by Mia Knight
Gavin opened his mouth, but before he could answer, Lyla linked her arm through the director’s.
“Yes, I would,” she said and ignored Gavin’s low growl.
The director blinked when Blade and four guards rose. Lyla patted the director’s arm.
“Precautions,” Lyla said.
The director nodded hastily. “Yes, yes. I understand.”
Gavin followed them to the elevator. The director kept up a steady stream of polite conversation. Gavin did nothing to engage. The director tossed him worried glances, probably worried that Gavin wasn’t impressed by how they used his money. The director began to talk quickly and went into great detail about the state of the art equipment and innovative floor plan. It was interesting to walk through the corridors and peek into empty, pristine rooms, so far untouched by humanity. Lyla enjoyed the behind the scenes tour. The director pointed out the paintings on the wall that had been done by a local artist and led her into a hospital room, which had an aqua accent wall that made the room inviting and soothing rather than clinical and detached. Lyla walked up to the window and looked out at the shopping center across the street and the red mountains in the distance.
“This is beautiful,” Lyla said.
The director went into great detail about the bed sheets, which were a higher thread count than they had ever been able to afford.
“The Pyre wing is going to be many people’s home away from home.”
“Pyre wing?”
“You didn’t know it was being named after your family?”
Her family... “No, I didn’t.”
“We couldn’t call it anything else,” the director said jovially.
Gavin stood with his arms crossed in the middle of the corridor. Lyla went to him and gave him a hug.
“Let’s go,” Gavin said abruptly.
“But—” the director began.
“I have business to attend to.” Gavin propelled Lyla down the corridor.
Lyla was dimly aware of the director talking to Blade and the other guards as they trailed behind them.
“Rude,” she muttered.
“I have a lot to do today.”
Lyla ground her back teeth. “Like what?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
What did he have to do now that he killed a drug lord? What was the next step? She opened her mouth and then closed it. Did she really want to know? Not really. If she knew what his agenda was for the day, she would get even less sleep than she already did.
Before they reached the elevator, the doors opened, revealing eight Mexicans. They were dressed in heavy jackets, jeans and too long shirts. What she could see of their skin was covered in tattoos.
Gavin halted, pulling her to an abrupt stop. She looked up and saw Gavin watching them intently. She looked back at the open elevator as the man in front smiled, showing a mouth full of silver teeth. Even as he reached into his jacket, a deafening bang sounded from beside her. The man’s smile vanished as a hole appeared in the middle of his forehead. He staggered backward into two men who fell with him.
Gavin released her and squeezed off two more shots. A man clutched his chest. It looked as if a ripe tomato had been hurled at him. One of the cholos raised his gun and shot wildly. An agonized screamed sounded behind her. Even as she turned, Gavin ran forward.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Lyla
“Gavin!” Lyla screamed and took a step after him, only to stop in her tracks as she got a firsthand glimpse of Gavin in combat mode.
Gavin disarmed the man with the gun with a brutal chopping motion. Lyla heard something break and the man dropped to his knees with a scream. Gavin kicked him savagely in the face, toppling him backwards. Gavin turned to the next man and executed an uppercut punch. There was a sickening crunch as the man hit the wall. He crumpled to the ground and left a gruesome red smear behind. One of the gangbangers tried to run out of the elevator. Gavin hauled him back just as the elevator dinged and the doors closed, locking him into the enclosed space with three armed men.
“No!” she screamed.
“Lyla.”
She turned and saw Blade on his knees beside the hospital director who lay in a pool of blood.
“No, no,” she whispered, shaking her head. “What’s going on? Who are they?”
“Santana's men.” Blade rose, hand dripping with the director’s blood. “He’s gone.”
“He’s dead?” She couldn’t comprehend it. Everything happened so fucking fast. Not even two minutes ago, the director had been talking passionately about the new wing of the hospital and now he was a lifeless heap on the floor. “This can’t be happening.”
“It is.” Blade pulled out his phone and speed dialed a number. “Z, access the hospital cameras. We’re gonna need some interference.” He hung up and looked at the other guards. “Two of you clean this up. The other two, follow me.”
Blade grabbed her arm and led her back into the new wing. A ding stopped them both in their tracks. The elevator doors opened and Gavin appeared with bodies in disturbing positions at his feet. Even as Lyla took a step towards him, his head turned sharply to the left. The two guards standing over the director went down on one knee and cleared their guns even as shots were fired down the hallway.
“Fuck, let’s go,” Blade snapped.
Gavin pulled the fire alarm. Lights flashed and a deafening blare echoed down the corridor. Her guards threw open the door that led to the emergency exit stairs. As Blade propelled her into the stairwell, she looked back and saw Gavin cut a man’s throat with a knife and then toss it into another man’s face. Men were converging on him like ants. None of the cholos seemed to care that she and her guards were getting away. They were here for Gavin.
“We can—” she began, not wanting to leave him.
“Gavin can take care of himself. He can’t focus with you around. We gotta get you out of here,” Blade said.
The stairwell was filled with people. Blade and the guards holstered their weapons as they climbed down three flights of stairs. Lyla focused on putting one foot in front of the other. She wanted to fight by Gavin’s side, but she knew Blade was right. Her combat skills were sloppy and amateur compared to Gavin’s. He could hold his own.
The confusion and panic of those around her amplified her own fear. The edges of her vision darkened with memories just waiting to latch onto her and send her spiraling into waking nightmares. It was happening again. Another battle, another tragedy, another scene with bloody bodies in her wake.
Blade grabbed her arm in a painful grip as they entered the lobby, which was a hubbub of chaos. Patients in hospital beds and wheelchairs were everywhere. Medical personnel struggled to be heard over the blaring alarm. They yelled for help to get the patients onto the front lawn. Alice and Janice were in the midst of the fray, directing people outside.
Lyla took a step towards them, but Blade squeezed her. “We have to get out of here.”
“But I can—”
“No. My job is to get you safe. We don’t know how many more there are.”
She could barely keep up with his fast clip. The guards pressed in close and she struggled to keep her shit together. Of course, the day of the hospital event had to be the same day Gavin killed a drug lord.
They walked through the deserted emergency room and left the hospital behind as they crossed to the parking garage. Blade pulled out his phone and talked to the driver’s.
“Lyla!”
Jonathan jogged towards them. She was torn between hugging him in relief or screaming at him to stay away from her.
“Are you all right? What’s going on?” Jonathan asked.
“Jonathan, you should leave,” she said as they entered the ground level of the parking garage.
“Is there a fire?”
One of her guards reached into his jacket.
Lyla grabbed his arm. “No!”
“We don’t have time for this,” Blade hissed.
“Don’t!” she
warned her guard who dropped his hand from his weapon. “Go, Jonathan.”
Squealing tires sounded as two SUVs whipped around a corner and stopped in front of them. Blade reached for her arm and then shoved her to the ground. Bullets ricocheted against the bulletproof car. Lyla reached into her purse and grabbed her gun as she rolled and knocked Jonathan off his feet.
“Get down!” she yelled as she took in her surroundings.
Cholos used parked cars for cover. Her guards scrambled to do the same.
“Get in the fucking car!” Blade shouted at her.
Lyla army crawled towards the SUV and tried to block out the noise. One of her guards dropped with an agonized yell. Lyla raised her head and raised her gun.
“Lyla, go!” Blade shouted with such urgency that she resumed her slow progress to the SUV.
She made it to the back door and reached for the handle. A bullet sparked against metal less than six inches from her hand. She dropped and the driver’s door opened.
“Get in!” the driver shouted as he covered her.
Lyla shot up, opened the door and dove onto the back seat. She slammed the door and heard the ping of bullets bouncing off the car. Lyla sat up, tossed her purse and flipped the safety off her gun. There were men everywhere. Her guards were pinned. She couldn’t run the cholos over. There were too many obstacles and they were in an enclosed space with lots of hiding spots. Her eyes fell on Jonathan who was on the ground, hands over his head. He was a sitting duck.
Lyla cracked open the door and shouted his name. Jonathan dropped one hand and looked in her direction. He couldn’t see her through the tinted window so she stuck her hand out and gestured for him to come. To her relief, he began to crawl towards her. She couldn’t watch him bleed out in front of her. When Jonathan was right below the door, she tossed it open and covered him. Jonathan leapt in and slammed the door.
“What’s happening?” Jonathan shouted and ducked as bullets bounced off the window.
“Get her out of here!” Blade roared at her driver.
Even as the guard backed into his seat, a cholo rushed out from behind a car. Lyla heard the click of an empty chamber as her guard ran out of bullets. The man shot him at point blank range and stuck his ugly face in the SUV. Lyla pulled the trigger. The man staggered back, face a bloody mess. Lyla crawled over the console and slammed the driver’s door before she fumbled with the seat settings and locked the doors.
“What’s going on?” Jonathan shouted from the back seat.
“Didn’t I tell you to stay away from me?” Lyla shouted back.
She looked in the rearview mirror and breathed a sigh of relief as Blade and the three remaining guards got into the SUV behind her. Blade honked and jabbed his finger at her. Lyla didn’t hesitate. She jammed her foot on the gas pedal and careened towards the exit. She caught a glimpse of the front lawn of the hospital flooded with people before she whipped onto the highway and passed a squad of police cars.
Lyla set the gun in the cup holder and clutched the steering wheel with shaking hands. A perfect day ruined by the fucking underworld and it’s fucking politics. The hospital director, a good man, was dead. Hundreds of sick and terrified people were now milling on the hospital grounds, waiting for word on an imaginary fire and who knew if the gunfight between the gang and Gavin would spill into the rest of the hospital.
“Lyla.”
She looked at Jonathan in the rearview mirror. His hair was disheveled and he was pale with shock.
“What’s going on?” Jonathan whispered.
“You should have gone on with your life and forgotten about me,” she said.
“You have a gun.” His voice was faint with shock. “And you know how to use it.”
Damn right she did. She trained to know how to kill and that’s what she’d done. Her hands flexed on the wheel. Just like the last time, she didn’t feel an ounce of remorse. If anything, she wanted to turn around and do more damage. Her chest burned with rage. Those fuckers. They didn’t care about innocent bystanders. They opened fire anytime, anywhere.
The sound of her phone ringing filled the car. “Pass my purse!”
Jonathan tossed it on the console. Lyla dug through her purse as she navigated the freeway and kept an eye out for cops. She glanced at her phone, which showed Blade’s name.
“Are you hurt?” Blade asked when she answered.
“No.”
“Good. Drive home.”
“Okay. Any word from Gavin?”
“No. I have men driving from the compound to you. I’m going back to help. Are you going to be okay?”
Her heart clenched. “You think he’s...?”
“Don’t borrow trouble. Get home, you hear me?”
“Yes,” she said and hung up.
“This has to do with your husband being a crime boss, doesn’t it?” Jonathan asked.
Lyla clenched her teeth and glanced at her ex who had no idea how close he came to death today. “Where are you staying?”
“Lyla, talk to me.”
“About what?” she demanded fiercely.
“About what’s happening.”
“It’s safer if you don’t know. You can’t tell anyone what you saw today. I have to drop you off somewhere safe. Where should I take you?”
“I’m staying at Pyre Casino.”
She wanted to strangle him. “You need to leave as soon as possible.”
“Why?”
“My husband will freak when he finds out you were at the event today. How could you be so foolish?”
“I heard that your husband’s foundation was putting it on and thought you might be here. I extended my stay, hoping we could talk.”
“Talk about what?” she shouted, pounding the wheel with her fist. “What you saw today, that’s my life now, Jonathan.”
“How can you say that and think I won’t ask more questions?”
“I can’t take you to the Strip,” she said to herself and took the next exit off the freeway.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Check out of your room by phone, don’t go back for anything. You might be on someone’s radar now...” She shook her head as she cruised down the highway, searching for a nondescript accommodation for him. Her phone rang and she snatched it to see Blade’s name on the screen again. “Yes?”
“Where the fuck are you going?” Blade barked. “I told you to go home. You’re veering off course.”
“I need to get him somewhere safe.”
There was a sharp silence. “You have him in the car with you? I was hoping he’d been shot so I wouldn’t have to do it.”
“Damn it, Blade. He doesn’t know!”
“Fuck, Lyla. You’re putting yourself at risk for him. I can’t let you do that.”
“I’ll check him into a hotel and leave, I promise.”
“I’m turning around.”
“No! Help Gavin!”
“You’re my first responsibility. Gavin would have my head if anything happened to you.”
“I’ll do this and go home.”
Blade hung up. She cursed and turned into a motel. She put the gun in her purse and looked at Jonathan. “Let’s go.”
Jonathan slid out of the backseat and walked beside her. “What’s going on?”
“They’re coming for me. You need to check in and lay low.”
“But—”
“I need a single room,” Lyla told the bored front desk clerk.
“How many nights?” the girl asked without looking up from her cell phone.
“One,” she said and glared Jonathan into silence.
Jonathan had to leave tomorrow. If Gavin didn’t come for him, the Santana’s gang members might. She had to impress upon him how fucking serious this was.
Lyla checked him in under a false name and paid with cash. She grabbed the key and rode the elevator up to the second floor.
“Lyla, I don’t understand what—”
“You don’t need to understand.�
�� Lyla located his room, unlocked the door and pushed him inside. She jabbed a finger in his face. “I’m not the girl you knew. You can never see me again, got it?”
Lyla turned away and wasn’t prepared when he gripped her arm and dragged her into the room. He slammed the door, which bounced open from the force he used. Lyla’s mouth dropped. Jonathan manhandling her was just as shocking as a gun battle in a hospital.
Jonathan braced his hands on her shoulders. “I spent the past three years wondering what happened to you. Now that I’ve found you again, you think I can walk away, knowing you’re in danger?”
She opened her mouth, but no sound emerged.
“It’s me,” he whispered.
She swallowed hard. “I know.”
The familiar scent of his cologne surrounded her. She gripped handfuls of his shirt as reaction set in. Another battle, another time pulling the trigger. Fuck. Her eyes filled with tears.
He clasped her face between shaking hands. “Talk to me, Lyla.”
“I have to go. You have to forget what you saw today. My husband will kill you if he finds out about this. Use your computer skills to disappear.”
“Did you leave me because of him?”
“Jonathan, don’t.”
“Did he do something to make you leave? I reported you missing. I was obsessed with the thought that you’d been kidnapped, but the cops couldn’t find anything. I’ve been going crazy and then I see you in the casino and... You think I can just move on with my life without knowing what happened? You knew I loved you. I would do anything for you.”
She stared into his tortured eyes and her heart twisted with regret. “I’m so sorry, Jonathan. I never meant to hurt you and... I’m not that woman anymore. You should forget we ever knew each other. It’s over.”
“Who are you?”
“I need to go.”
He didn’t release her. “Please, give me something.”
She stared at him and saw the confusion and frustration bubbling beneath the surface. She never should have gotten involved with him. She always knew there was a possibility Gavin would find her and she moved in with Jonathan anyway. He didn’t belong in her world. Her world was dark, dirty and perilous. He had a future and the possibility of a happily ever after.
