“Well, shit,” I muttered, quickly peeling my jacket off and undoing my cufflinks.
“Sergio?” Val’s eyes were wide. “What’s going on.”
“Remember?” I flipped up the seat cushion on the left and pulled out two smaller Glocks. “When Chase showed you how to point a gun?”
“Yeah, but—”
“If something happens, you point the gun and you shoot, you shoot until you’re sure, got it?” I shoved a gun into her hand and knocked twice on the shield. It rolled down.
And I was already too late.
The sound of gunfire filled the car.
Our driver, a newer associate in his twenties, had just been shot in the head. I barely had time to push the screen back up before more shots were fired.
We weren’t in a bulletproof car, I wasn’t a boss, I hadn’t thought it necessary. If I died, so what?
But if Val died.
Damn it.
A war.
More war.
When would the families ever learn?
What the hell was wrong with wanting peace?
A bullet hit the side window by Val’s head, I pulled her down to the floor of the limo as more bullets went flying above us. Glass crashed all over my body.
I motioned for Val to be quiet.
The shooting stopped.
The guys were amateurs at best. You never stopped, only when the car was a hole. You stopped to set the car on fire. You stopped to place a bomb, you didn’t stop because you thought you hit your targets. You never stopped.
The passenger door opened and I fired a shot out.
A rough curse was emitted, and then more shots were fired at the car.
Val didn’t cry.
She didn’t scream.
She was deathly silent, her eyes locked on mine, afraid, but so trusting my heart ached.
Her eyes said, you’ll get us out of this.
It’s going to be okay.
I trust you.
While I was at a loss of what we could do, of what I could do without injuring myself or putting her in more danger.
Shit.
A bullet grazed my arm, tearing flesh and part of my shirt. Val’s eyes watered.
“Stay still,” I mouthed, my body pressed against hers. I would die before I let them take her, whoever they were.
We were stuck.
Trapped.
If it was just me, I’d hop out of the car guns blazing, die in the process, and my family would just have to deal with it.
But I had a responsibility, and my responsibility trusted me to stay alive, needed me to stay alive if she was going to stay alive.
The shooting stopped again.
“Do you trust me?” I whispered.
“Yes,” she whispered, her voice shaking.
“You want the girl?” I yelled so they could hear.
“Dead. We want her dead!” The man yelled back at me. “Bring her out to us and we’ll let you go.”
“No you won’t.” I laughed. “But what if I bring the girl because I’ve already had her and I’m sick of her? Can I at least choose the way you shoot me? Seems only fair.”
Silence.
“You want to choose how I shoot you?”
“I’m dead either way, I have a thing about body shots, too much risk of suffering, bleeding out too slow, collapsed lungs, suffocation. Who wants that? A quick death, that’s what I say.”
“Fine,” another man barked. “Bring her out, but she goes in front of you.”
“All right, you can kill her or take her, do whatever you want with her.”
“We take her and then we kill her.”
“Take her?”
“The boss will never know.”
“She’s not that great.” I laughed coldly. “You may need to be drunk to appreciate what she has to offer.”
Val’s eyes narrowed.
But she said nothing.
The men chuckled.
“I’m coming out now.” I pulled Val to a sitting position and whispered. “I’m sorry.” As I ripped the bottom part of her dress and wrapped it around her hands like a rope. “When we get out I’m going to push you to the ground, it’s going to hurt, you’re going to get scraped. Flash boob.”
Her eyes widened.
“Hell, flash both of them.” I grabbed my knife and tugged at her corset. “Your life depends on your ability to make those guys hesitate, got it?”
“Got it.” Her voice was clearer, and then without hesitation, she pulled her dress down an obscene amount. I nearly choked on my tongue as she moved ahead of me. True to my promise, I shoved her out of the car, she fell to her knees pulling the top of her dress with her.
The minute she landed on the pavement, both men glanced at her, both men hesitated.
It was all I needed.
Two shots.
One in the head, one in the chest.
Both hit the ground hard.
People screamed around us as sirens sounded, and police finally managed to make their way into the circle of jammed cars.
I put the gun in the back of my pants and helped Val to her feet. I would be lying if I said my gaze didn’t linger, because fuck, she had a nice body.
One made for sex, hips begging for a man’s grasp.
I tugged her dress up. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, but she didn’t cry. It freaked me out. Girls that weren’t in our life, hell girls that were, they cried.
“Val?” I wrapped my arms around her. “Use your words, please.”