The boom of the gun echoed in the room, and the force hit Bryson in the chest. He felt the shot more than he heard it. The recoil sent daggers through his newly injured healed ribs, and he bit back a groan as his vision tunneled briefly.
Whatever semblance of life still in Jonathan vanished immediately. His head fell forward, and the weight of his body pulled against the restraints.
And just like that, the Balin line was wiped out, erased from the Earth.
Seth came running into the room before skidding to a stop. Bryson holstered the gun in the back of his waistband and turned to leave. Seth peeked around him, getting a full view of the carnage.
“Wow, our girl did that to find us?” Seth said. “Here, we thought we were coming to save her.”
A smile tugged at the corner of Bryson’s mouth despite everything. The woman he’d rushed to save had carved a man into pieces to find them. Had he really thought she needed rescuing?
Kaydon had Adria wrapped up in a bathrobe and was carrying her into the room. She lay limply in his arms, head turned and buried in his chest. Seeing her like that removed all humor from Bryson’s face.
Adria had literally given her soul to find them, and Bryson was going to spend the rest of his life giving his to her. Nothing he could do would make her sacrifice worth it, but it was a start.
“Girl, did you kill him yet, it’s been hours?”
The familiar voice jerked Bryson’s attention upward. Elena stood in the doorway, blood streaking her sleeve.
“What are you doing here?” The two of them demanded in perfect unison.
His sister’s scowl deepened. “I’m saving your ass, not that I’ll get any gratitude for it.”
Kaydon shifted Adria’s weight carefully in his arms as he moved toward Elena, eyes fixed on the crimson stain spreading across her jacket. Elena twisted away. “It’s all right. Just a graze. The other guy is upstairs, if you want to check him.”
Bryson’s thoughts struggled to align with this new reality. His sister. Here. Why?
Eric appeared behind Elena, his gaze immediately finding Adria’s motionless form in Kaydon’s protective embrace. “We need to get moving. I called ahead. There’s a safe house we can sit in for a little while. But this isn’t going to stay quiet for long.”
The words landed like stones in Bryson’s stomach. Treason. They had committed treason. The families would hunt them down. When word spread about Jonathan and his son, there would be sanctioned death warrants for all of them.
“Jonathan kidnapped Bryson. His son helped,” Kaydon said, coming to Bryson’s defense.
“Do you have proof?” Eric asked.
Kaydon opened his mouth but shut it. What proof did they really have? At this point, it was their word against the families’. And Adria, she came here, instead of a tribunal.
It didn’t look good.
They got halfway to the car before a wave of dizziness hit Bryson. He pressed his hand against the banister to stay upright.
“Hey, you, okay?” his sister asked.
“I’m fine,” he said. At least that was what he tried to say. Instead, something a little less loquacious slurred out and the entire room went dark.
CHAPTER 13
NEW YORK
“We can’t stay here. We have one, two maybe three days tops,” a disembodied voice said.
“No shit, Sherlock, don’t you family peeps have a recourse for something like this?” Elena’s voice pierced into the room.
Adria looked around. She was lying in a softly painted bedroom with the shades drawn. A rhythmic beeping filtered into the space.
“The families are going to have a hard time believing our side without proof,” Eric said.
“If El has a plane, maybe if we get a flight plan today, we can get enough of a head start. And we can figure this out,” Seth chimed in.
