50. Riley
“Oh god,”Chloe whimpers as everyone springs into action at once.
Logan reaches under his seat and efficiently reloads as Dante jerks the wheel, angling the Escalade across the alley to give us the maximum protection it can provide. My heart races, my stomach sour with fear and the gun Dante gave me shaking as I try to focus on what I need to do.
Protect Chloe.
Hold them off.
Maddoc doesn’t give me a chance. He hustles me and Chloe out the door that’s angled away from the West Point car, opening fire over our heads. Dante grabs a spare weapon from beneath his seat, then he and Logan slide out and use the Escalade for cover, their guns blazing the minute their feet hit the pavement.
“Clear an opening,” Maddoc directs them grimly, keeping his big body between the West Point shooters and me and Chloe. “We’ll go over the fence.”
All three Reapers have their weapons raised, the continuous sound of their gunfire as they try to create a path out of this shit creating a deafening roar. Bullets ricochet between the brick walls that make up either side of the alley, and I don’t even realize I’m screaming until my throat starts to feel raw, the gun in my hand growing so warm it feels like a living beast.
Maddoc shouts something, but I can’t hear what he’s saying, and just when he starts to wave us toward the back of the alley, another car tears around the corner and joins the one that has us blocked in.
Austin McKenna gets out, a handful of his goons tumbling out after him and spreading out in a formation that allows them to spray the back of the alley with their firepower.
Austin stares at us from behind his row of goons, a smirk on his face that makes me want to see it smeared across the pavement.
“You’re not going anywhere, Maddoc,” he yells, a gun he’s not firing held loosely in his hands as he lets his men do all the work for him.
“Wrong,” Maddoc says, his jaw clenching so tight that the muscle starts to tick.
Austin laughs mockingly, but Maddoc ignores him, his eyes scanning the alley again as he assesses the situation. I hold in a sob. Even I can see that West Point has cut off any chance we might have had of making it up and over the fence behind us now, and there’s nowhere else for us to go.
The steel I see in Maddoc’s spine tells me he’s not conceding defeat, though. West Point has us outgunned and boxed in. I don’t know what he thinks he can do, but I understand. He’ll never surrender to Austin McKenna. It’s not in his nature.
Chloe clings to me, her head down and her body trembling. “Riley?”
“We’ll be okay,” I lie, my eyes darting toward the three Reapers as they talk in low tones that the gunfire almost masks completely, still trying to figure a way for us to get out as Austin yells at his men to get us out from behind the Escalade.
The West Point goons start to advance, and the Reapers go silent, their focus on returning fire.
“You don’t have to die here,” Austin yells. “Just give up the Sutherland girl.”
Chloe whimpers, her nails digging through my jeans where she clings to me, and I take aim and do my best to take Austin’s fucking head off.
My shot misses, and his eyes narrow as his gaze lands on me. “You’re the one the meeting was with, yeah?” He spits on the ground, his eyes flaring with a sadistic light. “Only Maddoc Gray could have had a gold mine like you right under his nose for so long and not even fucking known it.”
“We know what she’s worth,” Maddoc calls back grimly, a tone in his voice that makes my chest hurt.
Austin won’t understand, but I hear it, and Maddoc’s not talking about my inheritance. It makes me want to cry. These three men gave up so much to help me. Even now, a quick glance at their grim faces tells me the truth.
They’ll give up everything… except me. But no matter how determined they are, they’ll die if they stand their ground right now. Chloe might die. Even if the other Reapers who were escorting us today somehow make it here, it will be too little, too late. Austin is all but toying with them now, taunting Maddoc for his own sadistic pleasure but making sure his goons keep us pinned down while we use up the last of our ammo.
And I can’t let that happen.
I can’t let my sister fall back into Austin McKenna’s hands.
I can’t let these three men lay down their lives for me.
I can’t.
A shot from one of the West Point goons ricochets off the Escalade’s door, making Logan duck and curse. Dante’s gun jams, and Maddoc—who’s been shooting two-fisted ever since we all tumbled out of the Escalade—tosses his spare to his brother as Austin’s men open fire again.
“Don’t hit the girl,” he shouts, pistol whipping one of his own men when the new slew of gunfire makes me duck. “We need her alive to claim the cash.”
“That will never fucking happen,” Dante says, ejecting the clip he just used up and popping a new one—the last one, from what I can see—into the gun Maddoc gave him.
One of Austin’s men shoots it out of his hand, and something in me snaps. I rise to my feet, holding my weapon loosely above my head in a gesture of surrender.
“Stop!” I call out, my heart thundering as loudly as the gunfire that suddenly ceases all around me.
Austin grins with a manic light in his eyes. “You want something, baby?”
I want him to die… but I want the men I care for, the Reapers, and my sister, to live even more.
I lift my chin. “I’ll go with you if you let them go.” Logan rears back and Dante spins to face me, but I keep my eyes trained on Austin, hating myself a little when my voice cracks. “I’ll… I’ll marry you, if that’s what you want. So you can have access to the money.”
“The fuck you will,” Maddoc spits angrily, grabbing for me.
A shot rings out from one of Austin’s men, making him yank his hand back, and I hold Maddoc’s gaze.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
“You’re not doing this,” he growls, crowding me against the side of the Escalade as Chloe starts to cry.
I cup his face, staring into his eyes as my heart starts to crumble. “I have to.”
“No,” he rasps, covering my hand with his and pressing his jaw into my palm. His eyes burn into me, seeing right into my soul exactly the way Dante claimed they would, and I don’t blink—I can’t—as I lean in and press my lips against his. Breathe in his breath. Let the rough stubble against my hand ground me in this moment, just for a second.
And then that second is over.
I step back, walling off the pain in my heart. Maddoc reaches for me, something wild flashing in his eyes. I know he’s going to try to stop me, and I can’t let him do that. So I bring up my gun and take the safety off, the harsh click unmistakable as I cock it and aim it at his heart.
My hand shakes, but Maddoc freezes, getting the message. He grits his teeth, his jaw going tight and emotions that neither one of us ever had the courage to put into words cascade across his face.
Finally, he rasps, “You won’t shoot me.”
“But this way, neither will they.” I steady the gun and take another step backward. And then another. “You have to let me go.”
“You’re making a mistake,” he grits out, his gaze locked onto mine.
“Keep Chloe safe.”
He closes his eyes for a split second, but not before I see the war of grief and rage there. When he opens them again, he’s pulled the mask of the Reaper leader into place. His body is unnaturally still. Poised to pounce on me the minute I waver… so I don’t.
My eyes flick toward Dante and Logan, and the expressions on their faces are so raw and tortured that I almost break. Chloe has tears streaming down her face, but the way she shakes her head frantically is just a reminder of how all this started. I’ll do whatever I need to, to keep the ones I love safe. Everything else may have changed over the last few weeks, but that never will.
Especially not now that my sister is no longer the only one I’m trying to keep alive.
I keep the gun steady, a reminder that I won’t change my mind, and touch my fingers to my heart, tracing a spiraling, twisting shape as I hold Dante’s eyes. He permanently inked my mark onto his body, but I remember the way he marked me too.
He nods, the vibrant green of his eyes blazing with recognition, and I drag my fingers to the right, running them over the twin scars Logan gave me. Logan’s mask slips, the emotional distance he’s put between us since the night we all fucked ripped away in an instant.
I look to Maddoc. He hasn’t blinked. He barely looks like he’s breathing. And I fucking hate that he’s about to see another woman walk away from him and into Austin’s arms.
“I’m not her,” I say, holding his gaze.
His jaw ticks. “I know.”
“Tick tock, baby,” Austin calls out, tapping the gaudy gold watch on his wrist. “If you want me to leave any of these Reapers standing, time is running out.”
I want to say something else, to promise things I can’t, but my throat is too tight with unshed tears, and all I can do is hope that they know.
Then rough hands are on me, snatching my gun away and shoving me roughly into the back of the silver car. Austin slides into the back seat next to me, his hand twisting my hair into a leash, and one of the goons slips into the driver’s seat, gunning the engine before the doors even close.
The last thing I hear as we speed away from the alley is a hoarse roar of fury from Maddoc.
But he’s alive.
They all are.
And if this is what it takes to keep them that way, then it’s worth it.