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As I wandered toward the right, I listened for voices. How many minutes had passed? Five, definitely not ten. I moved a little quicker. Off to the left, a grand staircase circled up to the second-floor landing.
Not hearing or seeing anyone, I made a dash up the stairs. I froze as a man came around the corner. His gaze took in my face, dropped to the knife at my waist, and landed on the gun in my hand.
He pulled his weapon, and I fired. The bang blasted through the house. My arm recoiled. Blood exploded from his chest. He dropped to the ground. Someone screamed, but it wasn’t me.
Chaos erupted. Voices charged from every direction. Oh, god. What had I done? I’d shot a man. I vibrated with fear and adrenaline as I ran down the stairs. Shit. Fuck. I jumped the last few stairs, landing in a crouch. No way would I make it out the way I came in. Spinning left, I rushed toward the foyer.
Almost there. A huge male body slammed into my side, forcing me into the wall. The gun flew from my fingers, skittering across the tile entryway.
I thrust my elbow back, catching the guy in the gut. He grunted but didn’t release the hold he had on my hair.
“Bitch!”
“Fuck you.” I spun, attempting to ram the heel of my palm into his chin. But he was too fast. He grabbed my arm. I stepped into him and smashed his jaw with my elbow.
I reached for the knife at my waist. In the two seconds it took me to pull the knife from the sheath, the man overpowered me. His fist connected with the side of my face.
Stars exploded behind my eyes. The copper tang of blood filled my mouth. My teeth ached, cutting through the tender flesh of my inner cheek. I dropped to my knees as a wave of nausea crashed over me. Tears burned behind my eyes, and a piercing ringing in my ears drowned out the sounds around me.
A massive hand gripped my wrist and pried the knife from my fingers. “You’re feisty. I like when they fight.”
“She fucking killed Niall,” a man hollered. “He’s fucking dead.”
I rose to my hands and knees, but his booted foot landed on my back, pinning me to the floor. Pain tore through my shoulder, and a heavy weight settled in my gut. I was in trouble.
“Do you know where the fuck you are, bitch?”
Where was Knox? I prayed he had Dee. With the voices and bodies filling the room, I was the main attraction. Maybe this would give Knox a chance to get her out.
Turning my head to the side, more Irish soldiers filled my peripheral vision.
“Who is she?” a deep voice with a thick accent asked.
The booted man squatted next to me and touched the immediate swelling on my cheek. Blood filled my mouth. I gagged with a swallow.
“Don’t know, but I’d like to be the one to find out.”
“I want to see her.”
The man grasped my arms in his meaty hands and hauled me to my feet. Pressure exploded in my head. I opened and closed my mouth, the tightness already making my face numb.
With my arms pinned behind my back, he stood me before an older gentleman with a bald head. His deep-set blue eyes narrowed on me. His full lips twitched beneath his mustache, and a burnt auburn beard covered his jaw.
“You’re trespassing,” he said.
Liquid fear pumped through my veins, fueling a burning heat deep in my gut.
The man behind me felt my pockets. He slid his hand into my hoodie and grabbed my phone. “You won’t be needing this.”
I was quickly running out of options.
I had one weapon left, but no way to reach it, and nothing good would come from using it now. Skinny black jeans hugged every inch of my hips and thighs. As long as they didn’t pat me down, I still had the knife at my ankle.
A couple of men moved the dead guy. Others watched me tremble in the bruiser’s grasp. I scanned the group, shifting my gaze to the upper floor balcony. My pulse spiked as tattooed fingers curved around the balcony railing.
Knox momentarily stepped into my line of sight. Our gazes held for two painful beats of my heart. He was wrecked. His mouth pulled into a hard line, and his hand balled into a fist.
Oh god, he was alone, without Dee. I couldn’t explain why I was in the house, couldn’t let him know my fear for him and Dee had me making a rash decision.
