The scream of tires came from outside the house. I wrenched my gaze to Nick, who grabbed the heavy duffel bag from the bed and hauled the strap over his shoulder. “Let’s go, princess.”
I was right behind him as we lunged along the hallway and raced to the front door, then outside. An old, beat-up muscle car sat parked on the street, rumbling and sputtering. Tobias shoved out of the driver’s seat and raced around the front.
“A Charger?” Nick muttered as he tossed his brother the bag of weapons.
“You wanted fast, right?” Tobias moved to the passenger door, yanked it open with a squeal of its hinges, and pulled the seat forward.
I didn’t wait, just climbed inside and clawed for the seatbelt.
“Let’s see what this baby can do, then” Nick growled as he climbed in behind the wheel.
The engine spluttered again, almost dying before Nick punched the accelerator and the throbbing growl roared. The car shuddered, then surged as Tobias shoved the seat in place, dropped the bag of guns at his feet, and lunged inside. “Go…GO!”
I was slammed backwards against the seat, and struggled to clasp the seatbelt as we tore along the street, leaving the Rossi safehouse behind. We flew past a gleaming blur of black. I caught Nick’s stare as we shot past the familiar four-wheel drive with Lazarus’ bodyguard behind the wheel. I twisted in the seat, watching out the back window. But Freddy didn’t follow, just left us to haul ass out of the protection of the mafia.
We were on our own now.
Three of us, desperate for one.
Caleb…
My heart shuddered my chest. I gripped hold of the seatbelt across my body and braced my hand against the door as we took a corner sideways and accelerated hard.
You’re his goddamn weak spot. His Achilles fucking heel.
Tobias’ words resounded in my head. They were all I could think about, all I could hear. My chest ached at the thought of Caleb. Hate, love, desperation, and lust roiled inside me. He was going to kill Killion…to save me.
The car surged and turned hard. I clenched my jaw, swaying against the window.
Can’t you see he’s trying to make amends for what he did to get you out of that place? We charged toward the heart of the city, taking the back streets. Nick shifted gears faster than I’d seen before. I held on. He’s taking it out on anyone who touched you, anyone who threatened you. He’s gonna kill that Killion…even if he kills himself in the process.
A car came out of nowhere, making Nick bark a curse, shift gears, and spin the wheel, throwing me against the side. Agony slammed into my shoulder and radiated through my chest. I bit down on a cry and pushed back into the seat.
“Hang on, princess,” Nick growled, glancing at me over his shoulder.
Tobias turned and grabbed my arm. “You okay?” Concern flared in his eyes.
“I’m okay,” I assured them, turning all my rage and focus to the road. “Just get us there, Nick.”
“Working on it,” he answered and pushed the car even harder.
We turned the corner onto a back street, hitting the entrance hard and scraping the bottom of the Charger. Tobias bent over and reached into the bag, and I knew we were close. My stomach rolled as I searched the night ahead, seeing the entrance to a parking lot and I realized this was it. It was too clean, too neat…too quiet.
Security lights showed dimly around the gloomy parking lot. I searched the darkness and spotted the sedan we’d been using…Caleb…he’s here.
“T,” Nick growled.
The passenger window squealed as Tobias wound it down and pushed a gun out, scanning the parking spaces as we turned in hard.
“There’s the car,” Nick barked.
We skidded sideways, lurching to a stop in front of the sedan. Tobias was out in an instant, scanning the inside of it before he raced toward the back of the club. Nick shoved the driver’s door open as he turned to order over his shoulder. “Stay in the car, Ryth!”
I didn’t have time to answer. He was gone in an instant, leaving me terrified and pissed off. “What the fuck?” I clawed the seatbelt release and shoved myself between the seats and reached for the duffel bag.
Their roars drifted in through Tobias’ open window as they forced their way inside the club. A chill tore through me when I watched them disappear inside. I stared at the open duffel bag on the floorboard of the passenger seat.
I didn’t like guns, not after what had happened to me in that warehouse and that fucking place. But I liked the idea of losing the ones I loved even less. So I shoved my hand inside the bag, clenched my grip around steel, and drew out a weapon, one that glinted faintly in the distant overhead lights.
“Come on, Nick,” I whispered, and gripped the gun with both hands, trying to still the shakes.
Shadows raced toward me. I lifted my hand and took aim as Tobias snarled, “For Christ’s sake, Ryth, don’t goddamn shoot me.”
Nick followed right after him, yanked the driver’s door wider, and slid behind the wheel, shoving his gun under his thigh before he threw the car into gear. I searched the darkness, but no one else was coming. “Caleb?”
“He’s not there,” Nick answered.
“They took him,” Tobias added.
They took him…they took him…I shook my head, grabbing onto the seat as I was thrown forward, then slammed back. My thoughts were a blur, a panicked, desperate blur. They were going to kill him…I knew that in my soul. They’d have to…because he knew too much.
He’d seen them in that place, in that room…in that sick torment. He knew their names, knew their faces. He knew what kind of depravity they’d done to us in there. I gripped the gun and wrapped my other arm around my waist. But I couldn’t get warm. I couldn’t ever get warm.
He’s gonna kill that Killion…even if he kills himself in the process.
The bright city lights blurred all around us as we turned hard onto a major street and raced forward.
“They can’t be too far ahead,” Tobias growled.
I started to lift my focus to the cars in the distance. Only then did I see the blood on Tobias’ fist. “You’re hurt.”
He looked my way, those dark eyes sunken and dangerous. “What?”
“Your hand,” I nodded. “You’re hurt.”
He followed my gaze to the crimson drops on his hand that shimmered under the streetlights. “It’s not mine.” He swiped the back of his hand on his jeans, smearing the mess, then met my gaze. “It’s not mine.”
It’s not his…
I looked at him once more, now seeing the kind of man he was—a dangerous man—one who’d do whatever it took to protect those he loved. They were all like that.
“There,” Nick snarled, drawing my gaze. “There they are. That’s the fucking car, right?”
All I saw were red brake lights, but they saw something else. Something that told them exactly what they needed to know.
“That’s it,” Tobias lifted the gun to the window’s edge as we tore past the last stretch of streetlights heading out of the city.
Dread filled my stomach, heavy like a rock. I knew where they were going, had known the moment we’d left the parking lot of the club. “They’re going to the Order.”
Nick jerked his gaze my way. I saw fear there, fear almost hidden behind the brutal determination. He didn’t think we were going to get Caleb back…or was he afraid we would…at what cost?
“Get him back,” I whispered as Nick fixed his attention back on the road. I didn’t care what it took, didn’t care about the repercussions, didn’t care about anything. I clenched my grip around the gun, my focus so fucking clear now, clearer than it’d ever been. “Whatever it takes, Nick. Whatever it takes.”
Nick turned a shade of gray and winced. He looked at Tobias, and something uncomfortable echoed back.
“What?” I asked.
“Déjà vu,” Nick answered. “Déjà fucking vu.” He glanced at me as he shifted gears again. “They’re the same words we said to Caleb before he did what he did to get you out.”
My stomach rolled and chills broke out. I wanted to wrap my arms around myself. But I didn’t. I just focused on the road, knowing how deep in the pit Caleb had gone to get me free. Love radiated through me. Love and desperation. Whatever it takes…whatever it takes.
Nick’s knuckles turned white around the wheel, and the Charger’s engine roared. We’d left other cars behind now. It was just us…and the hulking black SUV up ahead. One we gained on mile after mile that flew past us in a blur. The Charger throbbed and roared, the sound deafening through the open passenger’s window.
“Hold us steady,” Tobias commanded as he aimed the gun out the window. Boom! Boom! BOOM!
I flinched with each round, watching the brake lights of the car in front die. The SUV swerved, tires shrieking, as it veered toward the side of the road, then straightened.
“Hold on,” Nick warned as he drove the Charger forward. “Do that again.”
Tobias took aim and squeezed off two more shots that hit the back window, shattering it in an instant, and at the same time, Nick aimed our car like a weapon and punched the accelerator, then hit the rear fender of the SUV as it swerved once more.
I jerked forward with the impact, wincing at the scream of metal on metal.
“They can’t hold it,” Nick said as he drove us hard into the SUV again, pushing the back end of it off the road. Dust billowed, rising in dusky plumes behind us. “Move…” Nick barked. “MOVE!”
My pulse jacked higher as I lifted my gaze to the glint of the steel gates in the distance. We weren’t going to make it. I looked at the SUV as it fought to hug the road, kicking up stones that peppered the front of the Charger like bullets. We weren’t going to make it.
Through the shattered back window, Caleb moved into focus. No, not moved…was pushed. They were using him as a shield.
“Motherfuckers,” I snarled.
Tobias leaned out of the window, then jerked back when a crack came from the passenger side of the SUV. “Get back, Ryth!” He angled his body in front of mine, protecting me, and reached the gun out once more, emptying the clip.
But it wasn’t at the windows, or the body of the vehicle…it was at the tires. Boom! One blew in an instant, making the SUV fishtail hard. Nick drove us forward as the glint of steel came closer in the distance and the gates of the Order opened.
“Nick, no!” I screamed.
Only it wasn’t me I screamed for. If they made it inside, Caleb would be lost. Lost for good…
In the shattered back window, Caleb turned his head and looked at me…there was blood on his face, and his unflinching eyes looked strange. I knew that dazed expression better than I should. It was the same look I’d seen in my own reflection after they’d brought me to the Order. They’d drugged him. I clenched my grip tighter around the gun. They’d goddamn drugged him.
“You will not take my fucking brother.” Nick forced the words through clenched teeth. “Over my dead fucking body.”
Nick drove the car forward again, this time hitting even harder than before. The SUV fishtailed and spun wildly in the middle of the road, then came to a shuddering stop. We shot past it in a blur, all three of us wrenching our gazes behind us.
“Hold on!” Nick roared a second before I was thrown sideways.
I didn’t have time to brace for the impact. I didn’t have time to do anything at all but hope and pray we didn’t roll the car. The acrid stench from the engine filled the car, the scent choking as the Charger skidded sideways, the tires squealing for purchase on the asphalt, and rocked to a stop. But before my body settled, Nick shoved the car into gear and slammed down the accelerator, throwing us forward, headlong toward the blinding headlights of the SUV.
We were going to hit…we were going to hit.
I closed my eyes and braced for the impact.
But it didn’t happen. We skidded to a stop without hitting. I opened my eyes, to see the doors of the black SUV flung open…and two men stumbled out. Tobias was already shoving his door open and lunging out. Headlights blinded me as the four-wheel drive from the Order hurtled our way.
Crack!
Crack!
CRACK!
Gunshots slammed into the car as Nick threw his door open and reached for me. “Ryth, MOVE!”
We left the weapons behind as the mercenaries from the Order flew closer. But they didn’t slam into us. They didn’t seem to hit us at all.
Instead, they fired at Tobias as he killed one of the men running toward us.
“Over here!” a man roared.
And it took me a second before I recognized the voice. It was him…him, the man who’d shoved me against the wall and groped my breast. A chill tore through me as Tobias lunged, taking shelter against our side of the car.
Gunshots fired over our heads stopped us from getting to Caleb. On the other side of the SUV, another SUV raced out from the Order. I gripped the gun and shoved against the car, rising to my feet.
“Ryth!” Nick roared, yanking me back down. “Stay the fuck down!”
His hands were all over me, shielding me, comforting me.
But there was no room for comfort.
“Nick!” Caleb screamed.
I didn’t wait a second longer—I couldn’t. I shoved against the car, tearing out of Nick’s hold, and lunged forward as Caleb screamed once more, “GET RYTH!”
Only it was too late. Doors were flung open as more men rushed forward from the second SUV. Men who watched me as they dragged Caleb into the other four-wheel drive. I ran…ran harder than I’d ever run before. I lifted the gun, my hand shaking under the weight. “Leave him alone!”
I squeezed off a shot. But it went wide, hitting nothing.
I ran…
And ran…
And when the second four-wheel drive shot forward, heading for the open gates of the Order, I ran after it. My focus was on those red brake lights burning in front of me as I punched my boots into the ground.
They can’t have him…
They can’t have him…
BECAUSE HE’S MINE!
