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She should have been terrified in that moment, but the emotion that filled every pore of her body was rage. How dare this asshole come here and hurt her friend? While Markus fell to the ground in a motionless heap, Tiffany pushed herself to her hands and knees, scrambling to her friend's side. She was desperate to get to his gun. It was their only hope of neutralizing Davenport in time to get Markus medical attention. But he'd fallen on his back and she couldn't reach the weapon before Jake yanked her to her feet by her long, blonde ponytail.
"This was too easy," he gloated. Tiff kicked and punched him like a mad woman, but nothing she did would loosen his grip. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Brianna rushing to Markus's side, dropping to her knees. She was hysterical, as she should be, at the sight of the man she loved unconscious and bleeding on the floor.
Tears filled Tiffany's eyes as she realized how much trouble they were all in. This was worse than her recurring Jake nightmares. In those, he only caned her until she was bleeding. Tonight, Jake was going to kill them all. Regret filled her as she realized that Lukus would come home and find them all dead. Her heart broke because she knew he would spend the rest of his life blaming himself for not keeping them safe, even though it wasn't his fault.
She was filled with renewed hope when Derek appeared at the far side of the great room, weapon drawn, pointed directly at Jake. "Put the weapon down, Davenport. It's over."
Determined to break away, Tiffany fought with all her might, but she just couldn't stop Jake from wrapping his arm around her neck, shoving her in front of him as a shield. She felt the hot muzzle of the recently fired weapon touch her temple.
"I don't think so, Parker. My gripe isn't with you. It's with Mitchell and Lambert. Back out and you won't get hurt."
Derek growled, "In your dreams. You think I'm just going to turn my back on them? Let Tiffany go. Now. And no one else needs to get hurt."
Jake's evil voice was loud against her ear as he shouted back. "I have a small problem with that, see, because I'm not going to be happy until Mitchell is dead, and Brianna and Tiffany are mine to dominate for the rest of their lives."
Tiffany glanced down at Brianna, who was pressing on Markus's gunshot wound, trying to stem the bleeding. She was sobbing, telling him how much she loved him, begging him to keep fighting because she couldn't live without him. Tears filled Tiffany's eyes as she locked her gaze with Derek's. She saw the fear in his look and knew Davenport had the upper hand.
Jake ordered, "Brianna, stand up. You're coming with Tiffany and me. Now."
Brianna took her eyes off her husband for the first time to scream back, "You're fucking crazy! I'm not going anywhere. If you killed Markus then you can kill me, too. I'm not leaving him."
Hope filled Tiffany at Jake's response. "He's not dead yet. See? He's still breathing. If you come with me now, I'll let him live. If you delay, I'll shoot Tiffany next."
He jammed the tip of the gun against Tiff's temple hard to make his point. Pain shot through her and she saw stars. She suspected she should be more afraid than she was, yet a strange calm had settled in. She needed to keep her wits about her if she was going to get them all out of this alive.
"Come on, Bri. Do as he says. Give Markus a chance." Tiff met Derek's eyes as she said it, trying to send him a message to let them go just long enough for Tiffany to distract Davenport. They'd have a better chance if she could get him to lower his gun.
Jake was less patient. "Brianna, now—or she dies."
Tiffany watched her best friend look up at her from her knees on the floor. She saw the grief in Bri's eyes at seeing her husband bleeding and unconscious. She knew it would kill Bri to leave Markus, but Tiff needed Bri to come closer and distract Jake long enough for Derek to get a shot off.
Brianna leaned in to kiss Markus's ashen face before she shoved herself to her feet, running towards Tiffany. The women clung to each other just as Jake instructed Derek, "Time to drop your weapon. Slide it across the floor to me."
"Like hell."
Tiffany felt the gun leave her head just long enough for Jake to shoot a warning shot into the ceiling and quickly return the muzzle to her temple.
"The next one is going into her brain. I'm pretty sure Mitchell is gonna hate coming home to find the love of his life's brains splattered across his foyer. It'll make a hell of a stain that he might never get out." Jake chuckled as if he'd told a funny joke.
He was fucking deranged.
Tiffany saw Derek's helplessness as he finally lowered his weapon, leaning down to place it on the floor and then kicking it across the floor towards the elevator. It stopped about halfway across.
Tiffany was trying to figure out how she might break free long enough to get to the gun when Jake lifted his weapon.
It happened so damn fast. Jake aimed at a now unarmed Derek, and pulled the trigger twice, hitting him in the dead center of his chest as the deafening shot rang in her ears. The hulking man was slammed against the wall behind him from the velocity of the shots and then crumpled to the floor in a heap.
This time both Tiffany and Brianna screamed. Markus and Derek had both been shot trying to protect them and yet, unbelievably, Jake was dragging the women back the few feet to the open elevator. Tiffany struggled and finally broke free only to be backhanded by the hand holding the gun. She twirled from the force of the strike, slamming her forehead into the back wall of the elevator, and falling to a heap on the floor.
Jake had grabbed Brianna's long dark hair and yanked her into the elevator, quickly pressing the 'close door' button. Bri scrambled to Tiffany's side and cradled her in her arms as Bri's tears fell onto Tiffany's face. This was the best friends' worst nightmare coming to life. Their eyes met and Tiffany saw a cocktail of emotions just before her vision started to black out.
The last thing she heard before she lost consciousness was Jake's victorious taunt. "I've missed you girls. The men in your lives have been a real pain in my ass, and I'm going to truly enjoy taking my frustrations out on both of you. I hope you're ready to have some fun."
Tiff was almost grateful when she felt herself fading. Her last thought was of Lukus, and how sad he was going to be to lose all of his best friends and his fiancée on the same night.
Chapter Fourteen
Lukus
