46. Cordelia
Kai slips on a pair of jeans and tosses his rifle strap across his body. He looks at me one more time and silently leaves our bedroom. I hop out of bed in only my t-shirt and underwear. I grab my robe, wrap it around myself, and slip my pistol from my nightstand, then tiptoe to the bathroom to grab the shotgun. I hear a grunt and freeze, straining my ears to hear what’s happening. Something crashes, making me jump.
With the pistol in my hand, I freeze. I hear footsteps on the stairs and hurry for the bathroom to get the shotgun, closing the door right before it squeaks. Crap, my phone! This time, there are shouts, and guns go off. Fear fills my body, and I could slap myself for forgetting my phone.
I glance at myself in the mirror. Indecision wars in my body, and I take a deep breath, stilling all of it.
This is not who I am.
I walk out of the bathroom and lay the shotgun across the bed, knowing if I have to retreat back to our room, then I’ll shoot until I’m out of ammo.
I stand in front of the bedroom door and send a silent prayer before opening it. Kai and I didn’t go over tactics, but he did show me how to check corners. Gun first, I check each side of the hall. No one is up here. There are grunts and I can hear other movements. Another gunshot rings in my ears as a pained groan fills the air. My stomach sinks, praying to God that it’s not my husband making that sound.
My feet move quickly down the hall to the stairs with the gun raised in front of me, just like Kai showed me. There’s a man’s body lying at the foot of the stairs, dressed in all black with his throat slashed open and a black pool beneath him. I can only assume that’s blood.
My stomach hardens, and my heart is going to pop out of my chest if it keeps beating this hard. I hear what sounds like wood breaking as I continue down the stairs. There’s another grunt, and I lift my gun, checking the office, which is clear. Then I turn to the dining room and see another body lying across it, unmoving. I inhale as quietly as I can, slowly turning the corner. I look down the hall, and my stomach churns. I’m going to puke. A man is sitting up against the wall with his head tilted down, but I don’t think he’s breathing.
Moving quickly down the hall, I hear movement and press my back to the wall. I peek my head around the corner and see Kai’s bloodied face. He’s fighting another man covered head to toe in black, and righteous anger storms through me. Kai has a knife in his hand and makes swipes back and forth as the man lunges for him. The living room is a mess, with the coffee table in pieces and glass everywhere. Kai takes another swipe, and the man knocks the knife out of his hand. Kai grabs for the intruder again, spinning him into a chokehold. The man moves and elbows Kai in the ribs, the same one he hurt, and Kai involuntarily lets go with a painful grunt.
I wait with bated breath, unsure of what to do. Kai hauls off and punches the man again. The man drops his weight, driving his shoulder into Kai’s middle. Kai knees the man in the chin, but he’s barely hanging on. He takes a few steps back, tripping on something behind him, and falls down. Out of the corner of my eye, I see the man grab the dropped knife and make a move towards Kai, raising it to plunge it through his chest. I don’t think twice and step out from behind the wall and shoot. I hit him somewhere in his back, and he turns, looking at me in shock. He takes a step towards me, and I keep shooting until a bullet lands in his eye. He drops to the ground like a sack of potatoes, but my finger keeps moving. The gun keeps clicking, but my finger won’t stop. I can’t take my eyes off the man on the floor as blood quickly pools around his body.
A hand comes over my own, making me almost leap out of my skin. “Baby, it’s me. It’s okay, you did good, you did good,” Kai coos. I blink, bringing him into clarity, and he gathers me in his arms. “It’s okay, it’s okay, we’re okay,” Kai says, trying to step in front of me. “Don’t look, gem, please,” he says. I lean my head against his chest, and he hisses. “Why did you come down here? You shouldn’t…you should have waited like I told you.”
“If you think I was going to wait for my husband to be killed and do nothing to try to stop it, you are seriously delusional,” I snap.
He sighs, remaining quiet because there’s nothing to say, and I would do it again.
I lean over to flip on the light and look at Kai. A sob bursts from my lips as I take him in. His face is all bruised, and blood is dripping down his lip and chin. There are thin slices across his chest and arms, with blood seeping slowly out of the cuts and blooming bruises surrounding it. “It’s okay, gem. I’ll live,” he says, trying to hug me again. Grabbing a towel from the bathroom, I dab his chest, and he winces.
“Sit,” I tell Kai, pushing him to the kitchen. He sits on the stool with a gun still in his hand. I don’t think I just do. I get our first aid kit from under the sink and start doctoring him up. I don’t know if there is still a threat to us. But I also know there are four bodies lying in my house, and clearly, they were here for us. I open my mouth to ask, but then a car door slams. Kai leaps to his feet and slowly approaches the front window. Slipping around the island, I grab a kitchen knife from the block and hope I won’t have to use it.
Kai comes back down the hall and opens the side door to the house. Emerson and Liam come running through, guns at the ready. Emerson stops and looks at me. He’s hard to read on a normal basis, but his face is stone as he takes me in. Liam curses and looks between Kai and me. “Everyone okay?” he asks. I nod, and he looks at Kai. “Damn, brother, did you get into a fight with a house cat?”
Kai throws him a look.
Emerson disappears down the hall, then quickly comes back. “Do you think anyone heard?”
“I’m honestly not sure,” Kai grunts.
“Then we need to move quickly.”
Liam and Kai nod, and I don’t know what to do. I’m thankfully numb. I don’t feel a single thing I should be feeling at the moment, but my body is in survival mode. Emerson and Liam get to work, and Kai slowly approaches me. I don’t know why he’s looking at me like that or taking such slow steps towards me. He reaches for my wrist, and I realize my hand is still wrapped around the large knife.
“Can I have this, baby?” I nod and relax my hand. He takes it and sets it on the counter. “Okay, I want you to go upstairs and pack a bag and get whatever you need. Don’t forget that grandma dress you know I love,” he says with a wink. My mouth won’t move, but I’m smiling in my head. Is that a thing? “Can you do that, or do you need to sit down? I can go pack you a bag.”
“No, I can do it.”
He grabs my face. “Look at me, Cordelia,” he commands. I slowly lift my eyes to his, and they are full of nothing but fury. “I love you, and everything will be okay.”
I nod in his hands. He kisses me hard and fast before pushing me towards the hall.
I try not to pay attention to the body I’m stepping over and go back up the stairs to get our things together.