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Spying Ace on his way down the stairs with Wolfe a few steps behind him, I held up a finger to Rumer, indicating that I’d be back in a minute. She’d finally found her voice and barely noticed when I slipped away.
I made it halfway across the room when the first explosion went off. The boom that thundered through the building almost knocked me off my feet. A hole opened up in the wall at the back where several people gathered around a buffet table. Food and bodies flew in every direction. Smoke filled the room, and pandemonium broke out.
Caught in a stampede of terrified party goers, I glanced about frantically. Wolfe and Ace rushed down the stairs, shoving people aside as they struggled to get to me. This had to be an attack by Archer, and yet, the man with the Hale ink running out of here stood out starkly in my mind. No, that couldn’t be right.
“Are you okay?” Wolfe shouted over the noise when he reached me. “Where’s Rumer?”
I looked back toward the bar as the second explosion went off. This one came from the restrooms, blowing a hole in the wall that flung shrapnel in every direction. Ace and Wolfe crowded me, using their bodies to protect me from flying objects. Breathing became difficult as the smoke in the air thickened. Drywall dust joined it, making it hard to breathe and see. I still managed to make out the silhouette of Rush using his large body to block my sister as he ushered her to the closest exit.
“She’s okay. We have to get out of here.” I coughed as my eyes began to water. The drink I’d been holding was smashed on the floor at my feet.
We joined the herd of people rushing outside. To my dismay there were several bodies on the floor closest to the blast zones. Who could do this? And at a wedding party too.
Once we were outside on the sidewalk the sound of sirens could be heard in the distance. We found Rumer and Rush who stood together several yards from the building. She grabbed me in a hug, holding on tight.
“Who could be behind this?” she asked, choking back a sob. “Was it Archer?”
“It had to be,” Ace hissed, anger stealing away his usual easygoing attitude. “Who else has a reason to hit back this hard?”
Knowing that I couldn’t sit on such information I said, “I saw a man with Hale ink run out right before the first explosion. I’m sure that’s some fucked up coincidence. There’s no way in hell Maddox did this.”
Wolfe’s expression turned deadly. “What makes you so sure? He’s not exactly thinking straight these days.”
“Why would he do something like this if he knew I was here? He’d never put me in danger like that.” I refused to believe that Maddox was behind this. Despite his hotheadedness and his many faults, I knew that he’d do anything to protect me.
“Unless it’s his way of making sure you never feel safe with me. He doesn’t want to share you anymore.” The idea had formed, and Wolfe latched onto it.
I vigorously shook my head. “You’re not thinking so straight either if you believe Maddox is capable of that. Calm down and think this through. There’s no doubt in my mind that it was Archer.”
I looked to Ace for some backup, but he only shrugged, offering me nothing. Something wasn’t right here. Archer did this. Nothing would convince me otherwise. The man with the Hale tattoo may play a role, but this wasn’t a Maddox Hale job. I knew it with every piece of me.
Archer could throw every trick in the book at us, but I wouldn’t stop until I got to the bottom of this. Donovan Archer would regret the day his men failed to kill me.
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