“You better stop that nonsense. Or you might wake up the queen.” I rolled my eyes. Mac’s cousin, Gigi, was upstairs sleeping. “Come on.” I backed up some. “Let’s go wait in the—”
Susan called Cash down to her, and as he leaned in closer, she came out with a knife from the pocket of her cardigan and stabbed him in the neck with it.
The roar that echoed in the night was not from Cash, but from me. He stumbled back, and when he did, another shadow grew solid and turned into a man who stabbed him in the back. More shadows started to harden into men, all with glinting knives ready to butcher my husband.
Harrison was already screaming for my brothers to move, but I was already to the closet, pulling out my bow and arrows.
Lachlan held out an arm to stop me before I made it outside. “Kee,” he said, his eyes serious. “If Kelly isn’t who you—”
“Move your fucking hand or I’ll break it,” I hissed. I took an arrow, licked it down the center, and loosed the first one before I was out of the door.
It went straight through Susan’s neck, blood squirting in all directions, her hand going to grab for it before she fell to her knees. The stunned look on her face was the last thing I saw before I sent another arrow through a man’s back. His body arched forward before he fell to the ground. The arrow had gone straight through to his heart.
Cash stumbled, going for something in his pocket, but there were too many of them. It was like they were stabbing at a wild animal, herding him into a corner so they could skin him.
“Not today, motherfuckers, not as long as I’m alive,” I said, releasing arrows as fast I could. It took a few minutes for the men still standing to realize where the arrows and bullets—between my brothers and me—were coming from. When they did, they stopped stabbing my husband and came after us.
I didn’t even realize that my brothers had guns, and bright sparks along with deafening booms were going off in the night. There were still plenty of them, and I was shooting arrows as fast as I could, all the while making my way toward Cash, who had fallen. He was on the ground, and before anyone else could get to him, I stood in front, my bow raised, an arrow ready, daring another man to come near my husband.
A few tried, but they fell next to the other men who’d come to kill the marauder of Hell’s Kitchen.
Something touched my leg and I turned, my bow pointed down, my arrow at the ready.
“You said you’d take my heart with an arrow someday, my darlin’,” Cash said. “Do it now.” He coughed and blood dripped out of his mouth.
My chest heaved and I couldn’t move.
“Kee,” Harrison said, touching my arm. “Keely!”
All of a sudden, it was like Harrison was screaming inside of my skull and it sent an automatic command to my hands. I dropped the bow and arrow, my knees giving out, right beside my husband on the bloodstained ground. My hands fisted in his torn and soaked shirt, and I set my ear against his heart, listening.
“Look at me,” he said, barely able to talk. I sat up some, looking him in the eyes. He lifted his hand, going to touch my face, but stopped. “Too narrow,” he breathed out.
Then he shut his eyes and the breath left my lungs on a cry.
33
Keely
No!Bullshit!I sucked up my tears, keeping my husband’s shirt locked in my grip. I looked down at him. “No one—no fucking one—is allowed to kill you, Cash Kelly, butme!Do you hear me?”
I looked up at my brothers, who were all huddled around my husband and me, ready to act if someone else came out of nowhere. “Harrison,” I said, “put pressure on his neck. Now!” I looked at Lachlan. “See if any of the other spots are as bad. Hold pressure. You, too, Declan.” They all nodded and started to move around me. “Owen.”
My brother stood there, staring at Cash. “Owen!” I screamed. He blinked before he looked at me. “Give me your phone!”
“Kee, he’s—”
“You don’t get to tell me what he is! Give me your phone! Now!” I held out my hand, and he set his phone in my palm. “Keep an eye out,” I told him while I dialed the number. Mari picked up on the second ring.
“Kee? What’s—”
“Mac,” I said, my voice breaking a little at the sound of her voice. “Put him on the phone!”
I heard the phone move and then Mac said, “My wife’s friend.”
“Your uncle,” I said, and another cry left my mouth before I could stop it. I put a hand over my lips to cover it, but all I could smell was blood. I could taste it. “I need him. Here. My husband is dying!”
Mac’s uncle was Tito Sala. I’d heard things about him. How he took care of the Fausti family personally. He was a damn good doctor, and if he couldn’t save your physical body, no one else could. I’d met him once, seen him around a few times, and even though we didn’t speak much, something about him made me think the rumors were true.
