The unmistakable sound of a chambered round snaps the air in half. We all whip around, guns drawn, but we’re half a second too late.
A muzzle flashes, and a bullet tears free, headed straight for Remi. Everything suddenly feels like it’s unfolding in slow motion. The crowd screams and scatters for cover. My own voice rips loose, and full of terror, right as a hail of gunfire explodes across the lot.
Maksim tackles me down behind a car, shielding my body with his as bullets ping off metal, ricocheting and shredding around us. But I claw at him…nails, fists, panic, because I have to get to Remi.
“Valentina—stop.” His arms lock around me like steel. “You can’t help her if you’re fucking dead.”
“There’s no time,” I choke out. “Cover me.”
“Fuck.”
He pops up, firing controlled bursts into the lot. And the moment he gives me that sliver of cover, I make a run for it.
My heart is pounding so hard it feels like my ribs might crack, but I don’t slow. Even as blood thrums in my ears,drowning out every shout and every gunshot still echoing around me. Because nothing exists except the spot where I finally see her.
Remi is crouched over Kuroda, Renji on his knees beside them, crying so hard he’s gasping for air.
“Remi.” My voice is thick with panic and relief. I drop next to her and touch her back. She’s trembling, hands slick and dark with blood as she sits in a growing pool of it beneath them.
“Remi,” I whisper again, terrified to hear the answer. “Baby…are you hit?”
She shakes her head once, the movement slow and jerky.
“H-he’s…dead.” The words barely make it out. “He saved me.”
Her voice splinters on the last word, and I feel her pain like it’s my own. I want to collapse with her, cry and rage with her, but I can’t, and I won’t. Because she’s alive.
She’salive.
And thank God it’s not her lying on that concrete.
“I’m going to kill him!” Renji suddenly snatches the gun from her hand.
“Renji—wait!”
But he’s already running. Remi tears after him, and I bolt after them both.
The lot is a warzone. Cars skidding, people shouting, and the rumble of engines as they all try to escape. Gunfire rings out again, but this time it’s Maksim giving us cover as we sprint.
By the time I reach them, Remi and Renji are standing over Boaz.
He’s slumped against the bumper of a car, pressing a hand to his neck as blood leaks between his fingers, soaking his shirt.
And still, even staring down death, the bastard is grinning.
“Do it, kid,” Boaz croaks, blood bubbling at the corner of his mouth. “Show me your balls finally dropped.”
Renji growls, arm shaking so hard the barrel wavers. When his breaths start coming in fast, broken gasps, for a second, I think he’ll pull the trigger.
He doesn’t.
His knees hit the pavement, and he breaks, sobbing, shoulders shaking, and the gun dangling uselessly from his fingers.
I lift my weapon...
“No.” Remi’s voice slices through.
She takes the Glock from Renji’s trembling hand. And when she turns to face Boaz, she’s somewhere else entirely. Past the grief and the rage, in a place that will change her forever.
