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Hunter’s brother was even crazier than I suspected if he thought that convoluted explanation absolved him of his actions. The black handgun pointed at my chest was all I could see as I shook my head no. My bound wrists barely moved as I frantically struggled against my bindings.
His maniacal laugh at my feeble attempts to break free filled me with dread as I watched him walk around the desk. They say a person’s life flashes before their eyes, but mine didn’t. Maybe that was because I chose not to taint my last moments on earth. When I gave up the fight and shut my eyes, resigning to my fate, all I saw was Hunter. His pale icy gaze that never failed to strip me bare, but also gave me strength.
A second later, the sound of a single gunshot made me jump in my seat. Not that I went very far. But oddly enough, I didn’t feel any pain. Was I having a delayed reaction? Surely, I should feel something by now, cold seeping into my bones, or at the very least, a little woozy.
Peeking through my lashes, I looked down at myself, sucking in a breath at the dark red stains across my top, shorts, and bare thighs. Frantically, my eyes searched for the source of all that blood, but I couldn’t find one.
When I raised my chin, afraid of what I might find, there was Hunter’s brother, sprawled across the top of the desk, not moving. Mentally, I shrank back from the horror of the image. From the red that pooled underneath his head and dripped from the side of the desk.
My lips parted, a scream filling my starving lungs, dying to break free, when someone whispered from behind me, “Don’t. Then they’ll know Piotr didn’t just shoot you and we’ll be in an even bigger world of shit than we already are. I need you to keep it together until we get out of here.”
His voice. It was familiar. Where had I heard it before? But my brain was still struggling to process the horror of what had happened, and there wasn’t enough room for riddles.
The rope at my feet loosened and then gave way. As feeling returned to my lower extremities, tiny painful pinpricks of sensation replaced the numbness that had long ago taken over. I jiggled my legs and feet, preparing for when I would have to run with this man, whoever he was. What other choice did I have but to trust him? He was my last hope of survival, my only one, really.
“I’m sorry, hero, whoever you are, but I can’t let you spoil my plans.”
Where did the woman with the low raspy voice come from? Why was she here? What did she mean?
The sudden bang left a ringing in my left ear, and I jumped again, feeling a heavy weight settle against my shoulder before it fell away. There was a soft thud that came from beside me, and I could feel something wet on my face, my eye tracking a line of red down my cheek to my chin. Drip, drip, drip.
My whole body shook in my binds, but still I forced myself to look down. A man’s lifeless body lay beside my chair, and even with half his head missing I recognized him.
There was no holding in the scream this time. The keening whale that was ripped from my chest sounded inhuman and my vision blurred. I hadn’t cried since I was a young child. Honestly, I didn’t think I was capable of it any longer, but I couldn’t hold it back any more than I could resurrect the man lying beside me. A member of the club had died trying to help me, and the pain of that was almost more than I could bear.
Seeing Hunter’s brother lying across the desk, still, had been horrible. Deep in my heart, though, I’d known he deserved his fate. The man at my feet had no choice but to kill in order to save me. What this woman had done, however, was completely different. She’d murdered a man in cold blood to keep me here. What had I ever done to her?
You know what, nothing I could have ever done warranted this man’s death. Something inside me snapped, and I wanted to tear her limb from limb. For the first time in my life, I wanted to do someone bodily harm. Fuck her. Fuck them all. If I was going to die in this insanely beautiful room, I was going to at least do some damage before that happened.
Strength surged within me, and I stood, the chair still attached to my arms. Wildly, I twisted my body, hoping that she was still standing behind me, because the chair was the only weapon I had. Her soft grunt was the most satisfying sound in the world, and I turned toward the sound, hoping to catch her with the chair again. Only this time, she was ready for me.
“Ty suko,” she screeched, hunched over, the gun in her hand aimed at me as she cocked it.
Her fair complexion was mottled red, but it was her eyes that drew me in. Hunter’s eyes. There was no mistaking them. Nobody else had eyes that shade of blue. Jesus. Was his whole family out to get me? And this slip of a girl, with a gun trained on me, didn’t even look like she was old enough to vote.
“Balls! How old are you?” My chest heaved under the tight coils of the rope; my body bent forward at an odd angle. “Never mind, that’s not important. Just tell me why your family wants me dead.”
She straightened, the sound of her tinkling laugh making dread pool in my stomach. The same way it did with Hunter’s brother. There was something seriously wrong with these people.
“Not all of us want you dead. I’m betting Hunter will do just about anything to keep his pet alive. Too bad for him that’s not going to happen. Loose ends and all.”
Lord Jesus, Hunter might be the sanest one of them all.
“Let me make sure I understand this correctly. You and Hunter’s brother want me dead to get back at Hunter?”
“Don’t play dumb with me, Agent Smith.”
When I thought this was entirely about Hunter, I was fucked, now I didn’t know what I was. Fucked times two? Not that it really mattered. Either way, I was dead, and I didn’t know where that left Cherry. Which means I failed her, and I’d never failed to protect my sister before. All my sacrifice, gone in the blink of an eye.
Her face contorted into a mask of rage, and I braced myself, waiting for her to pull the trigger. Saviors didn’t come along twice. Then again, what did I know?
“Uh, uh, uh, señora. I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.”
Her eyes flicked between me and the man who stood on her left. “Who the fuck are you?”
“Marco?!”
Could this situation get any more bizarre? He was the last person I ever thought would come to my rescue. I was pretty sure he hated me just as much, if not more, than this girl. Yet there he stood; a gun pointed at her.
