"Go ahead." His smile widens. "Take it. Let's see how good your aim really is."
My finger hovers over the trigger. Hale is sobbing, twisting in his grip. Too much movement. Too much risk.
"That's what I thought. You know, I have to admit I didn'texpect you to go this far. The disguise. The accent. Weeks of playing servant in my own home." He chuckles. "When I sent that lockbox to your office, I thought you'd come charging in like the lovesick fool you are. Storm the castle, get yourself killed, save me the trouble."
He sent the fucking lockbox.
"But this?" Calder gestures at me with mock appreciation. "This level of commitment? I'm almost impressed. All this effort for a woman who isn't worth the air she breathes."
He glances down at Keira. "You hear that, darling? He infiltrated my entire operation for you." Calder's voice drips with contempt. "Wasted months of his life. Risked everything. And for what? A used-up whore who couldn't even keep her legs closed long enough to give me a legitimate heir."
Keira shakes, trying so hard to break free.
"She's not worth it. She never was. But I suppose you had to learn that the hard way."
"She's worth everything." The words leave my mouth calm. "And you're about to find out exactly what I'm willing to do to keep her."
Not get her back.Keep her.She was never his to take.
"Bold words from a man who can't even pull the trigger." Calder's grip tightens on Hale. "Did you really think you could outplay me? In my own house?"
Yes, and I still will.
You just don't know it yet.
He shakes his head slowly. "I've been running this business since before you could hold a gun, boy. I've bought governments. Buried enemies in foundations. Made men disappear so completely their own mothers forgot they existed."
I'm going to make him disappear so slowly he'll be begging those mothers to trade places.
He turns toward the water.
Every synapse in my brain fires at once. The weight of the concrete block. The depth of the water. How long a five-year-oldcan hold his breath. How fast I can move. How many bullets I have left. How many people need to die in the next sixty seconds.
"No." Keira's voice tears from her throat. "No, please,please?—"
Calder looks at her over his shoulder, smiling. "Anyway, it's been fun, but it's time for you to say goodbye to your bastard."
He throws Hale into the river.
The splash is the loudest sound I've ever heard.
I'm moving before I realize I've made a decision, but Keira's faster, ripping free from the guard with a force I didn't know she still possessed. Elbow cracking against his face. Nails raking across his eyes, drawing blood. He releases her with a howl, and she's gone, bolting for the edge without a second's hesitation.
One moment she's on the platform.
The next she's swallowed by the same black water that just took our son.
The concrete block. The rope around his ankle.
He's going to sink and she can't?—
Calder turns to face me, still wearing that fucking smirk. "You're too late, Henri." He raises his gun. "Or should I say…Tristan?"
I shoot twice. One bullet in his leg and the other in his shoulder.
A third shot is fired. This one grazes my ribs, but I barely feel it. Shouts echo somewhere behind me. Voices in my earpiece saying things I can't process.
None of it matters.
