The Shade drew his gun. Took the safety off. Trained it on my heart. “Don’t worry brother. I won’t.”
Bracing myself for the pain I knew was coming, I took a deep breath.
Then a sound from up above caught my attention. I looked up at the window on the second story. It was framed in white curtains, and pounding upon the glass was Violet. Even from this far away I could tell she’d been crying. Her scream was drowned out by the double paned glass but I knew it was fierce, and I knew her heart was breaking.
I felt bad about that.
But at least I got to see her one last time before everything finally went to shit.
We had a good run.
And I felt lucky for that.
I turned to the Shade who was going to blow me away and realized how unfortunate he was.
What I had with Violet was more than what he or any of the other Shades ever got. Even if it was muddled and twisted, unconventional and highly stressful.
For a little while she had been mine.
I could still feel the warm press of her lips on mine if I closed my eyes. I could feel her thighs squeezing mine as she rode me. I could feel her heart beating, her chest rising and falling; I could feel all of it.
Death was a high price to pay.
But it was worth it.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Violet
The side of my hand was numb from banging on the window. And damn those assholes out in the driveway. They were doing a valiant job of ignoring me.
All of them except for Xavier, that is.
He was the only one down there who’d bother to spare a glance up to the second story.
We’d locked eyes for a brief moment. Seconds, really. And I might have been imagining it, but I thought he smiled.
Well, not smiled.
But he gave me what I considered to be a smile in Xavier’s world. It was a softening of the eyes and mouth. A gentle expression. The only gentle expression he possessed.
Then the moment was over and his focus was back on the man pointing the gun at his chest.
I slammed my fists against the window again.
It did nothing.
Not even my own father bothered with me. His attention was on the man with the gun as well. But his stature was casual. He did not feel threatened. None of them did. None of them except Xavier, who stood with his feet shoulder width apart and with a slight bend in his knees. I’d seen him like this moments before he leapt into action.
Only this time his hands were bound in shackles.
Not that they had stopped him from killing one of the Shades already.
I was glad for it.
If he were to slaughter them all, I doubted I would even bat an eyelash.
“You’re going to need so much counselling after this,” I muttered to myself. And I knew it was true. All of this was going to royally fuck me up. Even if Xavier and I had walked out of it alive and together I would have needed to seek help. There was no way I was bouncing back from this one without aid from a professional.
And now that need was going to be even greater.
If that gun went off and I saw Xavier die while I was trapped behind fucking glass, my heart would explode into a thousand pieces, and there was no way I was ever be able to put it back together.
I would be ruined forever.
And my father would be the one to pay the price.
I continued banging and slapping the window, desperately trying to get them to stop fighting down below. Words I couldn’t hear were being exchanged. Lips moved and bodies tensed and men pointed angry fingers at Xavier.
There was no telling how much time he had before the man with the gun lost his cool and pulled the trigger.
There would be blood.
I couldn’t stand the sight of more blood. And I’d never be able to erase the image of Xavier bleeding out on my driveway, either.
I shuddered.
“Let me out!” I screamed as my fists hit the glass in a flurry.
My father looked up at me.
Glaring down at him, I slammed the glass again.
“Let me out of here!”
The corner of my father’s mouth twitched and he slid his hands into his pockets, rocked back on his heels, and turned his attention back to Xavier.
“Bastard!”
I’d worked myself into such a state, I didn’t even hear my bedroom door open, let alone hear Annie call my name softly from the hallway.
I didn’t know she was there until she’d plunged into the room and hurried to my side to grab my arm.
With a shriek of surprise I wrenched myself out of her grasp.
Annie held a finger vertically to her lips. “Hush, Violet. I’m here to let you out.”
I blinked at her. Was this happening? Was this real?
My words took a moment to come to my lips. “I—is this a trick?”
Annie shook her head and grabbed my arm again to pull me away from the window. When she spoke her words were short and clipped, her voice low. “No. This isn’t a trick. I didn’t—” she trailed off and looked around like she was afraid of someone seeing us talking. The only person who would be angry to see us was my father, and he was out front overseeing Xavier’s execution. She met my eyes. “I didn’t realize the extent of what was happening here. Your father—I think he’s gone mad.”
“Took you long enough to catch on.”
“I’m sorry.”
I sighed. She hadn’t been part of this life for weeks like I had. This was all new to her. I thought back to how terrified I was when Xavier blew a hole through my well-crafted vision of reality. I’d fallen apart.
And I’d ran.
Annie had come back for me.
I put my hands on her shoulders. “Annie. Listen to me. I need you to get off the property and call the police. Can you do that?”
“I don’t think I—”
“Annie. Tell me you can do it.”
She licked her lips. I could see the whites of her eyes all around her irises. “I can do that.”
“Good. It’s very important that you get off the property first. You need to make sure you’re safe. These are very bad men and they don’t care who gets caught in the crossfire. So go out the back. Take your phone. And call once you know you’re safe.”
“Come with me.”
“I can’t,” I said.
Her grip tightened on my arm. “Violet. There’s nothing you can do. They have guns. They’ll—”
“They’ve been trying to kill me for weeks, Annie. And look. I’m still standing. I’m not throwing in the towel just yet. Xavier needs me. Now go. I don’t have any more time.”
Annie and I rushed to the door. We ran hand in hand like we had when I was just a child and she used to play games in the mansion with me, taking me to the top of the stairs, then we hurried down them, part of some imaginary adventure. My bare feet slapped across the tile floor when we hit the foyer.
Annie gave my hand a squeeze. “Be careful, Violet.”
“I will.” I nodded in the opposite direction of the front door; to the route through the dining and living rooms, to the back doors that led out to the gardens. “I’ll see you soon. Go.”
She turned and stood there, completely still. “Violet?”
“What?” I asked a little too sharply.
“I’m sorry.”
The only thing I could think to do was offer her my version of a smile. I don’t know if it came off the way I wanted, because I wasn’t feeling physically capable of smiling with fear crawling up my spine like wisteria. “Me too, Annie.”
Turning, I ran for the front doors and didn’t look back. She was on her own now. And I had shit to do.
I broke through the front doors and ran out onto the driveway.
It took all the men a hot minute to respond, buying me the time to get within reach of Xavier. I grabbed the sleeve of his shirt, threw myself in front of him, and spread my arms out wide as I shielded him from the
gun with my own body.
My focus went to the barrel of the gun now trained on my chest. “If he dies. I die.”
The Shade training the gun on me smirked. “Fine by me. You were supposed to be in the ground weeks ago.”
My father let out a growl. “Lower your gun. Now. We’ve struck a deal, Arman. Get your man under control.”
Arman, the oldest looking one of the bunch, stepped forward and addressed the man with the gun. “Put it down, Lester. We’ll handle this properly.”
“Properly?” The one called Lester laughed. “If we’d handled this properly these two would already be maggot farms in the earth. Properly, my ass,” his lips peeled off his teeth and he shook his head. “No. I’m done with your rules, Arman. I’m taking matters into my own hands. Stand still, beautiful. Maybe I can kill you both with one shot.”
I squeezed my eyes closed.
My father screamed my name. In all the fuss I was struck with the thought that, despite all his insanity and cruelty, he still loved me.
Arman yelled.
Arms came down around me and held me around the waist. Hard. And then I was falling backward.
The gun fired and the shot ripped through the air.
My father screamed. He actually screamed.
I landed on my back on Xavier’s chest as he broke our fall on the pavement.
Then, everything happened in a wild blur.
Xavier rolled over on top of me and pinned me beneath him. Another shot rang out and Xavier ducked and covered my head. I could smell the blood on him and the sweat. His clothes were damp and the stubble on his cheek grazed mine as he held me close for one more moment before he detangled his arms from around me, turned around and went to one knee, and then tucked and rolled four feet to the right where Arman was closing in on the gunman.
I watched, fascinated, as Xavier plucked the gun from Arman’s hip. In a flourish he turned the safety off, spun out from behind his boss, and fired a shot right into the skull of the man who’d started the shoot-out.
“Violet!”
I looked wildly around.
My father was lying on his side reaching for me. There was maybe ten feet between us.
“Violet. Come! We have to get out of here!”
Gritting my teeth, I curled into a ball as more gunfire sprayed and bullets slammed into cars.
My father continued yelling for me.
And I continued ignoring him.
I cracked open an eye and peered between the space between my arms which I still had over my head. I could see Xavier’s boots. He was holding his ground near me, standing in the open, firing at the other Shades who had retreated to cover behind their vehicles.
Well.
The three left alive had retreated to the cover of their vehicles.
The others were lying in puddles of their own blood.
I wasn’t going to have a better chance to get out of the open than now. And Xavier wouldn’t get cover himself until he knew I was out of the crossfire.
So I went to my hands and knees and crawled as fast as I could across the drive to seek shelter behind the wheel of one of my father’s cars.
One of the Shades yelled orders. I heard Xavier’s name on their lips. And his last name. Screams bounced around me.
I tasted bile and covered my ears with my hands. In an effort to block out the death and the horror I squeezed my eyes closed.
And waited.
And waited.
Until there were no more shots ringing in the air and there were no more furious yells.
There was only silence.
Shaking like a leaf, I leaned around the side of the tire to peer around the back bumper of the tire.
Xavier had held his ground the whole time. He was down on one knee in the middle of the driveway with his back to me. He had one leg straight out to the side as if to balance himself, and he raised his gun one last time as the last remaining Shade stepped out from cover from behind one of the black sedans.
It was his boss. The one they called Arman.
The others lay scattered across the pavement like squashed ants. I had the sense that was all they were to Xavier.
Bugs to be swatted when necessary.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Xavier
“Stay where you are,” I growled, keeping an eye on Arman as he moved to reveal himself from behind the sedan. He walked with a limp. There was blood on his hands as he raised them above his head. And he left a bloody footprint behind each step he took with his left foot.
He was in bad shape.
But then again, so was I.
It was a struggle to stand.
“Violet?” I called.
“I’m okay,” she answered immediately.
Relief flooded through me and my adrenaline started ebbing away. Which wasn’t good. I needed it to stay on my feet. Not only had Jonah done a number on me down in his basement, but I was pretty sure I’d been shot again.
The drip of blood on the ground below me told me that estimation was accurate.
I wasn’t about to let on that I was injured. Not with Arman and Jonah still circling like vultures.
Violet and I weren’t out of this yet.
There was one bullet left in my gun. I had to make it count.
Arman faltered and clutched his thigh. Looked like he and I were going to have matching scars.
My boss let out a pained groan and slumped back against the sedan. “Just do it,” he said through clenched teeth. “End it.”
My finger tightened on the trigger.
“Do it!” Arman yelled. “Avenge your parents. Come on. You won’t get a better chance than this.”
He was right. I’d never get a shot like this. And he was the one to blame for all of this. He was the one who’d poured my mother and father’s blood all over the carpet of that shitty motel room all those years ago.
He was the one who’d made me into this.
Into a killer.
He was the one who’d stolen any chance I had at a normal life.
And he was the one who was still the closest thing I had to a parent.
I lowered the gun.
Arman blinked and slid down the car to sit with his back against it. He stared up at me incredulously. “What are you doing?”
“No more death,” I said.
“But I was—”
“Yeah,” I nodded, tucking the gun into the back of my pants. “I know. You were going to kill me.”
Arman shook his head. “Not just kill you. I was going to let them torture you. I was going to lock myself in my office and drink myself stupid while they did whatever it was they were so hell bent on doing to you. Then I was going to burn your body and act like nothing ever happened. And you’re going to what? Just let me go?”
I nodded. “I guess so.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Neither do I. Now get the hell out of here before I change my mind.”
Arman reached up and gripped the door handle of the sedan. He used it to haul himself back to his feet and he staggered back to open the door. He paused with it ajar and leaned on it.
I pointed down the driveway to the front gates. “Leave. Never come looking for me again. Or I swear to God, Arman. I’ll kill every man the Shades have left. Mark my fucking words.”
“I believe you,” Arman said quietly.
My body was growing heavier with every passing second. I waited, muscles straining, as Arman loaded himself into the car, turned the ignition, and peeled away, leaving the bodies of his men behind.
How he was going to go back to The Vex and explain all this to the other Shades I had no idea. Nor did I care. For all I knew they might form a mutiny against him and replace him as their leader. Or they would admit defeat and move on.
I hoped for the latter so that our agreement would stand.
When he reached the gates I blew out a sigh of relief and hung my head. Disbelief swirled inside me as the aches and pains of my batte
red body rose to the surface.
How I was still standing I had no idea.
When Violet showed up in front of me, I’d been sure the only way this was going to end was with her and I pumped full of lead.
But here we were.
Whole.
And breathing.
I turned to seek her out. She was on her feet and hurrying toward me. She looked me over wildly, noting the blood that had formed a little puddle by my feet and probably doing some quick math in her head and realizing she was going to have to play another messy game of operation sooner rather than later.
She reached for me and grabbed hold of my shirt. “Are you okay? Are you hit?”
“I think so,” I managed.
“Shit,” she hissed. “Shit. Shit. Shit.”
I grabbed her hand to steady her. “It’s alright. Let’s just worry about getting the hell out of here.”
She offered me her shoulder. I took it.
Then we turned to a white Maserati in the drive and found our path blocked by her father. He was pale as a sheet. His eyes were sunken and hollow and when he reached for his daughter his hand was shaking.
“Violet,” he stammered. “Please.”
“Move,” she said.
He blinked. “I—”
Her words dripped with venom, but I could hear the grief in them, too. I wondered if he could. “You’re never going to see me again, Daddy. Do you hear me? Never.” Her voice cracked.
I squeezed her shoulder.
Jonah took three steps toward us. “Violet. Baby. Please. This isn’t how—”
“Not how you wanted it to go down?” she asked.
He nodded.
Violet shook her head. “Me neither. But this whole thing was all your doing. And I want no part of it. I’m not a Wynn anymore and I’m done with this life. You’re going to have a lot of time on your hands to consider what you’ve done with your life and who you’ve hurt. Including me.” She turned me to the car and we started hobbling toward it. She held me up with a hand on my chest and her other arm wrapped around my waist. “Let’s get you out of here.”
“No hospitals,” I said.
“I know. I know. I’m not a rookie anymore, remember? I have somewhere we can go.”
Dark Lover: Sins of the Night Page 13
