Page 243 of Vicious Temptation

The electronic timer beeps, and our four guns come up in near-perfect unison. Brass flies as round after round tears into the targets and scatters across the concrete floor.

“Is this really even a competition anymore?” I tease after bringing my target in and admiring my grouping.

The guys don’t get a chance to fire back before the front door alarm sounds.

My smile vanishes. We’re closed, so no one should be here.

The four of us remove our EarPros and safety glasses, reload our pistols, and head for the lobby.

“I thought the front door was locked,” I say.

“It was.” Gio checks his pistol as we enter the hallway. “I locked it myself.”

Weird.

Guns held low but ready, we continue toward the main entrance. The boys instinctively move ahead, putting themselves between me and whoever’s waiting around the corner. I don’t argue because I know it has nothing to do with whether they think I can protect myself. They’ve been doing it since we were kids, just like I would throw myself in front of any one of them without thinking twice.

We round the corner, and two uniformed officers come into view.

I recognize one of them immediately as Thiago’s colleague, the same asshole who tried hitting on me at the gym. My eyes drop to the name on his uniform.

Grey.

The other officer is shorter and broad-shouldered, with a buzz cut and a face I’ve never seen before. Both men have their weapons drawn.

We stop several feet apart. Something about this already feels wrong.

As much as I care about Thiago, loving one cop hasn’t suddenly made me trust every person wearing a badge. These two somehow got through a door that Gio locked, and now they’re standing inside my closed business with guns pointed at my family.

“Put your weapons down,” Grey orders.

I keep mine lowered. “You first.”

His attention fixes on me.

“You came into my business after hours.” I continue. “Tell me why you’re here, and we can figure this out without anyone doing something stupid.”

Grey’s jaw flexes. “We got a call about gunshots. We came to investigate.”

I’m too confused to respond, and I glance toward the hallway leading to the range, trying to make sense of what he just said. These walls were built to contain gunfire. We can barely hear the range from the lobby when the doors are closed, much less from outside the building.

Whatever brought these men into Sloane’s, it wasn’t a call about someone hearing gunshots.

Matteo snorts. “Take a look around. Where the fuck do you think you are?”

“Yeah, that’s bullshit,” Gio says as he moves in front of me. “These walls are soundproof. Nobody heard a damn thing.”

I immediately sidestep him. I’d die before I let my baby brother take a bullet meant for me.

“Whatever call you got has nothing to do with us.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.” Grey looks between the four of us. “IDs.”

“Fuck you,” Madden growls. “You don’t get to ID us just because you feel like it.”

Grey turns his attention to him. “Are you even old enough to be in here with a weapon?”

Madden doesn’t flinch.