A floorboard creaks in the hallway, and Gabriel shifts to the balls of his feet, ready to spring. I count breaths to steady my aim.
“Gabe?” a calm voice cuts through the silence. “You alive in there?”
Gabriel’s head snaps up with relief. “Damien.”
Recognizing one of Gabriel’s many cousins, my shoulders sag, and I put the safety back on the gun before I lower it to the floor.
“We’re coming in,” Damien announces. “Don’t shoot.”
Gabriel steps back from the doorway, shotgun now hanging at his side. “You’re clear.”
The door swings inward, and a tall Alpha with red-brown hair and a runner’s build fills the doorway. Damien, twin to the assassin whose townhouse just became a crime scene.
He takes in the blood, the body, and our defensive positions in one sweep. “Looks like we didn’t need to rush over. You kids had things handled just fine.”
“Fuck you.” Gabriel wipes the blood away from his eyes. “You could have gotten here sooner.”
“And you could not have tampered with the house security, so you could hide out here.” He strides over and pushes Gabriel’s hair back, none-too-gently. “You’ll live for now.”
Gabriel shoves his hand away. “Asshole.”
“Who killed the guy out here?” a familiar voice calls, and Jade appears in the doorway.
He takes in the carnage in the office and whistles. “Fuck, you two throw one hell of a party.” He scans me from head to toe. “You look like shit.”
Aaiden Rockford appears behind him, his features carved from granite as he surveys what remains of his brother’s attacker. “Secure?”
“Winters is the one dead in the living room.” He sounds calm despite the visible trembling that’s spread from his hands up his arms. “This one is Darrow, a known associate of Tony Rosi. I couldn’t take him alive.”
“How did you know to come?” I manage, throat rough from screaming earlier.
Damien crouches to check Darrow’s pulse, a formality given the man’s slashed throat. “Sebastian saw you arrive on the door camera, and the guy who jumped you from behind. Called us when you two were taken down.”
Aaiden folds his arms over his chest as he stares at his little brother. “This wouldn’t have happened if you’d just come home.”
“Skyhaven was too far away from—” He cuts off, but when his eyes dart toward me, he gives himself away.
He clears his throat. “But there’s no time for that. Darrow said Tony and his men were on their way here.”
Damien shakes his head. “Tony’s already turned tail and ran.”
“What?” I demand. “How can you be so sure?”
Aaiden pulls out his phone to check a message. “Once he realized the family was responding en masse, he pulled his people back. Smart move, considering what’s left of his operation after this afternoon.”
“He’s a fucking coward,” Jade adds, peering through the blinds. “Always was. That’s why he hired scum like Darrow to do his dirty work.”
“What happened this afternoon?” I ask, still holding the knife.
Jade grins, feral with satisfaction. “We found his main distribution hub. Turns out our friend Darrow here was sloppy with his digital footprint.”
Damien rises from his crouch. “Sebastian tracked the money. After the encounter at Foundation, we had enough to find Darrow’s accounts, which led us straight to Tony’s main operation.”
“The police raid begins in forty minutes,” Aaiden adds. “Tony will be more concerned with saving his own skin than continuing his revenge plan on our family.”
The news should bring relief, but my brain refuses to accept that the danger has passed, that we survived. That Winters will never touch me again.
Gabriel, on the other hand, collapses like a marionette whose strings were cut, sitting with his backagainst the wall, the shotgun clattering to the floor from nerveless fingers. Blood still streaks his arms and face, the red vivid on skin gone pale with exhaustion.
