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“I don’t have any!” Jade insisted, trying to jerk out of his hold.
“Get your goddamn hands off her,” I snapped, keeping the barrel pointed at his head. However enraged I was, I couldn’t risk shooting her given the way he was jerking her back and forth.
The perpetrator snapped his head in my direction, managing to rip the bracelet off her arm before pitching her forward and onto the sidewalk. As a car careened around the corner, the son of a bitch took off running after it. I reacted as I had every time I’d been accosted.
I went after the fuckhead, managing to wrap my hand around the assailant’s collar, dragging him to the pavement.
The driver kept on going as I issued the first hard punch under the asshole’s jaw, the force enough he flew backwards, slamming against the side of the building. Then the jerk made another huge mistake.
He came after me.
If I were in any city in the United States, I’d put a bullet in his brain, but in the Bahamas, things were different and there wasn’t a single member of law enforcement who owed me a favor.
I punched him hard and fast, several fists thrown against his kidneys.
“Don’t! Constantine!”
Her sharp plea snapped my focus, the pain in her voice hitting me hard in the gut. The split second I glanced in her direction was a mistake. I felt a slice of agony only after the damn tip of the knife hit a bone. That’s when I backhanded him, hissing and fighting not to shoot him right between the eyes.
He took off hobbling, disappearing around a corner.
Gasping, I lumbered toward her, dropping to my knees. “Fuck. Are you hurt?” Blood trickled down her wrist, her eyes wide open and somehow she’d been knocked in the face, her eye already starting to swell.
“I’m… okay. But you’re bleeding.” She pressed one hand against my face and reached for my arm, the sleeve already soaked.
“It’s no big deal. Come on. I need to get you to safety.” As soon as I helped Jade to her feet, it became apparent her ankle had been twisted in the attack. I lifted her into my arms, ignoring her murmurs.
“I’m fine. You can let me down.”
“No, you’re not fine.”
The anger returned, disappointment that she’d believed she could find a way to get free of my hold. I’d been stupid to believe I had command over her. A woman like Jade wouldn’t break easily, especially if she was living a lie.
“You could have been killed,” I told her, the edge in my voice increasing.
“But I wasn’t.”
“Goddamn it, Jade. Why would you do something so stupid?” I scanned the street continuously until I was able to dart down the alley. I’d half expected a vehicle to screech around the corner, bullets flying. My gut told me the attack wasn’t random.
“Because you’re going to kill me after the baby is born anyway.”
“We have a deal. I never break my promises.”
“That’s not what I heard last night.”
Last night? I glanced down at her, seeing another trickle of fear in her gorgeous eyes. I’d fucking talked in my sleep. That had to be the reason for her change in demeanor.
I eased her onto the passenger seat and fisted the hand of my injured arm. Then I processed the details of the attack.
The car hadn’t been one of beaten-up old models that were so prevalent in the city. The vehicle had been a Mercedes a few years old, the driver not Bahamian like the man wielding the knife. I didn’t buy that the attack in the middle of broad daylight had been random. Taking her bracelet had been only a last-minute thought to hide what the hell the son of a bitch had been doing.
If my instinct was right, then it meant I had a leak in my organization a mile wide.
And there was a single person who might benefit the most.
* * *
Wham!
