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The sentiment pulled at everything inside of me. I was a bad man for what I’d just done, taking advantage of the situation. But the moment I’d seen that fucking son of a bitch pawing her as if she belonged to him, something had broken inside of me, shattering my last resolve.
I’d craved something that I couldn’t have more than I’d wanted to breathe. Now people would die for my ridiculous choice. I felt it in my gut.
I found my weapon, prepared to leave the greenhouse when she lunged for me, wrapping her arms around me.
“I’m afraid. I’m terrified.”
Her admittance just about broke me all over again. A part of me wanted to tell her that she should be, but being as asshole right now was about the worst thing I could do. Besides, I wanted nothing more than to protect her, to lock her away so no one could ever hurt her. I gripped her chin, peering down at her, the hunger yet to abate. “You’re going to be fine. I will return. You have my promise of that as well.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
I grinned on purpose before snatching my jacket from the floor, placing it around her shoulders then standing. “I don’t intend to. Don’t underestimate me. Now, go hide in the shadows.”
Zoe was slow to respond but finally scampered away, but not before stopping and throwing a look over her shoulder. It was too dark to see her expression, but I didn’t need to. She was as concerned as I was.
I moved to the door, listening for any sounds as I opened it, carefully going outside. Almost as soon as I managed to take a couple of steps, another round of gunfire tore into the night sky, screams following. I took off running toward the house. Within seconds, I noticed one of the gunmen. He wore dark clothes and a ski mask, but the fucker had tripped the motion sensor lights outside, drawing my attention. Now he was a perfect target, and I took advantage, firing off a single shot.
As usual, my marksmanship was on the money, the long-range hit gunning him down with a bullet between the eyes. I raced toward him, determined to gather any information. After reaching him I dropped to my knees, yanking off the mask. I’d suspected there would be no instant identification, but it still pissed me off. I patted the son of a bitch down, finding nothing on him except for another magazine of ammunition.
I scanned the perimeter. Whoever had sent the brigade of assassins had balls. After confiscating his weapon and additional magazine, I lunged forward, trying to remain as silent as possible.
When a shadow suddenly appeared from my right, I dropped and rolled, about to fire off another round when Francois staggered toward me. Jesus fucking Christ. He’d been hit, blood covering seeping through his crisp white shirt.
“Francois,” I growled, keeping low to the ground as I headed toward him. He dropped to his knees, taking gasping breaths, pressing his hand against his injury.
“Just a shoulder wound,” he insisted, but his breathing remained ragged.
“What the hell happened?”
Francois glanced over my shoulder, wiping his face with his bloody hand. “I don’t know. I heard gunfire then there were several screams. Suddenly, there were two masked men in the house. I managed to shoot one of them, but my lieutenant is down, at least two guests. Everybody panicked at that point.”
“Where the hell are the women?”
“Tony has the girls and little Gabe. He’s taking them to the safehouse. Arman disappeared.”
Fuck. “Any idea how many gunmen?”
“At least ten, maybe more. They just came out of nowhere. It was a coordinated attack, disguised by the party. Where’s Zoe?”
“She’s safe, in hiding. Get back to the house,” I instructed. “See if you can find Arman. I’m going to handle these fuckers.”
“Don’t get yourself killed.”
Another flash caught my eye and both Francois and I snapped our weapons toward the intruder, firing indiscriminately. “This ain’t a good day to die, buddy,” I told him.
He laughed, struggling to get to his feet. “You got that right.”
I stayed low to the ground as I headed to the side of the house, keeping both hands wrapped around my weapon. I could still see the greenhouse and I remained unnerved. As I rounded the corner, I could tell guests were rushing out, hysteria settling in. I took off running, forced to drop and roll as another gunman came out of nowhere.
Pop! Pop!
The masked man was down in a second. I didn’t waste any additional time trying to secure an ID. That wasn’t going to happen at this point in time. I moved to the house, noticing Landry as he sprinted around from the other side. He had a gash on his forehead, likely from a weapon.
“What the hell?
“A car pulled up and before I knew what was happening, four men jumped out, ambushing me. I blacked out for a couple minutes,” Landry said, still panting. “What the hell is going on?”
More guests were piling out of the house, the commotion getting ridiculous. “That’s the question of the goddamn day. We need to take them out.”
