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“Where are the men?” I ask.
“The criminals? A lot of them are dead. The remaining three are zip-tied. Ethan’s called it in. The cops will be here soon. What were you doing here, Molly?”
“They got Rachael,” I murmur. “I don’t even know where she—”
“There was a woman locked in a closet in a storage room,” Duke tells me. “It’s her. It’s Rachael.”
“Where is she?”
“Waiting out front. I’ll take you to her, but first, close your eyes.”
“Why?”
“I don’t want you to see any more of those.” He nods at the corpse.
I swallow, closing my eyes. A moment later, he lifts me off my feet, carrying me with ease despite the beating he took. As he carries me through the warehouse, the lights on now, I remember when this all started, joking about how he’d never be able to carry me.
When I feel the wind on my face, I start crying again. Duke puts me down. I open my eyes and run over to Rachael. She’s crying, too. We clutch onto each other tightly. Over her shoulder, I see Duke holding his son. We share a smile, a moment of victory. We made it. Despite the odds, we did it. Together.
* * *
“Good news,” Ethan says the next morning, his finger idly tracing the scar on his head. We’re sitting in Duke’s living room, Duke with a small bandage on his forehead from all the headbutting. Ryan sits opposite his father, and I sit beside Duke, our legs touching,almostholding hands.
Last night feels like a crazy nightmare, but the shootout is all over the news. Rachael sits on my other side, fiddling with the end of her ponytail.
“An official case is open,” Ethan says. “The story goes that Jeff and I happened to be on the boat nearby. We heard the commotion and came running. My superior doesn’t believe me.”
“How is that good news?” Ryan asks softly.
He seems far meeker than the person he was when he was my “boyfriend.” After what we shared in the corridor when we thought we might die, I worried he’d return to his old ways. So far, at least, it seems this humility is for good, though it’s only been ten or so hours.
“He’s agreed to believe my story because he wants to launch an investigation anyway. They’ve already tracked the video feed to a high-level biker gangster. He’s got several outstanding charges. The headline is this, folks. Anybody who wanted to hurt you is either dead or in jail.”
It feels strange to smile so widely at the concept of somebody dying or going to prison, but let’s face it. They deserve far, far worse. They were perfectly willing to let five men beat my future husband to death with his hands tied behind his back.
“What about the officers who were working with them?” Duke asks.
He speaks with heavy authority, his voice getting just a little husky. Last night, after the police station, we stayed here. I laid in his arms and held onto him tightly because a crazy part of me thought he would turn to mist the moment I let go. Or we’d wake up back in the madness.
“One of them has decided to take a long holiday. The other three are acting shifty as hell. They know it’s only a matter of time. Either way, they’ve got no reason to bother you. The people paying them are gone, and they no longer have any leverage.”
“No hostages, you mean,” Rachael snaps. “God, I wish I could kill every one of those creeps again. They don’t deserve any respect, not even the tiniest amount. They’re pathetic worms.”
“Agreed,” Ethan says, nodding. “I’m handling it, don’t worry. In a fucked-up way, this is the best thing that could’ve happened to the unit. Now, the brass is going to be forced to act.”
“I’d much rather none of this happened,” Ryan says in a small voice.
Duke places his hand on his son’s. “You did what you had to do. You… you saved Molly’s life.”
Last night, as Duke and I held each other, I told him what Ryan did. I also told him what Ryan said afterward, apologizing and explaining that he was never attracted to me. When I mentioned the mom angle and that Ryan was taking out that pain onme, Duke held me even closer.
“It’s going to be so different for our children,”he whispered.“They’ll never have to wonder if their parents love them. They’ll never have to doubt us, and we’ll never abandon them or each other.”
“I just hope I never have to do something like that again,” Ryan whispers. “Anyway, Molly saved us all. She was the one who went for a gun first. She wrestled the guy, and that gave me the courage. Once she started, Ihadto act.”
Duke turns to me, staring down with those intense eyes. “You didn’t mention that last night,” he says.
I shrug. “I didn’t see the point.”
