I stepped back towards my bookshelf and into the shadows. Shit was about to get fucking real and I didn’t even have a weapon, but I’d use my fucking body as a shield to protect her if I had to.
No more pain would come to my girl as long as I was still breathing.
I heard heavy footsteps crossing the wood floors, making their way down the very same hall I had just come from. They grew louder with each step. I searched for a weapon, something to even out the playing field.
I tucked myself into the side of the bookcase. My eyes made out the shape of the antique sword my Grandpa Ben had given me before he died. He had gotten it during a trip with my grandmother to Greece in the 1970s. He had told me it was a real sword, used by real Greeks in battle.
Let’s hope this motherfucker has one good battle left in it.
I gave a last look at Jada. Her head was slumped forward, her body only held up by her hands tied behind the back of the chair. I wasn’t sure she was even conscious.
My heart fell briefly before I found my focus.
I grabbed the golden sword, took a few steps to the side and stood by the doorway, my back pressed hard against the wall, my heart pounding in my chest as the footsteps got closer.
Regardless of what happens to me, please let her be okay.
“Someone ordered pizza.” A man’s voice said right outside the door. “I would like to get it. You and I could have a bite to eat before we end our little time together. Aye, if your boyfriend had been fucking home when he was supposed to have been, maybe we could have had dinner before I fuck you and kill you. Too bad.”
I clenched my jaw, gripping the sword with all of my strength, willing myself to shut the fuck up.
His black boots crossed the doorway before his body, head to toe in black. A glimmer from the street light hitting the metal of the gun at his side caught my attention.
At least I knew where it was.
“This is taking longer than expected. I am going to have to ask Mr. Powers for a bonus for my time.”
Holding the sword tightly, I took a step forward before twisting and slicing across the man’s abdomen with every bit of fury, rage, and strength I could possibly find.
The blade ripped through his shirt and into his skin, bright red blood oozing out, dripping off the ridge of the blade as it cut across him.
The gun dropped hard against the floor as his hands flew to his stomach. A whooshing sound escaped his throat as all air left his body and he stumbled into the light, eyes wide.
I took a step forward and his eyes widened further as they found me. He looked down and saw his internal organs beginning to spill outside his body.
He frantically began patting his stomach, his chest heaving, hands sticky with his own blood. He stumbled another step farther before falling onto the floor face first in a heap of his own blood and organs.
I breathed heavily and looked around the room, ensuring there were no accomplices, before landing on Jada. She was struggling against her restraints, her sounds weak and muffled.
I walked across the room, my body shaking with the effects of the adrenaline. Sirens began to come into earshot.
You are a little too fucking late.
I knelt down in front of my girl and set the sword next to me. Her eyes were frantic and swollen so much that I knew she couldn’t see me.
“It’s me, baby. He’s gone,” I said softly.
I pulled the gag out of her mouth and up over her head. She began working her mouth up and down, trying to swallow.
“Cane,” was all she could make out. I kissed her forehead before moving behind her. I worked at the ties around her bleeding wrists.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to talk. I’m going to get you out of here.”
My front door burst open and I continued to fumble with the ties.
A swarm of officers descended upon the room, guns drawn, in police formation.
“The light switch is by the door.” I said, still fumbling with the ties. “And there’s a guy bleeding to death under the window if you give a fuck.”
The lights came on and the noise level in the room went up immediately as the scene in the room became apparent. Police began to bark orders to each other, ordering ambulances, drug teams, and K9 units.
Everything but Jada fell to the wayside as I freed her hands. She began to fall forward immediately, the pain and exhaustion too much for her to hold herself up. I caught her against my chest, pulling her hair back away from her face. I could see the pain in her eyes, the green laced with so much agony that it fucking hurt me. It killed me.
Tears began to build in my eyes as I was finally able to wrap my mind around everything that had just happened.
“Sir, I’m going to need you to step back,” an officer said behind me.
“I’m going to need you to shut the fuck up,” I growled, not bothering to turn around.
I looked at my beautiful girl and wrapped her in my arms, holding her close. “Are you okay, baby?”