Chapter 30

Ihear the noises. The shouting. The constant popping and banging. Violence unfolds somewhere dangerously close to my dark spot in the basement, and it makes my blood run cold as I stand and try to listen while also banging on the door.

“Let me out!” I holler, then try to push it open with my shoulder.

My back hurts. My legs are stiff. But a much needed shot of adrenaline brings my whole body back to life as I dare hope there may be rescuers here. Who else could be causing all that bedlam?

I freeze as the door swings outward and Kyle grabs me before I can do anything. He’s got me by the hair, his hold firm as he yanks me through the narrow corridor. The smell of smoke is intoxicating, and it’s making my eyes sting.

“What’s going on?”

“Come on, sweetheart, we need to get you out of here,” he says in a rushed voice.

I try to look around, to figure out what’s going on. There’s too much smoke, too many turns. Windows are shattered. Boots thud frenetically across the ground floor. Gunshots echo everywhere, along with men’s voices darting every which way. Bodies falling. It’s happening too fast, and I can’t make much sense of any of it.

My heart is beating a thousand miles a minute.

I’m coughing, struggling to breathe, and constantly tripping as I try to keep up. My scalp burns, but Kyle won’t let go of my hair. The closer we get to wherever he’s taking me, the clearer the air becomes.

“Nobody knows about this exit,” he says as we enter a small room. Even in the darkness, I can still recognize a desk and dusty bookshelves. It’s some kind of private study. “Whoever built this place was running a booze line during the Prohibition Era. Check this out.”

He pushes me to the side and pulls open a bookcase. Through the window next to it, I see a large stone wall. This cabin wasn’t just built with a solid, river stone foundation. It was carved into the frickin’ mountain. I gasp at the sight of more darkness and milky-white cobwebs, but I don’t have a single second to spare.

“Fuck you, Kyle,” I slap his hand away and try to run in the opposite direction, bolting straight for the door as violence and chaos grow louder somewhere beyond. I’m not sure what I’m about to walk into, but I’ve got a feeling it beats sticking around here with dirtbag Kyle.

He grabs me by the back of the neck, fingers digging into my flesh until his nails draw blood. “Get back here, you stupid bitch, I’m trying’ to save you!”

“Let me go!” I scream over and over again.

Finally, my fight-or-flight instinct decides to join us in the ring.

“Nadia, I’m trying to help you!” the delusional idiot cries out and drags me away from the door.

But that same door swings wide open, and Colton joins this horrific party.

Kyle freezes. “Colt—”

Too late.

Colton shoots him in the head. I scream. I cover my mouth with both hands, sweat pouring down my face along with droplets of warm blood.

It’s the second time today I’m wearing someone else’s blood.

“That’s why I hate working with spineless sacks of shit and two-bit whores,” Colton says, pointing his gun at me. “You, darling, you seem like a nice girl, but I’m sorry, it’s the end of the line for you.”

Boots rumble somewhere above us and through the corridor, getting louder and louder. More gunshots. More bodies falling. Someone cries out in sheer agony before another shot is fired. Colton’s finger starts squeezing the trigger, and fear washes over me in waves of hot and cold as I bring my hands up to try and defend myself.

“You don’t want to do this,” I tell him, my voice barely a whisper.

“Oh, but I kind of do. I didn’t play my cards right, and I’m a sore loser.”

BANG!

I flinch and yelp and close my eyes, expecting to feel pain, the darting sting of a bullet piercing through my body. My life ending. The silence seems to last forever until I hear Colton’s grunt as he falls to the floor.

I try to move farther back, briefly content to be alive, but I scream again as I trip over Kyle’s body and fall on my ass.

“Nadia!” Orion’s voice cuts through the madness, my ears ringing as I try to understand what’s happening.

“I’m okay.”

I manage to look up. Colton is down, groaning but still alive as blood pools under his left shoulder. Standing in the doorway, Orion stares at me with a mixture of relief and disbelief, but it’s only when Kai and Drake show up behind him that I fully understand the moment and its significance.

“I’m okay,” I whisper, saying the words again as if to convince myself that it’s true. Hell, I could pinch myself just to check, but the sheer relief that’s flooding my body is enough confirmation. “I’m okay.”

“You are,” Orion says and rushes over to get me.

As soon as he falls to his knees and throws his arms around me, as soon as I’m wrapped in the warmth and safety of his embrace, I can’t stop myself from shaking and crying my heart out.

The popping and howling in the cabin continues as the remaining Devils go down in a hail of gunfire. They’re no match for these fighters, I know that now. Somehow, they found me. My men went to hell and back and found me.

“You’re okay,” Kai adds as he comes closer.

Drake slaps a pair of cuffs on Colton, completely unmoved by his pain. “Be thankful you’re still alive, asshole,” my lover tells his foe. “If it were up to me, you’d be joining your idiots down the hall.”

“It’s over,” I say as Kai leans down and plants a kiss on the top of my head. “It’s really over.”

“It is, baby. We got you,” Orion says, unwilling to let me go.

I don’t want him to let go, ever. We just survived the worst fucking night of our lives. Every fiber in my body feels taut and stiff, while my joints crackle with every move. I’m exhausted. I’m panting and crying and letting everything out, but I am safe and my babies are safe.