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He made a quick sweep of the hall before sparing a glance my way. “You good?”
“Fine,” I said automatically. Numbly.
I’d gotten used to saying the word long ago, and it wasn’t any different then.
I was in a situation that was wholly unfamiliar and terrifying, some guy from an Irish mob wanted me, the man I loved was pushing me away, and Detective Higgins was calling.
But I was fine.
“Need you to walk with me now,” Dare said in that same tone as earlier. Soft, disinterested, full of command.
I wasn’t sure what it said of me that I so easily scrambled to follow his orders, but that was what I once again did. Scrambled to stand on unsteady legs and then hurried to where he waited.
“Grab the back of my shirt. Don’t let go,” he ordered, already taking a step away from me as he did.
My heart gave a painful wrench as I did what he asked on a delay, rushing to keep up with him at first because he was clearly on a mission, and my soul was begging me to go back to the room.
“I know you don’t want to do this,” I began softly as we swept across the wide halls toward the top of the staircase. “You don’t want to hurt your family. So, I’ll do it—I’ll go to Lachlan. Just let me say bye to Diggs.”
Dare faltered for the span of a hummingbird’s heartbeat before he continued deftly down the stairs with me at his back. “Not what this is.”
The next time we faltered was because of me.
Because of the two bodies on the floor of the great room.
You’d think it wouldn’t be able to phase me, considering the scene was tame in comparison to what I’d seen, and they weren’t my first dead bodies of the day. But I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to seeing someone lying there, blood pooling from various parts of their bodies. I wasn’t sure people were supposed to get used to seeing that.
“If they made it inside, they can make it to you,” Dare said on a low breath as he paused at the base of the stairs, seeming to listen and calculate our next move. But just as he started moving us across the great room, Jessica came running in, splatters of blood dotting her clothes and skin.
“They went right for the basement,” she said a little breathlessly, eyes wild as she looked between Dare and me before glancing in the direction we’d been headed—where the kids were. “How the hell did they know about the basement?”
Dare’s head slanted before he glanced behind us. “They came in from directions we weren’t expecting either,” he mumbled, voice laced with frustration and confusion as he faced Jessica. “Heard shots from Conor—”
A sound of fear and anguish ripped from Jessica, but Dare hurried to assure her, “Kids are safe.”
She gave a reluctant nod, longing and worry dancing across her face as Dare continued.
“They were just suddenly in here.” From the way Dare’s head was still on a swivel, I realized he expected more to appear at any moment.
“A lot of ways to get in here—I know,” Jessica said solemnly. “But how did they?” She inhaled sharply as she turned, already running toward the large back doors just before Kieran’s cross voice echoed in the great room.
“Dare.” Short. Lethal. Filled with meaning.
I hadn’t realized I was still clinging to the back of Dare’s shirt until he moved from his position in time to see Jessica crash into Kieran in a move that seemed as effortless as it was dangerous, considering the bloodied knives Kieran kept firmly in his grip as he lifted her into his arms.
Their reunion was weirdly uncomfortable for how brief it was, but then Kieran let Jessica slide to the floor as his narrowed gaze met Dare. “Have you seen?”
“What?” Dare asked just as Jessica’s brother came walking up from the direction Kieran had, looking wary and conflicted and oddly at ease.
“Check them,” Kieran said, jerking his chin in the direction of the men behind us, their masks not nearly as unsettling under the room’s bright lights.
An irritated breath rushed from Dare as he turned, head still shifting to take in one hall after another as he stalked toward the bodies with me staggering after. “Outside?”
“Clear,” another man answered, pulling my attention in that direction and bringing me to an unsteady stop.
My hand slipped from Dare’s shirt before I realized the twin jogging down the hall that held the conference room, bandana still in place and weighed down with guns, wasn’t the one who held my heart.
But then a familiar voice sounded that had relief barreling through me and wings taking flight in my stomach.
