Page 64 of Let Me Protect You

Tears fill Abigail’s eyes, and she nods. Elias points away from all of the commotion, and we head in that direction. I glance around our surroundings to make sure there’s no looming threats and find Patrick’s men closing in on a tall, feminine form.

Serenity.

I unwrap Elias’s arm from around my shoulders and say to Abigail, “Take him outside.”

I sprint in Serenity’s direction. Elias’s angry shouts follow me, but I ignore him. No fucking way will I leave and get to safety when my sister is about to get killed. I glance around for a weapon. Blood streaks across the floor as if someone was alive and tried to get away. Several guns lay on the ground around dead bodies, and I almost double over at the sight. I’ve only ever seen one dead body and that was at my mother’s funeral. But these men still have fresh blood seeping out of their wounds. One looks like he’s staring at me with his unseeing eyes open.

Shaking my head, I concentrate on finding a weapon I can use. I’ve never even held a gun before, so I snatch up something that looks like a metal pipe and sprint over to one of the men aiming a gun at Serenity. I take a big backswing and hit the man’s head. Adrenaline shoots through me. He falls over and lands on the ground with a thud. I charge over to the next man—the one who kidnapped me—but he levels his gun on Serenity.

“Drop the pipe, or we’ll blow this woman’s brains out.”

Chapter 33

Harmony

Istare at the gun pointed at my sister’s head. My knees grow weaker but I refuse to let them buckle. I glance at Serenity. Her bright green eyes aren’t scared. No, she’s pissed. She shakes her head once with her firm “mom glare,” but for the first time, I ignore it. It’s my turn to protect her. Bending over, I place the pipe on the ground beside me as commanded.

“Hands up,” he snarls at me through yellow teeth.

I comply. The last thing I want to do is piss off the man pointing a gun at my sister’s head.

“As long as you do as I say, this red head won’t end up with a bullet in her head. Now come here.” I hesitate for a moment, but when he presses the gun to my sister’s head, I lurch toward them. “Use this rope to tie her up,” he says to Serenity.

My sister moves to do as he says but stops when Victor steps forward suddenly. He has a big gun pointed at the man and Victor asks, “Who is in charge here?”

“I am,” a man says from behind us.

I crane my neck to get a peek at him and I vaguely recognize him. His eyes are devoid of any emotion. Gray peppers his dark brown hair. He has a fitted navy-blue suit with a matching tie. He struts over, a little more swagger in his gait than necessary for someone so old. Wait a minute. That’s the board member who glared at me at the wedding ceremony.

Shock enters Victor’s blue eyes, but he doesn’t lower his gun. “Mr. Smith? You’re the one behind this?”

Mr. Smith shrugs. “Sorry, old friend. I need you out of the way so I can become CEO. It wouldn’t have come to this if that bodyguard didn’t keep showing up. It would’ve been settled at the hotel.”

A chill shoots through me at his implication.

Victor shakes his head. “What guard?”

“The one your almost-bride is sleeping with,” Mr. Smith said, pointing at me.

Elias never mentioned seeing him before. Unless it was unknowingly.

“If you married her on that stupid reality TV show, your image would’ve been cleaned up. What’s better than a fairy tale ending for our reformed CEO? But now, you went so crazy when she left you that you came here and killed her. Then you took your own life because you couldn’t live without her.”

“You won’t get away with killing us,” I say, hoping to buy time so we can come up with some semblance of a plan. “The police will get here before you can escape.”

Mr. Smith’s laugh echoes throughout the entire warehouse, bouncing off the walls, and he ignores my words. A gun sounds nearby, and metal hits metal, mixing in with this lunatic’s words. I can only hope our allies are still alive and fighting.

His gaze is firmly on Victor as he says, “There’s no story since your bride refused to aid me. And if the media can’t find anything wrong with Mr. Perfect, I have to come up with my own tale for them to tell so I can take over, saving this company from your corruption and bringing it to new heights.”

“If your goal is me, why don’t you let the women go? They have nothing to do with this.”

Something behind Mr. Smith catches my eye. Elias is back, and if we weren’t all in danger, I’d scream at him to go get medical help. Instead, I can only watch as he and Sully make their way over as quietly as possible. John is to our left, fighting a man hand to hand, and he takes a punch to the jaw. Abigail is nowhere in sight. Hopefully, she made it to the car like Elias originally planned for us.

“No, you have to kill Harmony, so they stay,” Mr. Smith sneers.

If Victor sees Elias and Sully moving our way, he doesn’t show it. “There should be another solution that doesn’t involve me killing an innocent woman.”

A smile twists Mr. Smith’s face. “I’m sorry, but neither you nor Harmony will be getting out alive. And now that this bitch is here and interfering,” he points at Serenity, “she needs to die, too. I can’t have any witnesses.”