AllFreeNovel
Share Us
That night, I have a nightmare about Lucas. It’s the first one I’ve had since the guys busted me out of the hospital—less than a month ago, but it already feels like a lifetime. I’m standing in a dark room, holding a gun to his head as he thrashes, screaming. His eyes are black with rage, and his teeth are bared like an animal’s, and I know he’ll kill me if I don’t do it. Any moment now, he’ll go for the gun, and then he’ll blow my head off. He’s already trying, his fingers clawing against my hand, skinning my knuckles raw. But I can’t do it. I’m paralyzed, and all I can do is stand there, holding the gun against his head as he shouts at me, telling me what a bitch, what a whore, what a murderer I am.
The gun starts to shake in my hands, and I force myself to squeeze the trigger. Lucas’ expression morphs from rage to horror, and he looks up at me with wide, terrified eyes... except they aren’t his eyes anymore. They’re Callie’s.
An instant later, the gun goes off.
I just shot my best friend. She opens her mouth to speak as blood gushes from her head, but all that comes out is an anguished scream.
I’m jolted awake by the sound of a shout, and I sit up in bed, my heart racing, the sheets soaked in a cold sweat. Tristan is lying next to me, only just stirring from sleep as I let out a choked cry. Outside, the moon is full, and bright enough to light up the room through the window.
It was just a dream, I remind myself.
Except then the shout comes again: a muffled scream, which is followed by a sharp crash. I leap out of bed, my heart pounding, and throw on my t-shirt, shorts, and sneakers before running to the window. Tristan is right behind me, scrambling out of bed to grab his jeans and a shirt.
As if on cue, there’s a flurry of noise from downstairs: more muffled screams, toppling crashes, and then the unmistakable sound of bullets being fired.
Terror grips me, and I feel Tristan’s hand on my shoulder, his fingers tightening as he pulls me protectively against his side. “What’s going on?” I ask, fear making my voice crack. “What’s happening?”
“I don’t know.” He’s staring down at the street with narrowed eyes, his hand going slack on my shoulder as he shields me with his body. I peek out the window into the darkness, and I see it then: a flock of dark figures, swarming over the lawn like a plague of locusts. Some of them are dressed in black, others in camouflage, and all of them are armed, their rifles raised and ready to fire.
I see another figure lurking in the shadows, mixed in with their numbers, and my heart stops in my chest. I know that face, those eyes, that hair. It’s haunted my dreams for weeks, and now it’s come back into my reality.
“Holy shit.” My eyes must be as wide as dinner plates as I turn to Tristan in abject terror. “How? How did he find…?”
But I cut myself off as my last conversation with Callie comes flooding back to me.
“You know I can’t do that, Callie. I can’t be seen in public until this media circus dies down. You’d think my face wouldn’t have made it all the way to Bath, but—”
“You’re in Bath?”
I clap a hand over my mouth. No, no, no.
I led them straight here.
A few of the figures start running toward the house. Tristan pulls me away from the window, then ushers me toward my bedroom door. We burst out into the hallway just as the front door flies open downstairs, banging against the wall as more glass shatters.
“Cut them off!” someone—one of Tristan’s guys—shouts from the ground floor. “Don’t let them—” But his voice is cut off by the sound of a gunshot.
“Go!” Tristan shouts, urging me down the hallway as we dash toward the staircase. Downstairs, one of his security guys is going toe-to-toe with a black-clad soldier, their guns clanging together as they struggle in close quarters. I hear the sound of a boot cracking against flesh, followed by a grunt of pain, but then someone else charges into view, leveling a rifle in Tristan’s direction.
“Look out!” I pull him out of the way a split second before the rifle goes off. Tristan’s arm winds around my waist as he pulls me around the corner with him, shielding me from the spray of bullets that follows.
One of his other bodyguards bursts out of the room next to us, making me yelp with panic, but his expression is steady as he readies his gun, passing Tristan a handgun of his own. Tristan somehow manages to keep his cool, even amidst the chaos unfolding downstairs. “Where are Liam and Theo?” he demands, checking the magazine of the pistol and nodding his approval.
“Still out.” His bodyguard ducks around the corner, fires off a shot, and then pulls back. “They’re on their way back right now.”
“Fuck.” Tristan wraps an arm around me even as he takes aim at one of the guys below and returns fire. “How did they know? Have they been watching us?”
“I...” I start in a small voice.
His bodyguard shakes his head, cutting me off. “No idea. Came out of nowhere.” He glances at me, his brow furrowing. “We need to get her out of here.”
“I know.” Tristan grunts, pulling me down as the sound of boots on the stairs sends a fresh surge of adrenaline through me. Someone shouts in pain. I hear more shouting coming from the balcony, more boots pounding up the stairs, and then—
“Where the hell are you, Vivian?”
Even from two flights down, Lucas’ voice carries over the clamor of fighting, sending chills down my spine.
Tristan visibly tenses, his sapphire eyes going dangerously cold.
