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My chest was heaving with fear and adrenaline, my body trembling with the knowledge that Devlin was here to finish the job Charles was supposed to do months ago.
“R.J. I’m not going to stay up here while my mom and Leah –”
I was cut off by the sound of gunfire erupting downstairs. The quick pop, pop of an automatic sounded like thunder to my ears. Opening my mouth to scream, I was silenced by R.J.’s hand covering my mouth.
“Shhh,” he whispered and tugged me from the bed toward the open window. “Not a word,” he glanced out, trying to detect how many Outlaws were on the property.
“But my –”
He shook his head at me fiercely and sent a text which I could only assume was to Peter. Below I could hear my mother crying and begging. “No, stay away!” She must have seen someone through the front door or window. I heard her cry out a name, she was terrified and she screamed so loud it echoed upstairs. The sound made my blood curdle in my veins.
“Charles!”
No!
Chaos exploded around me. More gunshots. My little sister crying. Heavy thuds on the floor below. The front door crashing in. Breaking glass. Raised voices. Another scream from my mother.
“R.J.,” I whimpered.
He placed a kiss on my cheek and hugged my body close to his, “Shhh honey.”
The sound of footsteps on my stairs made me tremble in fright. R.J. glanced out the window again. “There’s more outside. We can’t leave from here,” he whispered.
Leave? What about my mom and little sister!?
Frantic, I shook my head.
He yanked me across the room and over to the bed, “Hide. I’ll be right back.”
I would have refused but he shoved me down and I had no choice. Sliding under my bed, I wrapped my hands over my mouth to stifle my frightened cries. Who was here? Who was shooting? Charles? Akando or Devlin? Bryce? Were they here to kill us all?
As R.J. retreated, I felt completely abandoned and overwhelmed. I knew he was trying to protect me and keep me from the line of fire, but what if someone came in through the open window? Why didn’t we shut it?
Right as I thought I wouldn’t be able to stand another second under the bed, I heard R.J.’s voice, “Rae, come on out.”
I slid out in time to catch one of the bikers climbing in through the open bedroom window and R.J. raise his gun. The sound of the weapon firing multiple shots echoed throughout my brain as I stood in shock. Was I hit? Was the biker shot? Was R.J.?
The smell of gunpowder hovered in the air. Blood. The metallic scent burned my nose as the crimson color stained my peach colored walls. Splatters of brain matter and arterial spray. Dripping . . .
Red everywhere . . .
I felt disconnected from my body as if I floated in the air like the wind. Numb. Empty. Every muscle tense. I don’t know how long the feeling lasted, but when I suddenly came back to the present, I heard myself screaming, over and over unable to stop.
“Rae!”
My eyes were shut tight as my whole body trembled and I crumpled to the floor. Silence. The house blared the sudden quiet like a bullhorn. No voices. No screams. No cries of fear or pain or loss except for my own.
“Rae!”
Peter’s voice registered in my subconscious, but it was too late. I already knew the truth.
My mother and my little sister Leah were dead.
THE MOMENT I SAW DEVLIN I knew they had been unleashed to seek vengeance however they wanted. Both Striker and Rafe would know of their plans and did nothing to stop them. This was a mark, a hit, and none of Rae’s family were supposed to survive it.
I was sneaking up on Devlin’s six when I heard Sarah scream. Charles was here. Shit!
Running through the lower level of the house I skid into the living room as Charles crashed through the front door and began to shoot. Several shots hit Rae’s mother in the chest, more bullets sprayed into the house as more Outlaws flooded the foyer. Before he could realize I was there, I raised my gun and fired a bullet directly into that traitorous fucker’s skull.
