“I’ll sign for that,” Colton said.
The courier stopped. “How you been?” Her strained voice gave Brigit the chills. “Does my hair remind you of something?” She dropped the box, whipped off her hat, and with it, the long black wig, revealing a man with a buzz cut.
Fear pounded through Brigit. “Oh, God, no,” she choked out.
“Uncle Vinny has come to make good on his promise.” He swayed, then whipped off his sunglasses. “Remember me now? I’m your goddamn worst nightmare and I’ve got a motherfuckin’ score to settle.”
The reason she’d changed her identity and her looks, then moved hundreds of miles away to pick up the pieces of her shattered life and start over, stood a mere forty feet away.
“Who are you?” Colton pulled out his phone.
“No calls, rich boy,” Vinny Ray said. “This ain’t your business.”
“Like hell it isn’t,” Colton bit out. “You’re on my property.”
“Leave him out of this, Ray,” Brigit said. “This is between you and me.”
Ray pulled a small handgun from his jacket pocket and waved it around. “I’m calling the shots now, aren’t I, Eve?”
Cringing, she blurted, “Put the gun down. We can talk.”
“Talk?” Ray sneered. “Sure, I’ll start. You owe me five years, bitch.”
Her fingers tightened into balls of fury. “Go to hell. You killed my parents! Fuck your five years!”
Ray staggered forward. “Feel better you got that shit out? ‘Cause now it’s my turn.” He raised his gun and fired, twice.
Something whizzed by her ear, then pain ripped through her arm. Shrieking, she fell to her knees.
Three more shots rang out and Ray crumpled to the ground. Brigit whipped her head around to find Vonn poised on the cobblestone entryway, his gun jutting from his clasped hands. Worried staff peered through the living room windows while Mojo barked and growled from inside the house.
“There’s been a shooting on my property,” Colton said. “I need two ambulances.”
Chad rushed outside, slamming the door behind him. “How can I help?”
Colton shoved his phone into his hand. “Give the emergency operator our address.”
Taylor cracked open the front door. “Is Brigit okay?”
“Stay inside!” Colton knelt by Brigit. “Were you hit?”
“Yes.” Feeling lightheaded, she swayed forward.
Cradling her in his arms, he opened her coat and unbuttoned her suit jacket. “I don’t see a chest wound. Let’s check your arm.”
Vonn knelt beside Ray as the dark pool of blood expanded on the cobblestone walkway beneath him. With two fingers pressed to Ray’s neck, he shook his head.
“Paramedics and police are on their way,” Chad said, then squatted next to Colton.
“I’ve got her.” Colton tossed a nod in Vonn’s direction. “Make sure Vonn’s okay.”
As Chad bolted over, Colton flipped his focus back to Brigit. His eyes were coal black and a shadow fell across his face. A shudder ran through her. His jaw ticked and he looked away.
Even though she’d tried to tell him, more than once, Vinny Ray had done it for her. Brigit’s contrived life was unraveling. The burn in her arm was nothing compared to the frenetic pounding in her chest. Her secret past had collided with her convoluted present at the worst possible time. She needed Colton to look at her. “Can you help me sit up?”
“The bullet tore through your sleeve,” he said, refusing to make eye contact. “Let’s get this coat off, so I can see where it lodged.” Carefully he helped her remove her coat.
“Ow, ow, ow.” The arm of her charcoal suit was blood-soaked.Payback is painful.
