“I was aiming higher.”
My mirth fades when a bullet whizzes by, narrowly missing me and shattering one of the paintings on the wall. I duck farther into the entryway, feeling less than safe behind a few layers of drywall.
I push Karina over the threshold. “Get out of here. Mateus went into town. He’ll find you. Go now.”
She doesn’t acknowledge me, but she obeys, disappearing out the door. I slam it shut and peek around the corner for any signs of Crow. I have a vantage of the empty hallway, and the huge shadow spilling out from one of the extra bedrooms tips me off. Two down, one to go.
“How’s this going down, Crow?”
“You tell me. I thought we were talking.”
I can hear him reloading.
“Tell Jay I got away with the girl. I’ll loop you in after we get out of the country.”
“Like hell you will. This is a death wish and you know it,” he shouts.
“Your loss.”
Silence falls on the house.
“How much?”
I bend and grab the dead man’s gun, tucking it into my waistband.
“This is your last chance to pique my interest, Red. Then I’m coming for you and it’s fucking over. Tell me how much she’s worth.”
“Everything,” I grit out, knowing the sound will never reach him. I leave the entryway and move silently down the hall, gun raised and ready.
The pendulum swings in slow motion.
I shoot the first thing I see.
“Fucker!”
I turn the corner into the bedroom, and he’s pushing back by his heels, cradling his bloody hand against his stomach. He only hesitates a second before he raises his left and begins firing, nearly emptying the chamber.
I hiss as one drills through my upper arm. I duck back into the hallway and curse under my breath.
“You left-handed?” I push hard on the wound that’s already saturating my shirt with blood.
“I am now, you piece of shit. Show me your face, and we’ll finish this.”
I clench my teeth against the pain, but something in me doesn’t want this to end the way Crow thinks it will. I need to get back to Isabel, but I need to send a message too.
“Seems like a waste, doesn’t it?”
Crow answers with a barrage of gunfire through the doorway, punching through the drywall near me. I scramble down the hallway. Mateus’s master bedroom is a dead end.
Hurriedly I cinch a handkerchief on the bureau around my upper arm. I’m not overly concerned about the wound, but I’d rather not pass out before I have a chance to send Crow back to his maker if I need to.
Between his lumbering steps, I hear him crash into the wall before continuing down the hall toward me. How he sneaks up on anyone I’ll never know. I do know I’m at an advantage, though. Crow has one good arm and only a couple of shots left. I decide to give him a target and hope he wastes them. I pivot into the doorway and aim for his shoulder. Crack crack. I duck and dodge his answering shots, the last he has, but his steps don’t slow. He turns into the bedroom, his eyes wild with murderous rage. I hit my mark, but the gushing from his shoulder doesn’t seem to faze him at all.
He advances on me. Goddamnit, I didn’t want to kill Crow. I back up and ready myself to put his name on the list that’s already too long.
“Do you want to die, or do you want to help me send a message?”
“I’m gonna tear you limb from limb. There’s no talking your way out of it.”
“You’re the one with the dot on your head now, so I’d suggest you reconsider.”
“That’s not how this works.”
“I’m not playing by the rules anymore if you haven’t figured that out already.”
He keeps coming at me, arms wide like a blood-thirsty gorilla. Fuck fuck fuck. I aim for his knee and fire.
He cries out and his leg buckles, sending him to the floor. Injured or not, he’s enormous. I might be faster and smarter, but he’s stronger. So I move fast. I strike him with the butt of my gun and use his break in balance to shove him to the ground, belly down. He grunts when I wrench his arm behind him, exacerbating the pain where the bullets are still lodged in his thick shoulder muscles.
“Time to finish our little chat,” I say, pressing the gun barrel to his temple.
“Fuck you,” he wheezes.
I change the angle of the gun, adding pressure so he feels the fear of the inevitable. “Last call, Crow.”
He exhales roughly a few times. “What’s it matter? Jay’s gonna kill me after this anyway.”
“I don’t have time to listen to you wrestle with your mortality, Crow. Last call.”
He gnashes his teeth and curses again with less force.
I take that as surrender.
“This is mercy,” I say.
“I don’t want your fucking mercy!”
I reposition my knee above his bloodied hand and add pressure. He shudders from the pain.
I lean in and lower my voice. “Listen carefully. They’re going to find you here eventually, and you’re going to relay a little message for me. Tell Jay to forget my name. Tell her to forget the girl. Because if she doesn’t, everyone she sends for me is going to wish for the mercy I’m showing you right now.”
He huffs in and out, his breathing labored. Even as the vow violates everything about the way I’ve lived these past few years, I know it’s true. I can’t let these bastards have her. The worst thing she ever did was fall in love with me, and that’s not a reason to die.
“Who is she to you?”
“All you need to know is that she’s mine, and I’m not backing down.”
I leave Crow hogtied in Mateus’s bedroom. On my way to hijack the Hummer for my ride back to town, I see Karina’s red sedan idling up the road. I jog toward it, praying to hell there wasn’t a fourth member of Crow’s crew who could have gotten to her. Relief floods me when the driver’s door swings open and she emerges.
“Karina. What are you doing here?”
“Get in. Hurry. Mateus is waiting for us.”
Not wanting to waste time, I get in and she hits the gas, jolting us forward. A few minutes later, we’re at the edge of town. The streets are busy with a weekend market. Lots of eyes, but lots of opportunities to go unnoticed too.
I see Mateus leaned against his car as Karina parks nearby. He doesn’t pay me a second glance. He goes to Karina and all but rips her out of the car and hauls her into his arms. “Karina,” he whispers into her wavy black hair.
I glance back to the crowd, scanning it for the one familiar face I’m eager to find.
“Where’s Isabel?”
Mateus looks up, his forehead creased with worry. “I did as you asked, Tristan. I would have kept her with me otherwise.”
“It’s fine,” I say, though I’m sure an apology is in order since I strongly considered killing him not so long ago. My distrust of him could have cost Isabel her life, a possibility that won’t be ruled out until I find her safe.
I reach into my bag. He tenses until I retrieve the frame. “Here,” I say, handing it to him. “You probably won’t be able to go back for a while. I figured you’d want this.”
He takes it without a word, opens and closes it quickly. Then he looks up and slowly reaches out his hand. I pause to consider the gesture and what it means. A reaffirmation of a relationship built on blood and revenge. Then I lift my arm and our palms meet and mold.
It’s as close to forgiveness as we’ll get for now.
“Where will you go now?” he asks.
I glance back to the crowd. “Time to disappear.”
He takes the keys from Karina and hands them to me. “For your getaway.”
“Thanks,” I say.
“Thank you for not shooting me.”
Karina’s eyes grow wide and angry. “What? You were going to shoot him?”
Mateus hushes her. “It’s nothing. I promise you.”
“It’s nothing? He is your friend, Mateus.”
His lips thin. “He is,” he says quietly. He reaches for the door of the Envemo and ushers Karina inside.
CHAPTER NINE
ISABEL