Page 141 of Inked in Devotion

I dove under the pile of clothes and reached for my gun.

Marena cackled and brought down the butt of hers and cracked it over my wrist. I lost my loose hold of it.

She kicked my rib cage, and I curled over to grit against the pain.

“Oh, was that an act?” she laughed softly.

She yanked at my hair to pull me up before she barred her arm against my neck.

You have six seconds to react before you lose consciousness.

She was dragging me to the full-length mirror. “I’m a trained assassin. You’re no match for me, but I’ll let you watch me put a bullet in your head.”

She laughed softly again.

But her movements allowed me to insert my fingers underneath her forearm, which was holding me hostage against her body.

I created enough space to slip out of her hold.

I heard her yell of outrage before the pounding of my heart muffled my ears.

I dove for my gun, spun, and fired.

No hesitation.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Marena crashed into the mirror, sending shards of glass spraying into a mesmerizing spectacle I had trouble looking away from.

That was when I felt the throbbing on my side, and I glanced down. My whole right side was a map of red.

Marena groaned and struggled to get up.

Shouting and pandemonium broke outside the room.

My eyes blurred, and I tried to power through the sudden lightheadedness. But my arm felt like lead, and I sank to the floor. I fought to raise my arm and shoot again. Marena was wearing body armor. My brain was screaming at me to get up, walk over, and shoot her in the head, but my limbs wouldn’t move.

Marena raised her gun.

I’m dead.

The door crashed open.

Marena’s head jerk as a bullet passed through it and splattered blood on the wall.

Chapter

Thirty-Two

Chloe

“Let it be known that this covenant binds the two before me.”

Margo Winthrop was wearing an emerald-green robe embellished with gold and red swirls. She reminded me of a high priestess.

The building boasted three basement floors, and we were on the bottom one.

The cavernous archive level of the Marriage Ink building housed centuries-old artifacts, including a podium carved from stone. Symbols and letters were chiseled all around its cylindrical shape. Fire burned from two bronze pillars. They illuminated the space, especially the yellow parchment on top of the stone slab.