CHAPTER 44
Anton presses a gun into the back of Knox’s head, his face paling, hand shaking. A scared man is a lot like a scared animal — reckless, unpredictable, ready to do just about anything to survive.
“You don’t seem too happy to see me.” I step a bit closer, and Knox lets out a grunt as Anton shoves the muzzle of the gun harder into the back of his skull.
He lifts his blue eyes to me. There’s rage there, but as he runs his eyes over me, I know it isn’t for the situation he is in.
It’s because of the one I am in. He appears mostly unhurt aside from the cut at his temple and fat and split lip.
“It’s over Elena,” Anton’s hand trembles, and behind him, Cade closes in.
I had no idea what to think when Cade told me the plan.
And it worked, of course, but there were so many things that could have gone wrong and still could.
I have his men at my back, ready to fight this war with me.
They met me before I stormed the house, making Anton and his men believe I was alone.
I’ve not seen men work the way these guys did. It went beyond simple fighting; it was organized, a dance, and I knew all the steps.
“Is it?” I ask, “How about a deal?”
“I’ll kill him, Elena,” Anton threatens, “You or him! Decide!”
Knox shakes his head. “Do not even think about it, Hellion.” He warns, that accent of his a balm on my soul. I hadn’t realized just how much I loved the sound of it — like warm honey and a shot of whiskey. It rolls through you, coats your veins, settles into your soul.
“You want me?” I ignore Knox. “You let him go.”
“Elena!” Knox snaps.
“You’re outnumbered, Anton,” Cade speaks up. “You kill her, we kill you. You hurt him, Elena hurts you. You cannot win.”
“You’re a fucking traitor!” Anton spits at him.
“No,” Cade chuckles. “I just played a game. It isn’t my problem if you can’t keep up with the rules.”
“So how about that deal, uncle?” I purr, fluttering my lashes, “I’ll even give you a chance. Your men are dead, you sent all the others away, you really don’t have much choice.”
I see a flicker of pride in Knox, but again, I keep my focus on Anton. I can’t risk his life.
It’s simple. I cannot live without him.
“What deal?” Anton spits.
“I’ll give you a three-minute head start,” I tell him. “You let him go.”
Pulling out the cell Cade gave me, I open a timer, finger hovering over the start button.
“You’ll kill your own uncle? The last of your flesh and blood?”
“Don’t try that bullshit with me,” I snap at him. “Do we have a deal? Three minutes is an awfully long time, Anton. You might even have a chance.”
“Elena,” My uncle’s voice shakes, “Let’s just —”
“One.” I hold up a finger.
“We can sort this out, we’re family.”
“Two.”
Knox chuckles in his chair, and part of me wants to smile at him. Because he knows. We’ve fucking won.
I open my mouth to count the final number, but my uncle bolts and I hit the button on the timer.
He shoves past me and out the door, slipping on a puddle of blood that stains his obnoxiously pristine white suit. I rush over to Knox, moving to the rope, but his arms come around me, pulling me onto him. His face buries into the side of my neck, and he holds me so tight, I almost can’t breathe.
“Wait, you’re free,” I rasp.
“Got out of these ages ago, darlin’, was waiting for the right moment until you showed up.”
“You let him go?” Cade crosses his arms.
“It takes seven minutes from here to get out of the house. He isn’t going anywhere.” I tell him, glancing at the clock counting down the time. “A deal is a deal.”
Knox’s thumb swipes over my cheek, the pad of it coming away red. “So violent.” He muses.
“I’m all for putting on a show,” Caden drawls, “But now may not be the time.”
“You don’t get to fucking watch,” Knox bites.
The alarm begins to blare on my cell, and my heart kicks up.
“Time to go hunting.” I pocket the device and get to my feet. “You coming, or am I going to have to do all the work?”
Perhaps it’s overkill. There’s fifteen of Cade’s men following the three of us, every weapon drawn, every door and hall searched.
He hasn’t made it out, that much I know, he’s left bloody footprints all down the halls from where he slipped.
He’s hiding like the coward he is.
Bodies litter the floor; blood is sprayed up the walls. It’s a massacre of my own creation, and honestly, it enhances the décor. It was all so sterile.
Being back in this house has only made me realize how much I didn’t miss it. None of it, not the winding, maze-like halls or the many empty rooms. Not the oversized kitchen and oversized living rooms with furniture that never got used or bedrooms that never got slept in.
I’m not giving up the city, but this house… This house is no longer my home.
Carter Cattle Ranch, with the mountains and the forests and the goddamn bull named Ralph. That’s my home.
Knox is my home.
“He’s trapped,” Knox rasps at my side, “Reckless. We need to tread carefully.”
“Kill on sight,” I order, making it loud enough for the entire group to hear.
“Be careful, Elena,” Knox has since armed himself, and I can feel his anticipation. It vibrates through him. He wants the kill as much as I do.
“I always am.” I reply.
“Bullshit.” He snaps back.
I roll my eyes. “Break up. Find him, kill him. I want this over.”
Without a single word, the group sections off into pairs, taking different rooms and halls in search of my uncle, leaving just me, Knox and Cade.
“No more deals,” Cade grumbles.
“Don’t plan on it,” I hit back.
We come out a side door, into a courtyard garden where a fountain sprays water into the air and a couple of wrought iron benches surround it.
The air is hot, heavy even, but it’s silent out here, too still.
With its secluded and sheltered position, the wind doesn’t touch the plants that grow; the leaves not touched by a single breeze.
I spot the stark white suit way before the others, see the flash of gun metal as it catches in the sun.
My uncle fires and I move, not willing to accept any other outcome.
I stop in front of Knox, hands grasping his arms on either side as the bullet hits me on my lower right flank.
For just a second everything ceases. It goes still and silent; there’s no water trickling, no shoes tapping or breathing. Wide eyes meet mine as hands grasp me, the pain waiting at the sidelines for time to resume.
“Elena!” Knox roars, and sound rushes back in.
Several shots are fired, but all I feel is my knees buckling, my heart slowing, warmth blooming against my back with a sticky kind of wetness that makes my skin crawl.
“Stay with me,” Knox catches me when my legs can no longer hold me. “Stay with me, Elena.”
A scream rips from me as hands press to the spot on my back, the pain a bright burst that rips through me. It sets my blood on fire, turns my bones to dust. When I was shot in the thigh, the pain was bad, but this? This feels as if everything inside of me has just imploded.
“No!” Knox roars. “No! This isn’t how it ends!”
“Call for the medics!” Caden’s voice sounds as if it’s coming from behind a pillow, muffled to the sound of blood thumping inside my ears. Knox lowers me to the floor, keeping me steady, supporting my body. I’m not sure I’d be able to do it myself.
“Why did you do that, Hellion!?” Knox holds my eyes, his own glistening, the blue of them so bright, electric, turning them neon against the dark lashes and stern brows. “Why?”
I can feel my heart slowing inside my chest, the thump of it feeling as if it’s pushing against my skin.
“Because that’s what you do,” I rasp, “When you love someone.”
I watch a single tear drop from his eye, rolling down his cheek before it catches in the hair around his mouth.
“And I do.” I use whatever strength I have left to lift my hand and wipe away that tear. “I love you.”
“Then you don’t fucking leave me!” Knox growls, his hand wrapping around my wrist to hold my hand to his face, “You stay with me, Elena. Stay with me, please. I’ll do anything.”
“I’ll try,” I lie.
I’ve been close to death a couple of times, toed the line, but I’ve always known it wasn’t quite the right time, but here, right now? The pain is gone; my body is numb, but I feel the blood, my life essence, running from me, pooling beneath. My body isn’t working; my heart is slowing down.
“But just in case,” I wheeze, “Can you tell me again?”
His eyes bounce between mine, another tear rolling down his cheek. I don’t have the strength to wipe this one away, and it seeps beneath my palm resting there.
“I love you.” He whispers.