AllFreeNovel
Share Us
18
Mercy
Gia slowly lowered her knife,her gaze flicking from me to Colt and clearly evaluating him as a greater threat. The bulge of a gun showed clearly at his hip. “Who the hell are you?” she asked, but her bravado had gone thin.
He flashed bright, vicious teeth. “The man who owns these streets—no one you want to mess with. I’d like to speak with my fiancéealone.”
Gia hesitated for only a second before darting away. Colt immediately returned his full focus to me. He circled me like a shark does to its prey.
As I stood face to face with him for the first time since our rehearsal dinner, conflicting impulses tore through my body. The bastard looked so fuckingsmug.Fury unfurled in my chest, urging me to hurl myself at him and rip out his throat with my bare hands if that was what it took. But the—smaller, but insistent—sensible part of me pointed out that he’d probably put a bullet in my brain before I even touched him. My chances of destroying him were way better if I lived to return with proper reinforcements.
I considered bolting after Gia—or in any direction, really—but before the thought could solidify in my head, several Steel Knights men closed in around us. I stiffened, willing back a surge of panic.
This wasn’t a chance encounter—Colt had shown up prepared to overpower me. My chances had just dwindled from slim to none. No way could I take on all of them.
“So, you’ve finally come home,” Colt said. “It took you long enough. Got bored of your shiny new friends?”
Did he know where I’d been the past few days? I balled my hands at my sides and then shoved them into my pockets, curling my fingers around the switchblade. If he was going to order my death now, I’d do everything I could to take him with me, hopeless as my chances were.
Colt tracked the movement with eyes that were too keen. He held out his hand. “Whatever you’re thinking, it isn’t going to work. Give it to me.”
Shit. I wavered, and heard the safeties click off several guns. A prickle ran down my spine. I pulled out the folded switchblade and tossed it at him so it smacked into his chest. “Happy?”
“Getting there.” He gestured to a lackey, who bent to snatch up the knife. “How haveyoubeen doing these days, Mercy?”
When I didn’t answer, a few of his men snickered. I gritted my teeth. “Are you having fun toying with me before you gun me down? Ten to one—that’s awfully stacked odds for a man who thinks he’s such a hotshot.”
Colt didn’t rise to my bait. “Who said anything about gunning you down? I just wanted to talk.”
He chuckled darkly, running his fingers through his thick golden hair. I couldn’t believe I’d found him attractive once.
“Keep talking and I’ll jam my fist down your throat.” I took a step toward him, and immediately all his men jerked their weapons up.
“Stand down, boys,” Colt said, raising his hand. “I’m sure my fiancée and I can manage to have a civil conversation.”
“Don’t you fucking call me that. There’s nothing I want to say to you.” All I wanted was to choke the life out of this asshole.
“Wewilltalk,” he insisted. “But this definitely isn’t the best spot for it. Come along.”
He motioned for me to follow him, and his men drew closer. My skin prickled with resistance, but I didn’t have much of a choice. Better to stay alive a little longer and see if I could find an opportunity to escape after all.
When I didn’t move right away, one of his men nudged me with his gun. “Walk.”
“Don’t touch her,” Colt said with a warning in his voice. The hint of possession in his tone surprised me. Was he seriously making some gesture toward protecting me after what he’d done?
What did he want to talk about anyway?
With curiosity gnawing at me, I pushed myself forward. We walked for a good fifteen minutes before we reached a part of the Bend which wasn’t as impoverished.
Had Colt been down in the warehouse district overseeing the weapons delivery and caught sight of me without me noticing? Or maybe that man from the bar had been some kind of narc after all, identifying me and then running off to tell his master.
Fucking Gia distracting me. I could have been back to Kaige’s car by now if it wasn’t for her.
Colt’s men escorted me inside an old brick office building and up the stairs to the third floor. We stepped through a doorway into an airy open-concept space that smelled of raw wood.
The room was clearly being renovated, beams and chunks of tile scattered around. The breeze carried through the windows, which hadn’t been fitted with fresh panes yet. My gaze latched onto one that looked out onto a narrow alley between this building and the one next door, no more than five feet away.
There was my escape route right there, one Colt and his men would never anticipate. I’d mentioned my old interest in gymnastics to Colt once, but never how that had evolved into riskier stunts after Dad had cut off my classes.
