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“Good.” She glances over her shoulder, asking, “Are the two SUVs definitely Bratva?”

“Yes, or they wouldn’t come after us.”

“That sucks,” she mumbles. “Assholes.”

Hearing her curse is rare, and it draws a chuckle from me as I take a sharp turn onto another road.

During the flight, I studied the map while Annie took a nap, and I hope none of the roads I chose to take are closed for construction or have bumper-to-bumper traffic.

The normal commute would take fifty-two minutes to get from the airfield to the harbor, but my gut tells me we’re in for a rough ride. I just need to make it to the city, so we have more resources, terrain, and distractions I can use to my advantage.

I finally see the on-ramp for the expressway up ahead, and glancing in the rearview mirror, I notice the distance between the SUVs and us isn’t changing, telling me I’m staying ahead of them.

I don’t slow down, and as soon as I’m done taking the turn hard and make it onto the expressway, I floor the gas. The Camaro roars and tears like a bat out of hell down the long stretch of road.

“Oh my God!” Annie shrieks beside me, grabbing the sides of her seat.

Keeping my grip firm on the steering wheel, I don’t take my eyes off the road as I weave between the other vehicles, knowing I’m losing the SUVs.

I don’t relax for a second but remain in high gear, my reflexes sharp.

The city comes closer, and within ten minutes, I take the off-ramp and slow down to a more manageable speed as we hit normal roads.

“That was . . . fast,” Annie comments breathlessly.

With a smirk tugging at my lips, I say, “We lost the SUVs.”

She lets out a whoop as she glances behind us, a wide smile stretching over her face.

Just as I clear a set of traffic lights and steer the Camaro around a bend, I see sedans and SUVs parked on either side of the road up ahead.

Fuck.

“Brace, Annie!”

Her head snaps forward, and when I punch the accelerator, her body pushes back into the seat.

There are easily twenty men, some in the vehicles and others standing with their weapons ready.

“Down!” I snap, and Annie instantly unbuckles and scrambles into the foot space.

They open fire as we fly through the gauntlet, the bullets hitting the Camaro. One comes through the windshield, hitting the headrest on the front passenger side, and another blasts out my side window, causing shards of glass to rain down on my lap.

Air rushes in as we take heavy fire, and when a rear tire is blown out, the Camaro jerks sideways. I fight the wheel for control, the sound of rubber slapping the road mixing with the gunfire. I ease off just enough to keep the car from spinning, because one wrong move and we’re rolling.

Reaching a main road, I scan the area, and as we near a red light, my eyes lock on a motorcycle. “Up, Annie. We’re ditching the car. Move as fast as you can.”

She clambers onto the seat while I hit the brakes, then my arm shoots out to catch her. When I’m sure she’s okay, I open my door, and grabbing my Glock, I get out. Moving fast, I close in on the biker and train the barrel on him. “Off!”

His eyes widen behind the visor of his helmet, and when he turns the throttle and the engine roars, I fire a shot, the bullet burning a path down the side of his arm before I aim at his chest. “Off.”

If Annie weren’t in my life, he’d be dead already. I’m doing this for her.

The fucker finally grows a brain cell, and jumping off, he makes a run for the sidewalk, but he already wasted valuable time.

Motherfucking dumb idiot. Christ, he can be glad I’m in love.

Chapter 27