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“Oh, thank God!” I hear Cat breathe in relief, and out of my peripheral vision, I see her scramble in her long red gown and move toward me. She looks at Sebastian and Dante who stand behind me, their guns also raised. “My father went that way,” she says, and Dante walks down the hall in search of the man.
“Anyone else here?” Sebastian asks her.
“No...” she starts to say, whipping around to Daniel.
“Where is Ivy?” she demands of him now that she is standing by my side, like the mother lioness she is.
“You have some nerve.” He looks right at me with his bottom half still uncovered, and there is something to be said about a man who is overcompensating with his wallet. Now I know it's true.
I move another step closer, because I am about to kill this motherfucker, but it is Cat that retaliates. She walks up to him and stares him down.
“Where is IVY!” she screams at him, and even though he is outnumbered, he only smirks.
“Asshole!” she screams before her fist flies out, and she punches him across the nose.
He doesn’t fall, but he staggers backward, his pants wrapping around his legs, causing him to be unbalanced. There is some damage, and I can tell it surprised him. He looks at her wide-eyed, his eyes now watering, so I know she got him good.
“Fucking bitch!” he yells, and I have had enough.
Throwing my gun to Sebastian, I take two steps forward and punch him square in the face. He falls back, and I don’t stop. I can’t. My fists fly out, landing on his face a few times before I take my anger out on his body. Blood pours from his nose, which is now broken and on an angle that is going to be hard to repair. His eyes are squeezed shut, his cheeks red and blue, and his jaw is tight as he grunts and groans every time my fists connects with his flesh.
Deep, unnerving rage fires in the pit of my stomach, and I continue to thump my fist into his torso until I hear his ribs snap. I break each of them, one by one, until I feel her soft touch on my shoulder and stop abruptly.
“Carter… we need to find Ivy,” she says, and I look back at her and see her panicked face. I stand back up quickly and pull her to me, suffocating her to my chest, the desire to have her in my arms again all-encompassing. I hear her gasp, and when I pull back suddenly, I see how hurt she is.
“Fuck, Cat…”
“Carter!” Dante yells from down the hall. I grab her hand and we run, leaving an unconscious Daniel lying in a pool of his own blood, with Sebastian looking over him like he will take his last breath from him. Sebastian throws my gun back to me, and even though I am quick, Cat is keeping up with me in her heels. I know she is in pain, but unless we have Ivy, she will never be complete.
I see Dante down the end of the hallway, and I wonder how big this fucking penthouse is because it feels like it goes for miles.
“She’s here!” he yells out from an open doorway, and I grip Cat’s hand tight as we approach.
“What the hell is going on!” a voice booms as a man steps out in front of us, between Dante and I, from one of the doorways in the hall.
“Dad!” Cat yells in surprise as we both stop dead in our tracks, and I see Dante behind him slink quietly back into the room to protect Ivy, unnoticed.
“You are such a stupid girl,” he sneers at her. There is no love in his eyes for his daughter, only rage and disgust, and he must be insane if he thinks Cat is anything other than the beautiful, smart woman she is.
“Please, Dad, please, let me get Ivy and leave,” she begs, her tears falling freely, and I want to end this motherfucker right here and now for ever making her feel less than.
“Leave? You are not LEAVING!” I am about to step in when he produces a gun and aims it right at his daughter.
“You look just like your mother the night I killed her too. Stupid fucking women,” he says and pulls the trigger.
My heart leaps from my chest as my hand flies out to Cat, pushing her hard out of the way. It all happens in slow motion as I hear her screams echo through the apartment, and then she falls to the floor in a haze of red from her dress.
Lifting my hand, I fire back at her father, my aim straight as it pierces his chest, right where his heart would be if he had one. His body falls back, his white shirt now tainted red, and it isn’t until I empty my gun into him that I feel the familiar burn in my arm and have never been more grateful for the pain.
“Cat?” I grunt, as Dante and Sebastian come running out, but I fall to my knees next to her, needing to know she is okay.
“Cat!” I shout, my hands gripping the sides of her face, looking her over, my heart pounding as I do.
“Carter?” she whispers, her eyes wide, looking over my face and body, her hands immediately finding my wound.
“Oh My God! Carter!” she yells as the red liquid coats my arm, and her hands rush to cover it.
“It’s all right, baby. It’s nothing serious,” I say, trying to comfort her as I brush her cheek with my thumb, so fucking glad she is in one piece.
