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Clark grabs my wrist painfully and pulls me back down to the ground. “Mrs. Stratford, I need you to slowly start moving backward, crouch as low as you can.” Clark’s hushed words meet my ear. His dark suit jacket is wide open, the array of weapons strapped to his body on display. He slips a dark gun into my hand and tightens my grip around it. “You press the trigger until it clicks empty if anyone other than me or Jaxon approaches you. Do you understand?”
My frightened eyes meet his, and I nod in understanding, my grip tightening on the weapon. I back away slowly, crouching so low that I might as well be a worm slithering on my stomach. Screams and sobs are still echoing off the walls in the confined space. My eyes meet a scared waiter’s who is hiding under a table as I keep moving in the direction Clark is pushing me towards.
“JAXON, YOU FUCKER! COME OUT FROM HIDING!” A man’s irate voice screams over the chaos. “Find the whore, he will come out of hiding to protect her.”
“Stella, listen to me, when I signal, I want you to run towards the emergency exit at the back of the stage. Don’t look back and don’t stop running, even when you are outside. You head to our designated area. Our team is outside, they will protect you with their lives.”
“What about Jaxon?” My voice comes out in harsh gasps. The pain from my wound is a stitch in my side at the crouched position I am in. My hand gripping the gun trembles and I keep my finger away from the trigger with fear that I will accidentally shoot Clark or myself.
“Let me worry about getting to Jaxon. You do exactly what I tell you. They want you so they can hurt him.” Clark’s face is thunderous, his eyes so cold and frightening that it has me backing up a further step. Fuck I should have listened to him and Jaxon about not attending this event. I was so reckless, putting all of us in danger just because I refused to cower in my own fortress. How many people have died because of my decision? My eyes once again shift over to Sasha’s body,I did that, I caused that to happen.
“Now! Go!” Clark pushes me back and stands from his crouched position, with a gun in each hand, raining bullets across the room towards the assailants. I get up and run towards the emergency exit sign I can see in the distance. My legs feel like two wet noodles that want to cave in on me as I sprint in the direction of the red words and beacon of hope. I don’t look back, even though my heart is begging me to go look for Jaxon. Clark is right, they will use me to hurt him, I need to put myself out of their reach.
A grunt from behind has me turning and looking over my shoulder just as I hit the bar on the emergency door. The waiter that was hiding had tried to escape after me and is down on his knees clutching, his abdomen as red blood soaks his white dress shirt. “Please help me!” He begs with frightened eyes.
I almost turn back around to help him, to try to drag him with me to safety but another shot rings out and he falls face down onto the ground.Fuck, I got to run now!I slam my arm into the door, and it opens with a shriek. I don’t hesitate running out the door, my heels hitting the hard concrete of the side entrance. I keep moving, trying to use the shadows created by the overhang of the building and the darkness of the night to hide in.
I make it almost to the front of the building when another shot rings out in the night air. “You’re going to die you fucking whore!” Footsteps are rapidly approaching behind me. I duck down between two dumpsters, trying to control my ragged breathing, my hand tightening on the gun. “You can’t escape whore; we have Jaxon and we are going to put a bullet between his eyes while you watch.”
I bite hard down on my lip until I can taste rich copper to stop the whimper that is trying to escape my throat. I have to trust that Clark got to Jaxon, that this fucker is lying, and trying to get me to come out of hiding. Crunching sounds greet my ears as he approaches my hiding spot. I quickly slip off my heels, knowing I will have one chance to run and I won’t be able to do it with them on. A shot fires into the night air a few feet away from me and echoes off the wall of the building. “Come out little Stratford whore, I plan to fuck that icy cunt of yours before I put a bullet into you!”
I don’t recognize the voice of who is stalking me, but it doesn’t matter who he is. I am not going to allow him to hurt me.What about if they actually have Jaxon?My mind cries, and my chest tightens painfully. The best thing I can do for Jaxon is to make it to safety and get help. They want me, they want to hurt me, and maybe if I can get away, they won’t kill him yet. A large noise comes from behind us and startles the attacker; he turns and fires back into the darkness. I don’t hesitate, jumping out from my hiding spot and firing the gun in his direction. I don’t stop to see if my shot hits him. I run towards the opening of the alley, lights and the racing cars I can see beyond.
Another shot fires into the night air, and shards of brick rain down on my head from just above me. A scream leaves my lips, and I fall to my knees and look back. He’s quickly approaching in the shadows. I still can’t see his face, but I can hear his ragged breathing. “Fucking cunt!” He grunts with pain.
The street light is mere feet away, I have to fucking get out of here. I jump back to my feet, point the gun at the shadow approaching me, and pull the trigger. The sound is so loud that my ears ring, and the blowback has me banging back into the brick wall before I stand up and run.
I make it out of the alleyway and into the light just as another shot rents the air and I feel it impact with my shoulder. I stumble forward, slamming down to my knees once again, the gun going limp in my arm. Pain sears up my back and down my arm. Fuck, he shot me. I grab the gun in my left hand, stumbling with it, as adrenaline fills me and I gain my feet and run for my life. Cars are whizzing by quickly on the road, people are running in different directions trying to get away from the shots being fired. I make it further down, hiding behind a dark parked vehicle just as the shadow morphs into the body of a man.
River Stanton stands at the end of the alleyway holding a gun in one hand while his other hand clutches at his side. Momentary satisfaction fills me and spurs me on with the knowledge that I did hit him with that shot. His eyes look over the parked vehicles as he searches for me. He’s grunting in pain and shifting slowly forward, the look of crazed obsession and fury across his face.
Why is River Stanton after me? I have never done anything to him, to my knowledge. I don’t even know the guy personally. I don’t have time to analyze his reasoning behind wanting to kill me as he approaches my hiding spot. My shoulder is on fire. The pain making sweat slide down my back and bile to rise up my throat. I hold the gun awkwardly in my left hand, trying to get a firm grip on it. Another shot echoes in the air, and the windshield on the car behind me shatters, raining glass shards all over me. I’m going to die if I don’t shoot him. He’s going to kill me out here on Madison Avenue, and no one is going to stop him.
Flashes of my life with Jaxon rapidly cross my mind. His smile this morning as he tried to entice me to stay home with him. His words of love last night as he held me tightly in his arms as we fell to blissful sleep. His declaration of love in my hospital room back in the Hamptons. My mother’s kind smile and warm embraces and my father’s attempt at trying to have real discussions with me in the last couple of days flicker through my mind.
Fuck it! I refuse to die now!I refuse to cower before this man and let him take my life. If he wants to kill me, I will fight until the last breath leaves my lips, and I will take him on the journey to hell with me.We can go meet the devil together.
I stand from my crouched position, moving around the other side of the car and approaching him from behind. His deranged eyes are searching for me everywhere. I can see people running away from us and other’s crouched down trying not to get hit with bullets. Sirens are loud in the distance and approaching rapidly.
A shout from behind us, has him turning rapidly and gaining his attention. I don’t hesitate, lifting my shaking arm, the gun grasped tightly in my fist. My eyes meet his for a moment and then I pull the trigger, my finger squeezing as shots rain out across the space between us.
42
Jaxon
“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” Napoleon Bonaparte
“JAXON,YOUFUCKER!COMEOUT FROM HIDING!” Jeffrey Cain’s voice screams over the chaos. “Find the whore. He will come out of hiding to protect her.”
From the corner of my eye, I see a brief flash of gray and red before it disappears further into the backstage area. A whoosh of panicked air leaves my lungs. I have to hope that Clark is managing to get Stella out of the building and away from these crazy assholes that want to kill us. It’s all that matters right now. I don’t care if I die, but if I do, I am taking all of these fuckers with me. None of them are going to harm Stella if I have anything to do with it.
My chest tightens painfully, and my breath stutters in my throat.Naw fuck that shit, not right now, useless weak heart. You don’t get to act the fuck up right now. We have to protect the one thing we love the most.We have to save Stella.
My attention returns to Jeffrey Cain, Fisher St. John, and two other men I don’t know as they open fire once again into the room. The hail of bullets are hitting wall plaster, furniture, and people running for their lives. I slowly move from one table to the next, using the linens to cover my tracks as I make my way towards Fisher St. John.
I have never been so happy that I let Clark talk me into carrying a gun strapped under my suit jacket. While I have never actually killed anyone with a gun before, my fury is racing through me, knowing that these lunatics mean to harm Stella and me. Nothing will stop me from ending their lives before they attempt to end ours. My grip on the gun tightens and I release the safety, moving my finger into position.
Jeffrey Cain moves further into the room, shooting at people trying to run away from him and screaming incoherently. Fisher is holding his gun high in his hand like some criminal vigilante in a comic book movie. The look across his middle-aged face is unhinged, his eyes wide, the white pronounced, his face red and sweat sliding down his ridiculous comb over. I never in a million years would have guessed that this guy would be involved in trying to harm Stella and me. He has always been soft spoken, awkward, and restrained in his business dealings with me. I would never have thought that he would have the courage to be shooting at innocent people and trying to kill me. I guess losing millions of dollars can make even the most restrained person lose their mind.
