Page 102 of Ricochet

Tears filled her eyes, and I had to look away. Couldn’t stand to see the hurt, the betrayal staring back at me. “And if … something happens to you? What then?”

“All my promises seem to come down to killing this man. So I’ll make this promise to you, too, Aubree.” Twisting away from her, I packed the rest of my guns. “Tonight, I promise to set you free.”

A click snapped my attention back.

Aubree had moved to the end of my bed and stood, pointing a barrel at me. “I swear to fucking God, Ryder, I will shoot you where you …” She double blinked. Frowning, she rubbed the back of her hand across her forehead as she tripped a step back. “What the hell?”

I checked my watch. Fifteen minutes had passed since I’d fed her the drugs.

Her hands trembled against the grip when I stepped toward her. “What did you do?” She stumbled sideways, making my muscles tense, before she caught herself on the bed. “What?”

“I’m sorry, baby.” Shaking my head, I watched the drugs take effect. “I won’t let you get hurt.”

“Nick!” The gun fell to the floor, and she tumbled onto the end of the bed. “Please listen … please … don’t … I lo—”

I lurched forward and captured her weak body in my arms before she hit the floor.

Her eyeballs rolled as she fought to stay conscious, and I kissed her while gently setting her down in my bed. “Ni …ck. Plesayu … don … I neeyu. Loffustay. I nohashoogn.” Her eyes fluttered shut and the rigidity in her body softened in my arms.

“Aubree,” I whispered, stroking her cheek. “I have something to tell you.” My thumb brushed over her shuttered eyes that didn’t so much as flinch with my touch. “Crazy, beautiful girl.” I kissed her slowly, tasting her lips one more time. “I would’ve run with you. If things had been different. You’d have been the one woman to make me give it all up.”

I exhaled a weighted breath at the truth in my words. The small, seemingly meek woman had blasted through every bit of steel I’d forged inside to keep everyone out. She’d shown me a glimpse of a heart that could be healed. If only I didn’t have so many promises to keep, including the one I’d made to her. Culling had to die. I couldn’t let the motherfucker who’d branded her walk free. “Just not in the cards for me. Be free. Be happy. The one who hurt you will die tonight, and you can rise up from the ashes. You can have whatever life you’ve dreamed of.” Lowering her head to the pillow, I kissed her soft lips. “I love you.”

After making a final check of my artillery, I exited my bedroom. Barely a step out the door, a wrecking ball slammed into my chest, sending jolts of electricity across my back. I hit the wall and slid to the floor, and my world tipped on its axis, teetering to one side, then righting itself.

I looked up to see Alec’s obscure form standing over me, his hand curled into a fist.

“You’re not going anywhere, Nick.” His voice held no humor, no room for argument.

“They have Lauren. I have to save her.”

“Lauren was never part of the plan. In case you’ve forgotten, I told you to say your goodbye’s a long time ago.”

Alarms went off inside my head, warning me that a fight was on the horizon, because I knew that deadpan stare of his was no bullshit. “I did. And I have no fucking idea how they found her, but I’m not going to stand by and watch her die. She saved my fucking life, Alec.”

“Did she?”

My eyes narrowed on him. “You know damn well she did. Now get the hell out of my way, or I’ll—”

“You’ll what, exactly?” His lips stretched into a wicked grin. “Kill me? We both know you can’t.”

“I don’t have time for this.”

The wall smashed into my back again, and air exited my lungs.

He held me there, teeth gnashing in the kind of anger I’d only seen on a few occasions. “It’s over Nick. The fucking game changed. The plan to blow it all to hell is no longer an option. Too many innocents will die. Culling is offering up young girls for the night. He’s keeping them there. You pull the detonator, and all of them will burn.”

The game entailed blowing up the meeting place—the spot where the gangs would converge, to go over the evening’s plan to wipe out another neighborhood. It would’ve been the perfect opportunity to obliterate them all to shit. To hit the city’s most notorious kingpins, crime lords, plus the ringleader himself, Michael Culling.

“Then, I’ll take them out. One by one.”

“You won’t walk out of there alive, which means neither will Lauren.”

Eyes squinted, I pressed my hands against the throbbing ache either side of my skull as it threatened to pull me into another blackout. “What are you proposing, Alec? That I let her die?”

“I’ll go in your place.”

“Why would I do that? That solution is no better than mine. And there’s no guarantee you’ll save Lauren.”