Page 60 of Royal Salvation

Chaos filled the room as Hurricane rushed through the front door. The scent of blood and the sound of gurgling came at her as if through a tunnel.

“Lucía, angel, look at me.”

She turned her head in a daze following the sound of Justice’s voice as he laid a hand on her cheek guiding her to look at him. His face was tender yet focused and she blinked to try and get her bearings, the horror of the last few hours suddenly hitting her, and it wasn’t over.

“I need you to stay still for me while I disarm this bomb, okay? Can you do that for me?”

Lucía looked around and saw Bishop kneeling beside her and Hurricane hovering over Chess, stemming the bleeding from his neck wound.

“Okay.”

“Good girl.”

She saw him give Bishop a look of worry and knew it was because of her. She was falling apart at the worst possible time, and she needed to get it together and help these men or they could all die and she couldn’t allow that to happen.

“Reaper, I’m going to take the switch from Chess so Hurricane can get him out of here and into the ambulance.”

“You sure you want to do that?” The warning in Reaper’s voice as he asked Bishop the question amplified how dire the situation was.

“Don’t be a dick. Of course I’m sure. I’m not leaving you or Lucía, so you just get to diffusing this bomb, ’cos I’ve got my ex-wife blowing up my phone and if I don’t answer, she gets all snippy.”

Reaper nodded and got to work once Bishop secured the switch in his own fist. She’d known when Chess had begun to assemble the wires around the chair that this was how he was going to confuse people about her fake death. Her belly was in knots as she tried not to panic, but the reality was they could all die now, and she didn’t want that.

“You should go. I don’t want anyone dying for me.”

Reaper cocked a brow at her. “I’m wounded that you don’t have faith in me, angel.”

His wink made her heart skid to halt before it galloped away in her chest. “I trust you, Justice. I just can’t bear the thought of anything happening to you or Bishop.”

“Nothing is going to happen to any of us.” Reaper gave his friend another look, and an unspoken communication seemed to take place.

“Lucía, did I ever tell you about my she-devil ex-wife?”

Despite the situation, the description of his ex-wife made her smile. “No, what was she like?”

Bishop shook his head before he, too, smiled. “Fucking annoying as hell. She had the coldest feet you’ve ever heard of. It was a miracle those lumps of ice didn’t fall off. She was also stubborn as hell, and boy, when she went off, you didn’t want to be in the same postcode. She had a temper worse than a rattlesnake and the skills to use it.”

“She sounds terrifying.”

“She is, but she’s the best operative I’ve ever worked with. She had an intuition about things that was almost spooky. She used to know exactly when I needed her when we worked together, said she could feel it.”

It was clear as day to Lucía that Bishop was still head over heels for his ex-wife. “You still love her.”

“Hell no. She tried to kill me.”

“She must have had her reasons. I don’t believe two people with that kind of connection would simply betray each other.”

“Neither did I but she shot me and left me for dead. The next thing I heard was divorce papers landing on my doorstep.” Bishop had a reflective look on his face, and she could see the pain her betrayal had caused him.

“Yet you still have contact with her?”

“A necessary evil. As I said, she’s a good operator and from an intel perspective, she’s the best. So I keep in touch for that reason.”

“Did she ever tell you why she shot you and left?”

Bishop shook his head. “Nah, and I never asked.”

“Really, Noah, you still bitching about that?”