There was a long enough pause from Dean for me to hastily fish my phone out. Kira tugged on my other hand in warning, but I opened the recent text to Dean anyway. My hands shook as I typed out a text for help as fast as I could.
Dean uttered a simple, “Alright...”
“Alright,” Aiden sighed, tapping the door frame with his hand as he faked another smile. “Good luck finding her.”
“Hurry,” Kira whispered under her breath.
Aiden closed the front door and was in the process of deadlocking it as I finished the text, typing out a warning about the gun when Kira gripped my wrist.
I was too late.
Aiden spotted the phone and barged back into the room, directly for me. In a blur of motion, he snatched the phone from my hands and flung it at the wall, smashing it into a million pieces.
“Why do you have to make everything so fucking difficult?” Aiden hissed, grabbing my hair next.
I kicked and shouted but his fingers tightened, and he tugged me forward, forcing me to my knees as pain surged across my scalp. I could feel every pop of hair being ripped from my head.
“Aiden, don’t!” Kira cried. When she tried to step in, he struck her across the face again and she fell.
“Shut the fuck up,” he growled, tightening his other hand around my throat, cutting off any sound I could make as I gasped for air.
I choked and clawed at his arm while struggling to get to my feet. He held me down, forcing me to look up at him as he choked the air from my lungs. Spots filled my vision as unconsciousness loomed closer. Only for it to recede at the sound of a solid thud.
Aiden’s hand loosened and I dropped to my hands, gasping, and gulping down air as I rubbed at my throat.
He stumbled back several steps, holding a hand to the back of his head before he turned around. Kira stood behind him, clutching a table lamp in her hand. Her bottom lip was trembling, but she stood her ground.
“Stop. P-please, stop,” she begged.
Aiden dropped his hand, revealing blood on his palm, before he gritted his teeth. He retrieved the gun from the back of his pants, pulled back the hammer, and pressed the barrel against my temple. His fingers raked through my hair, smearing blood through the strands, as he yanked my head back.
I breathed in sharply through my nose.
"If we don’t leave soon, I’ll put a bullet in her skull." Aiden continued his glare at Kira as she stood there shaking. She dropped the lamp and covered her mouth. “You understand?”
When Kira shook her head quickly, his grip tightened on my hair.
Breathe.
My pulse thrummed heavily in my ears. Strangely, it helped keep me calm. “Aiden. Just think for a second.”
“Shut up,” he hissed, eyes never leaving Kira as he dug the gun deeper into my skin. “Your choice, babe.”
Large tears rolled down Kira’s cheeks, over her fingers as her face crumpled in anguish. She was muttering her words, unable to speak over the whimper in her voice as she sobbed through a plea, begging for him to just let me go.
“Have it your way,” Aiden growled, angling the gun.
I closed my eyes, blocking out everything until I realized, I never heard the Cadillac engine start.
A loud crack cut through the air, followed by a thud that reverberated through the floor beneath me. Kira screamed and dropped to her knees while Aiden whirled on the front door. Which was wide open with the doorknob embedded in the wall behind it. The wall itself was a mess of cracked drywall.
Aiden released my hair and Kira crawled to my side. I quickly pulled my arms around her, holding her as close as I could while my gaze went to the source of the boot-clad footsteps entering the house.
Dean’s hair was unkempt, and there was stubble on his set jawline, but that couldn’t mask the all-too-familiar icy glare in his eyes. Without a pause in his stride, those eyes honed in on Aiden and darkened to something predatory.
He tipped his head, a subtle smile gracing his lips as his nostrils flared. “Big fuckin’ mistake.”
Aiden lifted the gun to Dean’s face but he was faster. He took hold of Aiden’s wrist and lifted it up while simultaneously ducking to slam his other fist into his ribs. Winded, Aiden refused to give up his hold on the gun and pulled the trigger. In the confined space of the room, the gunshot was like someone cracked a whip right beside my ear.
