They're inside.
Marcus moves fast. Grabs my hand. His is warm, rugged, steady while mine shakes.
"Stay close to me," he says. "Stay quiet. And trust me."
Trust him. Trust this man I met four hours ago. Trust him with my life while a dozen armed men hunt me through a building and a motorcycle club rides to our rescue.
This is insane.
This is beyond insane.
But Marcus is looking at me with those dark eyes, solid and certain, and I realize something terrifying.
I do trust him.
God help me.
I do.
Chapter 5 - Reckless
I'm fucking ready to destroy everyone that comes through that door. The thought settles in my bones like truth. Like gravity. Like something I was built for.
Nora's hand is small in mine. Shaking. Her pulse is pounding so hard I can feel it through her skin. She's terrified and trying not to show it, and something about that, the way she's holding herself together with sheer will, makes the buzzing in my ear go completely silent.
Crystal clear focus.
This is what I'm good at. Not gentleness. Not cooking dinner or making small talk. Violence. Protection. Standing between danger and the people who can't fight it themselves.
"How many bullets do you have?" Nora whispers.
I look at her. "What?"
"You… You must have a gun. Right? For situations like this?"
"I don't own a gun."
Her eyes go wide. "You don't… How are you going to—"
"Don't need one." I pull her toward the bedroom. Away from the front door. Away from the first place they'll breach if they figure out which unit we're in. "I've got other options."
"Other options? Marcus, there are twelve of them!"
"Thirteen," I correct, because I counted. "Saw thirteen get out of the vehicles."
"That's worse! That's so much worse!"
Footsteps on the stairs. Getting closer. Voices filtering up, too muffled to make out words but the tone is clear. Military precision. These aren't street thugs. They're trained.
Good.
Makes it more interesting.
I position Nora against the far wall of the bedroom. Away from the door, away from the window. The safest corner in a situation with no safe options.
"Stay here." I keep my voice low. "Don't move unless I tell you to."
"What are you going to do?"
