Chapter 34

Keelan

A s I yanked the metal door leading into the storage building, a cacophony of alarms started blaring, rattling my eardrums. The fuckers must have rigged the entrances. They knew I was coming. Gavin and I ducked into a dark office, so I could take out my phone.

“Goddamn, that’s loud,” I said, looking at Gavin. “We’ll have to hurry so they can’t pin us down.”

“Which way do we go? There’re so many fucking hallways in this place,” he said, looking down at the GPS on my phone.

“Now that we’re close, the bracelet’s tracker narrows the location a little more. It looks like she’s down this hallway about twenty feet and through that door.” I pointed to the black double doors on the other side.

“You know this is a trap, right?” Gavin said.

A wide smile grew on my lips. “Makes this so much more fun, doesn’t it?”

Gavin pulled back the slide chamber of his Glock and flashed me a feral smile that told me he was ready for this. He was prepared to fuck someone up.

Two wolves ready to take on a pack of lowly scum.

I withdrew my gun and clicked the safety off before adjusting it into a two-handed grip. Keeping the barrel pointed at the door, we moved down the hall. I grabbed the doorknob and turned, slowly cracking the door open. Carefully, we stepped inside the dimly lit room. Gavin quickly moved to the right to cover the area there. I looked toward the middle of the floor, where two figures were strapped to chairs.

Sadie!

“Keelan, watch out!” Sadie screamed from the gloom as a baseball bat flew toward the left side of my head. I spun on my heel and caught the bat with my left hand, stopping it mere inches from cracking my skull. I raised my right leg and kicked the attacker hard in the gut, sending him sprawling across the concrete floor before hitting his head on a post. As I took a couple of steps toward the downed man, my eyes found Sadie, whose bloodied, terrified face shattered my fucking heart. Sadie and her mother had been bound by rope to two metal chairs backing each other. Red-hot rage tinged the edges of my vision when I watched her struggle to free herself the moment her eyes met mine.

I’m going to kill them all.

The fucker I had kicked slowly clambered to his feet, chuckling like an asshole under his breath. “Damn, Keelan, all that time in the prison yard made you strong. That was a hell of a kick,” he said, stepping into the light. With a smug grin, he leisurely ran his hands through his dirty-blond hair, straightening out the mess. He cleared his throat and brushed off the dust from his suit nonchalantly, behaving like I hadn’t just sent his body flying across the room.

“You motherfucker,” I seethed as I recognized him.

“Who the fuck is this guy?” Gavin asked, coming to my side with his gun pointed at the man’s chest.

“That’s a dead man,” I growled, pointing my gun right at him, but Brian raised his hands in surrender.

“Relax, Keelan. How about we talk about this?”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” I spat, raising the gun higher to aim at the center of his forehead. “You took Sadie from me, so unless your next move is to untie her, I’m going to fucking kill you.”

Brian stepped back, closer to Sadie, and rolled his eyes to her. “Go on, baby. Tell him.”

My brows furrowed, and my right eyelid twitched. Baby? He’s dead.

Sadie swallowed, tears running down her cheeks. “My father hired Brian to track me. They now know the tattoo would lead them to those files Patrick collected. My dad has known this entire time. I didn’t tell him shit, though. This cut on my mouth is proof,” she said, turning her head to glare at him. “Baby, feel free to shoot the worthless bastard in the knee.”

Surprised at the ruthless princess in the chair, I was more than happy to oblige her request.

Before I could pull the trigger, the crack of a gun went off in the dark warehouse somewhere to our right. Sadie and Aisling screamed. Gavin cursed and collapsed on the ground next to me. I grabbed his arm and pulled him behind a stack of wooden crates .

“I’m good, I’m good,” he said with a low grunt. “The shooter only grazed my shoulder a little. Kill that smug prick.” Gavin stood, grunting again. “I’ll find the asshole who shot me. Go.”

I nodded and bolted around the boxes. Before I could raise my gun, Brian was already barreling toward me, slamming his body into my gut and knocking me to the ground. The gun fell from my hand and skidded a few feet away from me.

Sadie screamed my name as my back slammed into the concrete, and Brian’s fist collided with my jaw. The iron tang of blood filled my mouth, which only pissed me off even more. I wrapped my legs around Brian’s midsection and grabbed his throat with both hands. Rocking my body, I tried throwing him off of me, but I couldn’t get the right angle.

Gavin ran past us to the right, firing shots toward the rafters above. From over Brian’s shoulder, I saw an armed man partially hidden behind a metal railing, aiming for my head. Gavin fired another shot, this time striking him in the throat. The man toppled over the railing and landed on the warehouse floor in a heap of broken bones and blood. Gavin grabbed the fallen baseball bat and charged at us, swinging it down onto Brian’s head with a sickening thud. He slumped over me, and I was finally able to throw him off. Then Gavin reached down to grab my hand and help me up.

“I’m not sure if that guy was the one who shot me, so we’ll need to hurry in case there are others.”

There was a shuffling noise behind me, and I turned to see Brian up and moving to Sadie. I scooped my gun off the ground, aimed at his right shoulder, and pulled the trigger without waiting a beat. Blood splashed on the ground as the bullet sliced across the thick meat of his arm, and he fell before he could reach her .

Sadie shrieked again at the blood splatter, and Aisling tried to grab her hand to comfort her. Her body shuddered against the ropes, and her eyes were wide with terror. My chest tightened.

It didn’t matter if Sadie wanted me only to slow Brian down, but once there was blood, her response broke something in me—like the warehouse—like the men behind the bar. Once again, I subjected her to blood, gore, and violence.

“Sade,” I cried out, running to her. Gavin followed behind, keeping his gun trained on Brian’s moaning body. “It’s okay, baby, I’m here.” I pulled my knife from its sheath and slid it under the ropes. I sawed until they snapped, freeing her and Aisling.

Immediately, Sadie jumped from the chair, throwing her arms around me. She buried her head in my chest and sobbed. I hugged her back, wanting to hold her forever, to kiss away the wounds and pain inflicted on her, but when Brian groaned on the ground behind us, I pushed her behind me.

Gavin still had his gun pointed at Brian’s bleeding head. When he looked at me for instructions, I nodded once.

“Close your eyes, baby.”

“Wait, wait,” Brian shouted. “I can help you! Killing me won’t stop anything. Even after they get what they want, they won’t stop until they kill her and you!”

I held up my hand for Gavin to stop.

“You’ll never escape this city without my help, Keelan. The dirty cops on Finn’s payroll already know I’m delivering Sadie to her father.”

My eyes narrowed to slits as I glared at him. The fucker was more concerned about himself than hurting Sadie .

“Listen to me. Finn isn’t the only player in all this. If you kill me, you might as well deliver Sadie yourself and slap those handcuffs back on.”

I stepped toward him. “What’s Finn’s next step?”

Brian shifted and sat up, placing his hand over his wounded shoulder. “He’s expecting me to deliver her and the files within forty-eight hours. If I help him, he’ll destroy the files that he has on me. That was the deal. Keelan, I never meant to hurt Sadie. I was desperate. I had a job to do, and I fucked it all up. Luring you here was my second assignment. Finn wants you dead or back in prison. This entire city will be swarmed with police and roadblocks if everything doesn’t go exactly as he planned it to. The best thing you can do now is get Sadie out of here and someplace safe. If I don’t report to Finn with an update, he will come here, and you’re all fucking dead.”

“Go wait with your mom,” I whispered to Sadie, and I moved closer to Brian. She ran to her mother, wrapped her arms around her waist, and the two stepped back.

I holstered my gun and looked down at Brian. “Why are you telling us this? Getting me here was part of the plan, too, so why warn us now?”

Brian’s eyes went to Sadie, softening into something sad, which irked me. “First, I’m not ready to die.” He winced again, gripping his shoulder as blood seeped through his fingers. The motherfucker was going to pass out before I even had a chance to kill him. “Also …” He kept looking at my wife with such disgusting longing. “I care about her, too. I know what I’ve done is fucked up, but it’s too late now. Find the files before Finn finds another way to get his hands on her. You want to protect her? That’s how. Get the files and bring him down. There is no way in hell you’re leaving this city alive otherwise. But if you get my name out of those documents, I’ll help you two disappear.”

I barked out a laugh, resting my hand on the butt of my gun. “Yeah, right. You tracked my fiancée for almost a year, fucked her, lured her away from me, intending to hand her over to her dad, and now you want to save her?”

Brian shook his head. “When I took the assignment, I only cared about those documents. Finn was using them to keep me in line. You and I both know he’s going to kill or hide her away once he gets what he wants. He doesn’t know the code is in the tattoo, but he knows she has it. Even from the beginning, Richard only reported to Finn that Patrick handed the files to her. He completely misinterpreted the communication you and Patrick had before he died. He’s convinced that’s one of the reasons why she fled. He will torture his own daughter for that information, and you know it.”

“And now?” I asked.

“After I overheard part of the conversation you and Sadie had in the casino, I reported to Finn that the code to where the files were was on her body. It’s too late now. She’s their target.”

As much as I didn’t want to believe this asshole, he was right. Finn only cared about his wealth and power. As mayor of Los Angeles, he had too much to lose, so he would need to destroy evidence incriminating him, including his children.

He already did it with Patrick.

I slid my gun out. “How do I know you won’t go against your word once you have that file or turn me in to the police after we leave? ”

Taking another glance at Sadie, he pressed his lips together. “You don’t,” he said. “But you don’t have a choice, not when Finn knows you’re both here.”

Gavin looked at me, brows raised. “He could run out here and betray us, Kee.”

I smiled and said, “True, but it would be really painful for him to walk, let alone run,” right before I aimed at Brian’s foot and pulled the trigger. “We’ll be in touch, pretty boy.”

Brian’s screams filled the air as I holstered my gun again and went to Sadie. “Let’s go, baby.” I ran a finger gingerly near the gash in her head and down to the cut in her lip. The wounds Brian gave her. “I want to kill him,” I told her. Fuck, I needed to kill him.

Sadie cupped my cheek in her palm. “I know, but please don’t. For me, don’t kill him.”

Seeing her shining green eyes looking at me, feeling her warmth on my skin, made my heart soar. I didn’t care who was watching or that Brian was wailing in the background. I grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her close, our bodies pressed together. Our lips met in a gentle, lingering kiss, her mouth warm and wet against mine. Fuck, I needed to care for her, worship her, love her, and make her feel safe again.

Make her mine again.