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“Then why not just kill us?” I growled. “That would be easier.”
“Are you so ready for her to die?”
My mouth snapped shut. Sienna’s head lifted slightly, her lashes fluttering open. It was about damn time. She looked groggy, still half under whatever they’d given her.
“It had been my idea that you two get married, you know.”
My attention snapped back to the phone. “What?”
“Sure, both of you still had your weaknesses. Your mother. Her father. Your brother. But they would be easy to take out, and both of you would have survived anyway. But the love between two souls? That’s something different. That is the ultimate weakness.”
I felt sick, ready to toss the phone to the ground and shatter it beneath my foot. But still, the voice kept talking.
“I didn’t think it would work at first. It was more or less an experiment, if you will. But then I realized just how perfectly it had all come together. The minute you realized she was taken from that banquet, you went after her. Without backup. Without any reinforcements at all. You walked into a warehouse full of enemies just for her, even if that meant you would die in the process. That’s when I knew it worked.”
“You’re a sick fucking bastard.”
“No, I’m a betting man. There’s a difference.” I could hear the smile in their voice. Sienna was waking up fully now, her eyes darting around the center of the junkyard, fear etched into her face. “If you two fell for each other, I would only need one of you to control the other. To make sure neither of you got in my way until it was too late.”
“I still don’t understand why you don’t just kill us,” I said, my voice hoarse.
“All in due time.” The line clicked shut.
I dropped the phone as if it were poison. The men around us shifted, watching us. I backed away slowly, training my gun on any who moved too quickly. But I didn’t fire. Yet. The Snake wanted Sienna and me alive for some reason. I didn’t know what that reason was, and I couldn’t count on these men to follow orders. Right now, any one of them could kill us. Or one of us. And I couldn’t let that happen.
“Dante.”
Sienna’s voice forces me to look at her. Her hands grip the side of the chairs, head motioning towards the lock at her back. There’s no way out of this that I could see. One-by-one, the Snake’s henchmen started to draw their weapons. The Snake might have wanted us alive, but you didn’t always have to shoot to kill. Maiming would do the job well enough in most cases.
A man stepped forward. I turned, aimed my weapon, and took the shot. The bullet smashed through the cheap lock at the back of Sienna’s chains, popping free. For a minute, everyone froze as the chains fell loose around Sienna’s waist. I really hadn’t thought that would work. Movies are shit when it comes to showing real-life action. But there was the lock, on the ground, smoking.
Sienna slowly stood from the chair, her eyes trained on the men who had finally shaken off their surprise. They stalked closer, weapons raised. We waited, our backs pressed together as they advanced. They were only a few steps away. Now four. Now three.
Without making a sound, Sienna lashed out. Her hands gripped the wrist of the man closest to her, bringing his arms down against her knee. He cried out, releasing his gun. Sienna snatched it up, taking the first shot. The second man went down before we even realized what was happening.
And then all hell broke loose.
They weren’t aiming to kill us, that much I could tell. But we were aiming to kill them. Sienna snatched the back of my shirt, hauling me behind the closest safe spot. We crouched behind a metal door of a car, completely broken off and nearly rusted through. She popped up, taking a few shots before ducking back down.
“Where the hell are we?” she asked, taking deep breaths.
I leaned around the side, catching two men unaware. They hit the ground. “Some junkyard outside the city. Are you alright?”
“Fine,” she breathed. “Can we just kill these fuckers and get out of here?”
“After you,” I muttered. “Can you make it over there?” I pointed across the open lane towards another pile of junk that could act as cover. “My car is in the lot.”
She nodded. Without warning, Sienna popped up from behind the car door, shooting blindly as she ran for cover. I cursed, wishing she’d given me at least some sort of warning before madly dashing out into the line of fire. I covered her, taking down the men who were stupid enough to step out into the open just to shoot at her. Three men went down.
Sienna took her place, aiming for those still out there as I ran over to her. We still had a bit of a way to go to get to the lot, but we could lose the men in the maze that was the junkyard. We just needed to get clear first. I yanked my keys from my pocket, tossing them to Sienna.
“Take these. Get to the car and start it. I’ll cover us and meet you there.”
“No. I’m not leaving you.” Sienna glared. “That’s a stupid idea.”
“Sienna, now is not the time to argue with your husband.”
She snorted. “So now you’re my husband? Bullshit, Dante. I’m not leaving you.”
