and she was as wide-eyed as I was sure to be. For a moment I thought Keaty had taken his shot, but after a long pause it was clear she hadn’t been the target of the bullet.
When a sole female assassin fell to the floor with a gurgling choke, I turned to see who had been standing across from her. Shane slumped into the chair nearest him, his shoulder bleeding profusely but appeared otherwise whole. Had I landed standing, the bullet from the assassin’s gun would have hit me in the head instead of hitting Shane in the shoulder.
He gave me a tense, pained smile.
“Always expect the second shot,” he said.
Then all hell broke loose. All it took was those two shots, and suddenly the tense standstill was broken and everyone was firing at once. The assassins seemed to take their compatriot’s death as open season on my people, and the second they began to fire, my friends returned suit.
I hit the floor since I was right in the middle of the melee and the only person I had an easy shot at was Morgan, who still had Kimberly by the neck. I wormed my way across the floor on my belly—easier said than done in a corset-style wedding dress—and moved through the rows of scattered chairs closer to Morgan, hoping I might be able to get close enough to take her out.
A few of my rich and famous guests remained tucked among the chairs, their heads hidden beneath folded hands, praying to a wide variety of gods. Here’s to hoping any or all of them were listening.
It was a safe bet some of them would be talking about this for years to come. Entertainment Tonight loved to gossip about brush-with-death experiences, and they would end up pumping the drama for all it was worth.
But that still meant getting them out alive.
I was within a few rows of Morgan when a gunshot blew out the plaster near where her head had been. An instant later Kimberly hit the floor, but her sobbing and screaming kept me from being too concerned about her wellbeing.
If you can scream, you’re doing okay, relatively speaking.
Three more shots hit the wall, and I raised my eyes over the wailing form of Kimberly in time to see Morgan scurry out the open ballroom door as she narrowly avoided another two shots that pierced the wood.
As quickly as the gunfire had begun, it was silent again, and I took the lack of explosions as an invitation to stand up. Holden had darted out the door the moment the gunfire ceased but returned empty-handed a second later shaking his head.
The assassins were no longer standing, and aside from a few new bullet wounds and an unflattering splash of blood across the front of Mercedes’s yellow dress, everyone looked to be in one piece.
I pointed to Tyler with my unarmed hand. “You promise me.”
He jerked his chin up to acknowledge his understanding and crossed the platform in two long-legged strides to stoop next to Desmond, a cell phone already out. Sirens sounded in the distance. Doubtless one of the guests who had made it out had called the police.
It didn’t matter who had called, it only mattered that Desmond would get the help he needed.
I looked at Keaty. “Can you take care of this?”
He nodded, already holstering his weapon. Nolan and Owen had gone to check on their women, both of whom were in one piece. Ben was comforting Eugenia, who looked pale but otherwise fine. The charred row of burnt seats that had once been white told me she’d done her part to protect me. Even Kellen was holding it together better than the last time she’d been involved in a shootout.
Practice makes perfect, I guess.
Shane was gritting his teeth as he wound a makeshift bandage of torn dress shirt around his arm.
“Hey, hotshot,” I called to him, getting his attention. “You in one piece?”
“Stings like a son
of a bitch.”
“Can you still hold a gun?”
He raised his shooting arm and held it straight out, gun in hand, to show me he was still rock steady. “Takes more than silver bullets to take me down.”
“And you?” I looked at Holden who was standing beside me.
He nodded.
“Then come the hell on.” I left the ballroom without a glance back to see if they were following me.
