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The sound is deafening, echoing off the warehouse walls like thunder. The noise reverberates through my skull, leaving me momentarily stunned. For a split second, everything seems to freeze, the world suspended in time as I try to process what just happened.
“Summer!” My eyes dart between her and Mark, trying to determine who fired the shot and who’s been hit.
But before I can make sense of the chaos, time stands still.
28
SUMMER
The deafening sound of a gunshot echoes through the warehouse. My heart leaps into my throat as my ears ring from the blast. I can’t even draw a breath; it’s as if time has stopped altogether.
Mark’s grip on my arm loosens, and the cold steel of the knife falls away from my skin, leaving behind a stinging sensation where he had cut into me. My eyes widen in shock as I watch Mark crumple to the ground, lifeless. Ciarán’s face flashes across my mind, and a surge of gratitude washes over me. He’d made a promise to protect me, and he kept it, risking everything in the process.
Glancing around the warehouse, my pulse races as I stare at Ciarán. It’s then that I realize the gunshot didn’t come from the direction I expected – instead, it came from behind him.
Drawing a second gun out of the back of his pants, he turns instantly.
“Blood is thicker than water,” Thal says with a shrug, lowering the gun. “Your ass is mine to kill, no one else’s.”
“Fucking dick,” Ciarán huffs, but whatever tension was there earlier as they fought seems to have vanished. Or, more likely, been pushed under the rug for the time being.
“Thank you,” I mutter to Thal, crossing the distance between us and throwing my arms around him,
“What the fuck?” Ciarán asks. “It’s like fucking Beverly Franks all over again.”
“No,” Thal says, gently wrapping his arms around me, almost hesitantly. “Bev Franks was in love with Caden all along.”
Ciarán snorts and lowers his gun. “Figures. He always did get all the girls with those doe-eyes of his.”
Smiling softly at this strange exchange in the middle of a gunfight where someone has just died, I pull away from Thal and hover uncertainly near Ciarán.
“Thank you for coming for me,” I say politely.
“Fecking hell, Tinks,” he snorts. “Where the hell else am I going to be? You’ve got my soul, baby, and if you go, I go.”
“Tinks,” Thal murmurs, his gaze on me.
Closing the gap between us, Ciarán’s strong arms wrap around me, shielding me from any further harm. I cling to him, my heart still pounding in my chest, trying to process the events that just unfolded.
“Are you okay?” Ciarán asks, his voice low and worried, the hint of guilt lingering there – he blames himself for putting me in this situation. He doesn’t know I was never in any danger. My eyes meet Thal’s again, and he salutes before he disappears into the shadows.
“Wait!”
“Let him go,” Ciarán murmurs. “This isn’t over, but I need you safe.”
I open my mouth to answer, but a sudden warm wetness on my skin stops me. My eyes dart down to my arm, where red rapidly spreads across my sleeve. Panic surges through me like an electric current, and I gasp at the sight.
“Ciarán…” My voice trembles, fear creeping back in.
“It’s okay, Tinks,” he says, ripping his t-shirt with his bare hands to hand me a wad of fabric. “It’s just your neck.”
“Oh,” I murmur, taking it and pressing the makeshift bandage to it.
“Christ.” Ciarán’s grip on me tightens, his voice strained. “We need to get you cleaned up.”
A cold shiver runs down my spine as I force myself to look at Mark’s lifeless body. He lies twisted on the cold warehouse floor, his eyes wide open and glassy, a crimson stain spreading from the gunshot wound on his forehead. Blood pools beneath him, seeping into the cracks between the concrete slabs, an eerie reminder of the brutal reality we’re trapped in.
“Please get me out of here,” I whimper, choking back sobs. My heart races, threatening to burst out of my chest, and bile rises in my throat at the sight of the gore. The smell of blood and gunpowder fills the air, suffocating me.
