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“Okay,” she whispered. “Please don’t hurt her.”
Warily, she moved past Preston and heaved the guns through the remains of the back door. As she turned around, her gaze locked with Quinn’s.
I love you, she mouthed, her chest clutching painfully.
Goodbye, she thought with her breath locked in her throat.
She glanced down at the sapphire and diamond ring on her finger. And her heart shattered. She’d been so close. So damn close to her happily ever after.
Lifting her chin and squaring her shoulders, she faced Preston. She had no doubt that he would kill her. Just like she had no doubt he’d make her suffer first.
Well, if she had to die, she was taking him with her.
“Let. Her. Go.”
With a smile, Preston loosened his hold on Roxie, leaning her slightly forward. Then, like a flash, his hand swung out. The butt of his gun struck the back of Roxie’s head. The crack was deafening in the silent room.
Roxie crumpled at his feet, blood rapidly pooling beneath her head.
“Roxie!” She reached for her friend but was yanked back by the hair. Flames licked her scalp.
“Don’t even think about it, boys,” Preston said, trapping her in the same headlock he’d just relinquished. He pointed his gun at Roxie’s unconscious body. “Don’t think I won’t do it. Because I will if you make me. Now, face down on the ground you go.”
* * *
Quinn and Joe lowered to the floor as Preston dragged Alex out the mangled door.
“Hang on, Alex,” Quinn murmured.
Hatred. Anger. Terror. Helplessness. He felt all of it.
He’d seen the hopelessness in Alex’s eyes. He’d known when she’d mouthedI love youto him that she thought she was walking to her death.
There was no way in hell he was going to let that happen.
The second Preston was out of sight, they crawled to Roxie.
“Hold on, baby,” Joe whispered to Roxie while dialing his cell phone. “Gun safe, Quinn.”
Nodding, he ran to the living room closet, keyed in the safe’s code, and returned to Joe in under a minute.
“I’ll go around the back. You take the front,” he said in a hushed voice. He handed Joe a revolver and added the Sig to his holster. His gaze shifted to Roxie. “How is she?”
“Breathing. Her pulse is strong right now, but I don’t know. Backup and paramedics are on their way. I don’t want to move her.”
“Then don’t. Let’s go.”
Both men laid a soft kiss on Roxie’s lifeless, bleeding head, then stood.
As they were about to part ways, he put a hand on Joe’s arm. “I’m shooting to kill, Buchanan. I don’t care if you all want Woodsworth alive or not. When he gets in my line of sight, the fucker’s a dead man.”
“No—” Joe glanced back at Roxie. His eyes filled with pain.
Despite whatever shit the two of them had going on, Joe was just as devastated as he was to see the third member of their best-friend trio lying unconscious in a pool of her own blood.
“Yeah. If you’ve got a shot, O’Conner, take the motherfucker out.”
CHAPTERTHIRTY-NINE
