More shots fired all around, and Sabrina dropped down, seeking cover. Curling into a ball behind the seat, she braced herself as they weaved back and forth. The helicopter roared past overhead, sounding like it was mere inches away. She popped up just in time to see it circle back around, drop precariously low, and then fly straight toward them again.
And then everything seemed to happen all at once.
Once again, Ferrante leaned out the window, and the helicopter took a death-defying dive. Both men fired. Ferrante yelped and slid back inside. At the same time, Jayson fell from the skid. Her heart dropped.
No!
A second later, a rope went taut and stopped his fall and her heart attack. As Jayson dangled beneath the helicopter, Ferrante cursed and dropped the machine gun on the console. He’d been hit and she wanted to cheer, but worry for Jayson battered through her. She couldn’t let the mobster start firing again. Not with Jayson hanging there, helpless and most likely injured.
Sabrina knew it was now or never.
Throwing herself over the seat, she made a wild grab for the gun. Her fingers wrapped around it, but Bling and Ferrante attempted to snatch it away from her. In their scuffle,the weapon discharged. Bullets struck Bling and he slumped sideways. His foot pushed down on the accelerator and the car spun out of control.
Shit!
Sabrina made a grab for the wheel, but the SUV lost traction and tilted. Knowing she couldn’t stop it, she scrambled backward and somehow managed to buckle up again before it rolled. Sabrina screamed as the car flipped, her entire world going upside down. With a crunch, the windows cracked and blew out. She covered her face, trying to protect it from flying splinters of glass. Time sped back up again. For a terrified moment, she bounced around like a kernel in an air popper, not sure if she was right side up or upside down.
Just as abruptly as it started, the spinning stopped. With a groan, she opened her eyes, fighting through the dizziness, and realized she was hanging upside down. The lap belt cut into her lower stomach and she pawed at the buckle, trying to click it open, but without success. The damn thing was freaking stuck like somebody had glued it together.
In front, she saw Bling hanging halfway out the windshield. Blood poured from him, and he wasn’t moving. It almost looked like he’d been impaled on the broken glass shards.
A shiver racked through her body. Bling was most certainly dead…but where was Rocco Ferrante?
With a frustrated cry, she fought to open the jammed seatbelt.
“Knight!”
Yelling. Loud and edged with fear. Someone kept calling his name. Hollering at him. Jayson opened his eyes to see the blue sky above him. Blinking against the brightness, he groaned. His entire body ached. What the hell?
Everything came back in a rush. Trying to rescue Sabrina. Chasing Ferrante down in the helo. Getting shot. The car flipping and the helo crashing. Falling and hitting the ground so much harder than he would’ve liked.
He struggled to sit up, rubbing the back of his head. Checked out his fingertips—a lump and a little bit of blood.
“Jay!” Brand’s voice boomed through his comms.
“I’m alive,” he rasped.Barely.
Jayson pushed onto his hands and knees. Felt the gun still clutched in his hand like a damn lifeline. In the distance, he saw the crashed helo and his friends climbing out of it.
“Thank fuck!” Chaz shouted.
As the fuzziness lifted, he saw the upside-down SUV.Sabrina.He had to make sure she was oka—
Not far away, he spotted Ferrante crawling toward the vehicle, dragging the machine gun with him. He must’ve been thrown out of the open window when it flipped.
Clambering up, ignoring the bolt of pain that sliced through his calf like a sizzle of lightning, Jayson limped toward the car.
Everything shifted into focus at once. Sabrina suspended upside down, struggling to free herself. Ferrante lifting the machine gun and aiming it in her direction. Jayson being too far away to reach her and get her out before that motherfucker opened fire.
He couldn’t let the mobster take away the one thing that had come to mean everything to him. Emma might be his universe, but Sabrina was quickly becoming his world.
Jayson halted, lifted his Glock 19 and carefully aimed. He had one chance to take out Ferrante before he opened fire on Sabrina. As the mob kingpin’s finger curled around the trigger, Jayson released a low breath…and fired.
Chapter twenty
Cursing, Sabrina pushed the button again, but the damn thing refused to open. Huffing out a frustrated breath, she shoved her hair out of her face and decided to call out for help.
Until she saw Rocco Ferrante crawling toward the SUV. Face bloody, eyes oozing hate and locked on her like a bogey from hell.
