Dying for them is probably the whole reason I exist.
Sawyer reaches for his gun and I grab my wife, my world, my Gibson, and I pull her to my chest. I turn us just as the first bullet hits my side—and she cries out. Not for her, for me.
Another bullet buries itself into me and we hit the ground, my chair toppling over, Ella beneath me as I hold myself over her. The pain is hot, my blood is, too, and she stares up at me in terror as she realizes what I’ve done.
She shakes her head. “No.”
A sassy remark would be good right about now, but I’m in a lot of pain, so I kiss her for the millionth time, my forehead pressed to hers.
“I—”
She covers my mouth. “Don’t you dare fucking say you love me, you ass. You’re not dying.”
Approaching footsteps draw my attention from Ella, and Sawyer raises the gun. Guy shouts, but men advance on him and Monty. Silence is quiet, spiraling in her grief, and I stare into the barrel of a gun.
"Daddy?”
I lift my head, my eyes widening and panic electrifying my blood. Asha is standing by the back door in her pink nightgown, hair disheveled, finger in her mouth. Her wide blue eyes are shining, her lip trembling.
No. She can’t see this. She can’t?—
“Grab her,” Sawyer barks at one of his men, and I wrestle between total horror and consuming rage as I watch a total stranger pick up my now sobbing daughter. He’s skinny, his suit hanging off him, hollow cheeks with a spotty beard and clammy forehead. “Kill her.”
Ella screams and I try to stand, but blood pours from wounds I took to protect my family.
The ground tips as I force myself to my feet, ignoring Sawyer’s warnings to stay where I am. I’ll take another bullet for her. I’ll take a thousand.
He’s not hurting my baby.
I won’t let him.
The patio meets my knees and the world blurs.
“Daddy,” Asha sobs.
Guy is yelling. Monty is, too. Ella is screaming, it sounds like she’s struggling.
Held back, maybe.
But I’m not.
So, why can’t I move?
“Are you listening? Kill her!” Sawyer screams.
“No.”
The word pulls me out of the tingling spiral that threatens to knock me out, and the wiry man with my daughter shakes his head.
Ella’s screams taper away, but she’s still sobbing.
The man keeps hold of Asha, but he doesn’t harm her. “I don’t kill kids. We don’t kill kids.” He glances at the othermen, and some of them lower their weapons. Ella rushes by me, clearly set free from whoever held her back, and pulls Asha from the man’s arms. “Go get your other little one.” He says quietly, and she darts into the house.
“No, I want daddy!” Asha screams, and it’s the last thing I hear before darkness takes me.
Chapter 24
Lina
