Without thinking I grab the gun from the floor and pull the trigger. I hit my mark. Glass crashes and people scream, and we fight in a bloody battle to the death.
I tell my men to hold them back, to keep them away, and they respond perfectly, trained as they’ve been to fight.
Sirens ring, and lights flash, but I don’t fucking care. She’s slipping away, right in front of me.
Slipping away.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Bryn
“I love you.”
His voice is far off in the distance, but it’s Mac, I know it is. I try to open my mouth, but I can’t speak. My lips are too heavy, my mind a haze of confusion.
What happened? Where am I?
The most I can do is lift my hand, and I immediately feel Mac’s hand on mine.
“Bryn, love. Can you hear me?”
With effort, I nod my head.
“Thank God,” he says, his voice choked. He sounds as if he’s about to cry, and it breaks my heart. “Thank God.”
I need to see where I am. I need to talk to him. I open my eyes and am immediately surrounded by bright white light. Mac’ssitting beside me, leaning over the bed, still wearing the suit from the wedding.
It’s then that I realize my head ispounding.The pain is nearly unbearable, and I almost close my eyes against it, but I have to keep them open,
“Where am I?” I ask, with effort.
“We’re back in my hotel room, lass,” he whispers. “We’ve got a suite. I’ve connections here, and thankfully they cleaned up the mess in the bar, the doctor’s seen to you, and we’re safe.”
“What happened?” I whisper.
He gives me a stern look, that look I’ve come to crave, his voice hard when he asks, “That’s the question I need to fuckin’ askyou.”
I put my hand weakly to my head and my eyes flutter closed. “My father?—”
“Will be summarily dealt with,” Mac says, his lips thinned. “Leith has been informed about what’s happened, what he put you up to. And my mother told him everything.”
I sigh, and he holds me closer. “How could you tell my sisters, but you couldn’t tell me?”
There’s a deep well of hurt in his eyes. “Because he would’ve hurt you,” I whisper. “And I love you. I only told them so they could help me rescue you.”
He glares at me. “You thought killing yourself would save me? Honest to fucking God if you weren’t hurt, and in this bed?—”
“Relax,” I say, shaking my head. “I didn’t take the damn poison. I took a sedative. I don’t know why my head hurts so badly…”
He frowns. “You whacked it on the bar when you fell.”
“Oooh.”
He shakes his head. “Bloody hell, woman. You took a sedative.”
I nod. “Plan was to let my father think that I took the poison instead. It’s why I asked you to take a picture and send it to him.”
“Oh, I sent him more than a picture,” Mac growls.
