Some time later, cold metal rattled and I felt the jangle of the lock before a steel-toed boot kicked the door in and jolted me from my pathetic huddle on the floor.
“Get the fuck up.” I looked up into the cold eyes of the man I’d seen that night at the VIP lounge. I sucked in my bottom lip and peered up, looking for any recognition on his part. His eyes flicked down and away again in disinterest before he heaved me up and through the doorway. I sucked in a breath of cool air, thankful to at least be out of that room. One step closer to freedom. Just maybe. “Will you tell me your name now?” I huffed as he yanked me down a dark corridor and into another room. His eyes cut to me and then back again. He remembered me all right. Bastard.
We turned a corner and my view opened up into a wide loading dock, dozens of trucks parked in stalls, wooden crates stacked the walls. A small group of men huddled at the opposite end.
My knees shook and my palms tingled with fear as I fumbled on awkward feet across the concrete, my mind racing with the possibility of running. Any crack of daylight and I would fight out of this brutal goon’s grip and run for it.
I didn’t even have my pepper spray, but then again, why would I ever really think I was in danger? Despite all of Hunter’s warnings, I’d never imagined I could find myself in this situation. Kidnapped and bruised with little chance of rescue in sight, fearing for my life.
The guard pulled me through the room before we came upon a pile of dark clothing on the floor. I squinted my eyes in the dim light and caught a flash of golden hair.
“No,” I sobbed and ripped away from the bastard at my elbow to land in a heap at Hunter’s still form, my eyes unblinking as dark maroon stained the concrete beneath him.
“Hunter,” I sobbed. “Hunter, please, breathe,” I whimpered and dropped my ear to his barely parted lips. The lips I’d pressed to mine tenderly, the lips that had roamed my skin and caressed my body.
“Hunter–” I choked on the words, my body trembling so fiercely I couldn’t focus long enough to tell if he was breathing.
I can’t feel him. He’s gone.
“Hunter,” I whispered and tried to still my misfiring heart.
“He’s as good as dead, Erin.” A voice echoed over my shoulder and sent chills racing down my spine. No. NO. “No!” I turned to find empty pits of burnt amber assessing me.
“What did you do?” I shrieked.
“Don’t fuck with me.” The familiar eyes tore into mine as I hunkered from his imposing force. His grip tightened around my elbow painfully, ripping a grunt past my lips.
“No,” I moaned, ready to collapse at Hunter’s slouched form and give up. Nothing mattered–the world would cease moving if Hunter’s heart stopped in his chest.
“Let’s go.” John Walker lifted me from the concrete. “Get the fuck up.” He yanked on my arms and was towing me sideways. My thoughts all of a sudden bolted to the thought of the unborn baby tucked inside my belly. I hadn’t taken the test yet, but I felt now more than ever that the little guy lived there all the same. I’d been denying it, but now I felt only the need to protect it.
I stumbled to my feet, conscious now of protecting what was mine to protect, and sucked up the emotion that echoed in my heart at walking away from the man who lit my bloodstream with wildfire. “Tie her to a chair.” JW threw me into the arms of a new guard. “And you deal with him.” JW gestured to the VIP bastard that’d dragged me in here and my eyes caught his briefly. I tried my best to plead without words, but his cold gaze averted and nodded at JW before turning to go to Hunter. When the bastard was close enough, he landed a kick squarely in Hunter’s stomach.
I shrieked and nearly fell to my knees again before the new guard at my elbow pulled me into an office with one large window that overlooked the rest of the loading bay. He tied me to one of the chairs along the wall, before JW slammed the door and closed the blinds with a quick flick just as the VIP cocksucker was landing another blow to Hunter, boot connecting with chest this time. So much for loyalty to friends. They’d seemed perfectly cordial at the VIP lounge, and now here he was, stealing Hunter’s life. The streets are a dog eat dog world.
“Please don’t kill him.” I sobbed.
“Shouldn’t have interfered with his work, Princess. You should have stopped him from running, all to save your ass.” JW’s grip tightened at my throat.
Choking on angry nerves, I thought of the innocent life I had to protect inside me. I had to get both of us out alive. I would do what I could to save Hunter, only I was afraid there wasn’t much that could be done.
One more gunshot echoed through the warehouse, causing me to jump with panic. “He’s dead, Erin.” JW’s eyes glanced to the guard at my side with a slick smile. “I tried to play this fair, but Clu always gets in over his head. Now tell me where the rest of the money is,” JW snarled just as the office door burst open and Hunter rushed into the room. A shot tore through the silence before the guard at my side dropped to the ground.
“Back the fuck off her,” Hunter warned, his eyes iced and focused on JW’s. The older man’s long, cold laugh floated on the air in the room.
“So fucking smart, huh, boy?” JW cackled, ratcheting my fear another deadly notch. “You turned out good, I’ll give you that. Much better than that good for nothing crack whore would have raised,” JW huffed as his gaze cut to Hunter. “I did you a favor when I got rid of her.” JW’s eyes burned through Hunter’s.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Hunter grit, his gun wavering slightly in his white-knuckled hands.
“She knew too much. When we parted ways, she started slipping secrets between the sheets. Didn’t take long before I realized there was only one way to shut her up. The pills, the whoring–she made it all too easy.” JW winked, his yellowed canine tooth gleaming in the fluorescent light.
“You son of a bitch.” Hunter pulled the hammer on the gun, the click echoing through the stifling room.
“Then you went and pulled this one into it.” JW’s rough fingertips connected with the tip of my chin and steered my gaze to Hunter. “Collateral damage,” he tsked with a disingenuous shake of his head. “Not in the game plan.”
“Get your fucking hands off her.” Hunter took two steps forward and aimed the pistol at JW’s forehead.
Just shoot him. Just shoot him, I pleaded on repeat, knowing it was our only way out. Our only way to stay alive. The only way for Hunter, for all of us, to really be free.
“Don’t forget who saved you, son. Who put clothes on you, a roof over your head, gave you your first job. I was there for you. You don’t betray family. Bad move, boy.”
“Family? You murdered my mother, you useless cocksucker,” Hunter snarled and took another measured step forward. I clenched my eyes, preparing for the blast that would soon follow.
“I saved you from a life on the streets. I did nothing but good for you, even let you run with this photography bullshit like a bitch.” JW’s fist connected with Hunter’s jaw milliseconds later and they were both on the floor scuffling, Hunter’s gun scraping across the cracked linoleum at my feet. Without thinking twice, I kicked it across the room and ripped at my ties, hoping to find some slack that hadn’t been there before, to no avail. I glanced back to the men grunting a few feet away; JW had pulled a knife and was rearing back to plunge it into Hunter’s flesh. I lunged and spun, the metal chair clattering along with me, throwing all my strength into JW’s body before his cold steel blade could pierce the man I loved. I landed with an awkward slump, registering almost instantly as my eyes opened that there was bright red blood everywhere. Calloused hands shoved me across the floor into the old wooden desk, banging my head and causing a wave of dizziness to overtake me, before the faint pounding of boot steps brought me back to reality.
“Fuck!” Hunter roared before my blurry vision crystallized and I saw him clutching at his arm, crimson gushing from a gash in his bicep as he leapt across the floor to reach for JW’s gun.
“Where is he?” I breathed, unsure I’d even said the words aloud through the incessant pounding in my skull. Before Hunter could reply two law enforcement agents in Kevlar rushed into the room, weapons drawn.
“Where’s JW?” one officer shouted.
“Ran,” Hunter choked as a few more agents crowded the office.
“EMTs are on the way. Did you see which way he went?” I could see more bodies swarming outside the office before a medical team poured into the room, their sights on Hunter, and then me. Another one checked the vitals on the guard that had been shot standing next to me before pulling a thin blanket over the body.
“He’s lost a lot of blood. BP’s down. He’ll need a liter at least.” The medics evaluated Hunter as agents freed me of my binds and the paramedics were free to assess my damage. I sat, brain fogged and in fear, unable to utter a single answer to any of their questions.
“Hunter,” I whispered, eyes burning when Hunter was lifted onto a stretcher and taken away, a small group of men scurrying off with him.
“Does this hurt?” The medic pressed at a soft bruise on my upper arm causing me to wince. I swallowed, tears pricking my eyes before water finally unleashed in rivers down my cheeks. “Anything else?” The woman’s dark eyes held mine.
I nodded, finally able to form a full sentence as my stomach churned with panic. “I-I’m pregnant.”
