Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 105065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 525(@200wpm)___ 420(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 525(@200wpm)___ 420(@250wpm)___ 350(@300wpm)
I can’t fucking take it. I can’t. I’m going to have to hurt him, and then I’m going to die. But it’s better than this. Better than letting him do this. I can only hope that Lachlan and Dom will make him suffer. Make him pay for what he’s done to us.
When he spins me around again, I draw in a deep breath. This is it. I’m going to break his nose and then kick him in nuts as hard as I can. At least if I hurt him badly enough, I know he won’t be trying to put it inside any of us. It’s my only option at this point.
His hands are running up and down my sides, and my skin is crawling. It’s now or never. I let my body go slack so he thinks he’s won. It only takes a minute for him to relax his grip on me. I rear up and back, slamming into him so hard I almost knock myself out in the process. Before he can recover, I spin around and spear my heel into his crotch. He’s screaming violently, and both of his men have their guns aimed and ready, waiting for the order.
I close my eyes and think of Lachlan. Of the last few months I’ve spent with him. My heart feels like it’s breaking in two. I wonder if he’ll ever think of me when he’s married. If he’ll ever remember the way it felt between us. Even after everything, after all of the hurt and the betrayal I feel, I still want him. I wish I could have known if even a small part of him still wanted me.
Everything is so loud. All three men are screaming. And then the gunfire erupts. I wait for the pain. For the crumpling to the floor and bleeding out. It’s taking longer than I expect. Everything is so much louder inside this container. It sounds like there are bombs going off. Like a ten car pileup on the freeway. Something slices through my arm, and I hiss in pain. But it doesn’t drop me.
I’m bleeding, I can feel that much. But they’re either a very lousy shot, or something else is happening. It isn’t until I hear his voice that I understand.
“Mack!”
I open my eyes, and that’s when I see him. My angel on the threshold with an assault rifle in his hands. At Lachlan’s flank are at least ten other men. One of the Armenian soldiers is already lying dead on the ground. The other one is bleeding badly, holding his arm across his guts, but he’s got one of the girls in front of him for cover.
Lach is screaming at me, but everything is happening so slowly. It’s too fucking loud. My head is throbbing and my ears are ringing. There’s blood all around me, and I can’t even tell who it belongs to anymore.
Lachlan moves towards me. His eyes are wide and he’s yelling something. I can’t hear him, but my body draws towards him like a magnet. My salvation. I’m so close. I just want to feel his arms around me, smell his body pressed against mine. I know I’ll be safe there.
But I don’t make it.
It isn’t until someone wraps an arm around me from behind and presses a gun to my skull that I understand. The man in the suit.
“Put down your weapons or she dies,” he orders.
Lachlan freezes. His eyes rove over me- a bloody mangled mess- and I briefly wonder if this is it. He was going to have to get rid of me eventually before he married. Maybe I am about to die after all.
Those thoughts don’t last long. Because Lach can’t hide the murderous rage that takes over. It sends another shot of adrenaline coursing through me, seeing that fire in his eyes. I want to tell him to kill them all. But the man behind me has such a painful grip on my hair that I know I’m not going anywhere this time. Lachlan considers his next move carefully while his men remain behind him, guns aimed and at the ready.
“Here’s how this is going to go,” the man behind me says. “I’m going to walk to the edge of the shipyard. I will release the girl when I get to my car, and we go our separate ways, for now.”
Lach’s eyes make it clear he isn’t going to let that happen. We both know I’ll be dead the moment we reach the edge of the shipyard. Still, the man behind me lurches us forward, believing he has the upper hand.
We take a few steps, and Lachlan’s finger twitches on his gun. The guy in the suit doesn’t miss a beat.
“Put it down!” he bellows again, digging the gun into my temple.
Lachlan moves to lower his gun, and panic wells in my chest. This sick fuck behind me will kill him. I know he’ll kill him. He tries to hoist me forward again, but I don’t move. Instead, I slam my foot up and back into his knee. He shrieks in pain, and I follow it up with a stomp to his other foot. His grip loosens and the moment of distraction is all I need to pull away from him.
Before he can do anything else, Lachlan lifts his gun and fires off a shot into the guy’s hand. The man is screaming in pain, and now fully disarmed when Lachlan follows it up with two bullets to the knees. Once he’s on the ground, Lachlan flings himself on top of him and punches him repeatedly in a fit of mania.
Everyone else scrambles into action, untying the girls and pulling them to safety. Nobody goes near Lachlan, and even I do nothing to intercede. There isn’t a single part of me that feels an ounce of remorse for this prick, even when his blood is so thick he chokes on it.
When his head finally falls limp against the floor, Lachlan takes him by the scruff of his hair and retrieves a knife from his pocket. He pushes it against his throat, and I close my eyes. I want it to happen, and I’m not sorry for that. I refuse to be sorry for that. But I still don’t want to see it.