The searing pain barely registers as I twist, returning fire. So does Broadway and so does Apollo... too many bullets for one man to dodge. Terrence falls, sharing the same fate Blaze’s other bodyguard did upstairs, his face like Swiss cheese.
“Stay down!” I tell Hailey.
She complies, pooling at my feet, sheltered by a sprawling mid-century couch.
“More incoming!” Broadway warns, reloading his gun while slumped behind a huge bronze statue.
“Yeah, us,” Ryder says. “Get away from the window.”
The Range Rover’s engine roars outside as the black car speeds past, kicking up the pristine lawn. Koby slams the brakes, throws the car in reverse and slams through the glass.
He always knew how to make an entrance.
“Carter’s going to steal the fucking target!” Apollo’s goon yells from where he’s bleeding out by the wall—too fucking slowly for my liking.
Bullets ping off the Range Rover’s armored exterior, Noretto’s goons flooding the room while Koby reverses toward the back of the room where I wait with Hailey.
“Get in!” he yells, throwing himself into the back to push the door open.
Hailey bolts upright before I can fucking blink.
The safety the car offers makes her momentarily forget she’s supposed to follow my lead. She stands tall, bracing to dash forward. It’s the only mistake she’s made.
We both pay instantly when her scream pierces my eardrums as a bullet tears into her upper arm.
It feels like it hitmeright in the chest.
I bet it was destined for me on Rhett’s orders—kill him if he tries taking her—but Hailey shot up, straight into the line of fire.
My stomach heads for my knees like a thirty-floor elevator with a snapped fucking cable. Time slows to a crawl as I yank her back, my gun pointed at Apollo’s goon, pure unadulterated wrath scorching my veins.
But before I pull the trigger, another shot rings out.
Not Koby’s. Not Ryder’s. Not even Broadway’s.
Apollo kills his man, eyes on me, barrel still smoking. He holds my gaze for a beat, speaking without words, then juts his head at the Range Rover, urging me to get the fuck out of here.
That’s insubordination.
Rhett’s orders were clear.“You’re in charge, Apollo. Bring Hailey to Cleveland.”
I don’t understand why he’s disobeying my father and helping me along, but I’m not about to question him. Apollo’s smart. Smarter than any of Rhett’s men. Maybe smarter than Rhett himself.
Whatever his train of thought is, it works in my favor.
A spray of gunfire has me shoving Hailey inside the car and pressing her into the plush back seat with all my body weight. “Don’t move! Koby, window!”
He rolls it down, stomping on the gas. The car lurches toward the other side of the room.
“Broadway! Get in!” I rain hellfire on anyone aiming at him as he dashes to the back door.
The vile taste of guilt covers my tongue at the thought of leaving Apollo behind, but it melts away when his getaway car pulls up.
The short escape window Apollo provided just closed.
14
CARTER
