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I burstthrough the back door, my eyes going right to Charlotte who was still standing where I’d left her.
“Take her,” I barked, shoving Renee into her arms. “Run and don’t stop until you get to Dalton.” There was no time. I had to get back in there. I had to get to her. My heart was beating so fast I felt winded, but I forced myself to push past it.
She looked at me in sheer panic. “Trent—”
“Now!” I bellowed, and like a shot, Charlotte took off at a dead sprint, clutching her niece in her arms.
I yanked the rear door to the warehouse open just as the fucker, who had kidnapped Renee and shot a gun in a building full of children, reached it. The hand holding the gun came up, but before he could take aim, I was there, grabbing his wrist and twisting around, out of the line of fire. He let out a shout of pain as I pulled his arm back at an unnatural angle and used my elbow to snap his forearm like a twig.
Unfortunately, the son of a bitch didn’t go down.
He whipped around, breaking from my hold, and his other arm swung wide. I barely had enough time to jump back to avoid the blade clutched in his fist.
This guy’s muscles were all for show. He didn’t have a goddamn clue what he was doing, but he was standing in the way of me getting to my woman, having to grapple with him was wasting precious seconds.
I could hear Dalton’s voice in my ear just then, barking as I dodged another swipe of that knife. “Trent, get the fuck in there, I don’t have a clear shot on Knightly.”
That was gasoline thrown on the fire that had been raging inside me this whole time. With a feral yell, I grabbed the asshole’s wrist and bent the knife back toward him, then I pushed with all my weight, shoving the blade into the center of his chest, right into his fucking heart.
* * *
Cheyanne
“You goddamn fuckingcunt!”Graham shouted at the top of his lungs, grabbing me by the ankle as I crawled across the floor, trying to get to the gun. He yanked, pulling my leg out from under me, but as I hit the ground, I kicked back with my other foot, connecting with his face.
The roar he let out sent terror racing down my spine, but I couldn’t quit. I couldn’t stop fighting. He crawled over the top of me and I squirmed closer to the gun, reaching out, but it was still too far away. My fingers dug frantically in the dirty ground as I bucked and kicked, trying to get out from under him.
“You’re dead, bitch!” he snarled in my ear as he flipped me onto my back. Spittle flew from his mouth as he hissed, “Fucking dead!”
His hands closed around my neck and began to squeeze. “You belong to me,” he seethed in my face. “Isay what happens to you!”
Like fucking hell. I wasnotgoing to die by this man’s hands!
“I never belonged to you,” I wheezed. I reached up and dug my nails into his forehead so deep blood welled up instantly and ripped downward, carving deep, gnarly slices into his face. He screamed out and released my throat. I sucked in a huge lungful of air as he reached for the gun, and a second later, a shot went off.
Time seemed to pause as the bang ricocheted through the air. I stopped breathing as Graham’s eyes came to me, wide with surprise. His mouth gaped open, but no sound came out. It felt like we stayed like that for an eternity. Then, just like that, someone pushed play, and things started moving again.
Graham went down, but before he could collapse on top of me, I shoved with all my might, rolling him onto the filthy ground beside me.
I lifted up, crab-walking away from his prone body, and whipped my gaze up to Trent, standing three yards away, his arms raised, his eyes and still trained on the now-lifeless body of Graham Knightly.
“Trent,” I breathed, rising to my feet on wobbly legs. Those beautiful smoky eyes finally came to me. His chest shuddered on an exhale, and something told me he’d been holding his breath that whole time. The relief that filtered across his gorgeous features ripped at my heart. A sob tore from my throat, my hands slapping over my mouth as he shoved the gun in the holster at his waist and rushed me, taking my face in his hands.
“Baby, are you okay?”
I cried uncontrollably, nodding my head as my vision went blurry. “Renee?” I sobbed, the fear for my daughter still holding me in a death grip.
“Charlotte got her out,” he assured me, then to drive that point home, Dalton spoke in both our ears. “We have her. We’re in the truck on the way to you.”
My whole body collapsed, my face planting in Trent’s chest as I inhaled the scent of clean laundry and pine. “I knew you’d save us,” I breathed, speaking those words I felt down to my very soul.
Cupping my cheeks again, he lifted my face to his so he could riddle it with kisses. “You’re safe now,” he said, his words a promise. “You and Renee are safe, I swear.”
“Because of you,” I whispered, clutching his shirt in a tight fist. “You made us that way, because you love us.”
He brought his forehead down on mine. “I do, baby. With all my heart.”
“That’s really good,” I told him on a sniffle, “because we love you too.”
