Dropping my elbow into his back, I knocked him over. Lainey was already halfway up the stairs, and I raced after her.
“You’re going to wish you hadn’t done that!” Tuck managed to gasp out.
Daring a glance back, I found Tuck already getting to his feet. I thought I’d nailed him square in his balls, but maybe I missed if he recovered so quickly. I had bigger problems when he reached for the gun, lifted it in front of him, and fired.
The bullet passed close enough that its heat singed my cheek.
“Run!” I screamed at Lainey.
Lainey disappeared from sight as Tuck reached the top of the stairs behind me. Another shot rang out, the bullet punching a hole in the wood paneling to my left. Covering myself as best as I could, I reached the end of the hall and made a right turn, running like my life depended on it for the front door. Tuck was moving faster now, and he fired again as I burst outside.
“Reagan!”
Finn.
Hehadcome—and brought the cavalry with him.
Thank the goddesses.
“I’m okay!” I shouted, sparing him only a glance but not stopping until I followed Lainey beyond the barricade of deputies straight ahead. “He’s got a gun!”
“Get clear! We’ve got this!”
He wouldn’t receive any argument from me. Lainey and I kept running past the wall of deputies, who, guns raised, shuffled backward down the dirt two-track serving as the driveway for the farmhouse.
“Get to the ambulance,” one of them said to us over his shoulder. Johns, I thought his name was. I’d seen him around.
Lainey and I nodded. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, making me a bit light-headed. I threaded my arm through Lainey’s and started up the drive, willing myself not to turn around, unwilling to see what happened next.
I’d have enough nightmares of that fucking basement to deal with.
A brunette woman raced toward us, and it took me a second to recognize her as Sutton.
“Are y’all okay?” she asked, her nitrile-gloved hands going to Lainey first, gently cupping her chin and tilting her head this way and that.
“Fine,” I assured her.
Physically, anyway. Lainey would likely need years of therapy to unpack everything she’d endured down there, and I was sure I could benefit from several sessions myself.
Sutton, however, didn’t respond. Her hand dropped from Lainey’s face, attention fixing on something behind us, eyes wide, face blanching.
I turned and followed her gaze.
Tuck stood at the top of the porch steps, waving his pistol around like a toy. Blood dripped down his face. The line of deputies remained between us and him, and off to the left stood five of the Lawless brothers, Addie staggered behind Lane.
All nine men had guns trained on Tuck. He had no way out.
Lane broke free from his brothers, taking tentative steps toward the porch, keeping his gun trained on Tuck. From this distance, I could see his lips moving but couldn’t hear what he was saying. Likely trying to talk Tuck down, convince him to come peaceably.
What happened next transpired so quickly that, looking back, my memory could only conjure a blur of motion and explosion of gunshots.
But one thing stood out, one thing I’d never forget as long as I lived.
The soul-shattering scream of a woman calling out for a man.
“Lane!”
forty-five
