“I’ll be right behind you, Sweetness,” he said gently. I swallowed and met his eyes.
“Promise?” I whispered.
“I swear it,” he assured me. There were voices coming closer, feet thumping down the hall. My heart thundered. He stepped ahead of me, pulled a pistol from his waistband, and fired two rounds through the door ahead of us. I had no idea if it was even locked, but it was a moot point because the door handle had been blown away, and the splintered wood swung free of the door frame.
“Go!” he shouted sharply. “Run!”
I flung myself down the corridor toward the gaping doorway. In the darkness beyond, I heard the rumble of an engine. Freedom lay ahead. We were going to get out!
A short staircase led down from the door. I leaped down it without bothering to run down the steps. My knees objected as I landed heavily, but I was up and running toward the car just a few feet away. I could hear Alec right behind me, and my heart gave a surge. Dark tinted windows hid the occupants of the car, but I knew they were on our side.
I reached for the door handle, fumbling to open it when a sharp crack tore the air and something whined past my head.
“Sasha!” Alec shouted out. “Get down!” I spun to face him, not sure whether to run back to the safety of the building or to try to get into the car. And then he was yanking me behind him. Another sharp crack left my ears ringing. He jerked up against me, and I heard him suck in a sharp breath. He dipped his head and looked down.
“Get…!” he said hoarsely. The door of the car was swinging open. But I wasn’t moving toward it. Alec was sinking to the ground. He’d been hit.
“No!” I screamed as I saw him clutch at his chest.
“Go…Sash…go…” His voice was strangled.
In the light of a nearby window, a figure loomed, hulking and ominous.Razortip!The image of his face was burned into my mind. A nightmare that would haunt me. And he was holding a pistol. I stared into the barrel of it and realized it was pointed straight at Alec’s head. The man I’d loved. The man who’d come to save me. The father of my child.
The man who’d fallen at my feet and was sagging onto his side.
Without thinking, I reached for his hand and extracted the revolver from his slackening grasp. Razortip’s expression unfurled into something malicious and evil.
“What are you planning to do with that, little girl?” he asked mockingly. His own gun was still aimed at my lover’s face.
I didn’t waste time with a reply. This wasn’t one of those film scenes when the girl wavers or loses focus. My finger tightened on the trigger, and I squeezed. It would be hard to miss at this distance – a fact I was relying on. The explosion jerked my wrist so sharply I dropped the gun. But in front of me, Razortip’s expression had morphed from malice to horror as he was thrown backward abruptly. There was a hole at the base of his throat; dark blood spurting. He slapped a hand over the gaping wound, but there was no hope for him now. Even if he could be saved, there was nobody here who would do it.
He made a choking sound as his legs gave way. Suddenly he was sitting on his ass and then toppling onto his back. The sounds he made should have filled me with horror, but I didn’t bother looking at him after that. Perhaps I should have felt remorse at what I’d just done, but I couldn’t give a fuck. I would have killed him twice if I’d had to do it again. And I had more important things to worry about.
I dropped to my knees beside Alec and stared into his face. He’d gone white as a sheet, his pale skin flecked with blood. His breath rattled as he wheezed to choke in air.
“Alec,” I cried. Why had he stepped in front of me when he’d given me his vest?
And then I stared down in horror at the mess of his chest and tried not to let panic overwhelm me. The position of the entry wound began to dawn on me…that bullet had been heading for my face. The vest wouldn’t have protected me.
“Oh God, Alec…” I was shaking so hard it took me a second to realize he was too. Shock. It had to be shock setting in. Footsteps thumped from the vehicle and I risked a quick look up. Andy was bearing down on us, followed by several others. A band of grim-faced men with guns. His team.
“Alec, I’m here,” I choked out. He was trying to push himself up. “Don’t try to move.”
Oh, my God. The blood…
“You’ll be okay,” I sobbed. “You’re going to be okay.”
Please be okay…
“I love you,” he bit out, blood tinting his lips as it bubbled up. I fought back tears.
“Please don’t leave me!” I couldn’t help myself. The words came out on their own.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said hoarsely, his voice barely audible. His fingers curled through mine. So weak. He was so weak. “Always and forever.”
I could hear each breath as he fought to inhale. I pressed a palm over the bloody hole in his chest, fighting back bile. “I love you,” I choked out, praying silently to myself. “Always and forever. I’ll be right by your side.”
And then there were men surrounding us, voices urgent as they tended to him, and I was swept away in the tide.
