Chapter 21
Footsteps thunder across the front hall as Gabriel puts his back to the wall beside me, both of us aiming at the office doorway as we wait for Tony’s men to find us.
“Three, maybe four,” Gabriel whispers.
My gaze sweeps across the wreckage of the office, the upended desk, the blood-soaked carpet, and Darrow’s lifeless body sprawled on the floor.
“I don’t suppose your cousin has a safe room,” I whisper.
“In the basement,” Gabriel responds. “There’s no way to get there from here.”
I firm my hold on the knife in my other hand, Winters’s blood gluing it to my palm. “Rather shortsighted of him.”
“I’ll be sure to tell him that once we’re out of here.” Gabriel mirrors my movements, checking the windows for possible escape routes.
His face bears a partial mask of dried blood, and fresh red still seeps from a gash above his eyebrow. A visible tremor runs through his hands, but his grip on the shotgun remains steady.
“Behind the desk?” I tilt my head toward the heavy wooden furniture.
He shakes his head. “Too obvious.”
Sirens wail in the distance, their sounds rising and falling, but too far away to help us. The police won’t arrive in time to stop whatever comes through that door next.
A floorboard creaks in the hallway, and Gabriel shifts to the balls of his feet, ready to spring. I count breaths to steady my aim.
“Gabe?” a calm voice cuts through the silence. “You alive in there?”
Gabriel’s head snaps up with relief. “Damien.”
Recognizing one of Gabriel’s many cousins, my shoulders sag, and I put the safety back on the gun before I lower it to the floor.
“We’re coming in,” Damien announces. “Don’t shoot.”
Gabriel steps back from the doorway, shotgun now hanging at his side. “You’re clear.”
The door swings inward, and a tall Alpha with red-brown hair and a runner’s build fills the doorway. Damien, twin to the assassin whose townhouse just became a crime scene.
He takes in the blood, the body, and our defensive positions in one sweep. “Looks like we didn’t need to rush over. You kids had things handled just fine.”
“Fuck you.” Gabriel wipes the blood away from his eyes. “You could have gotten here sooner.”
“And you could not have tampered with the house security, so you could hide out here.” He strides over and pushes Gabriel’s hair back, none-too-gently. “You’ll live for now.”
Gabriel shoves his hand away. “Asshole.”
“Who killed the guy out here?” a familiar voice calls, and Jade appears in the doorway.
He takes in the carnage in the office and whistles. “Fuck, you two throw one hell of a party.” He scans me from head to toe. “You look like shit.”
Aaiden Rockford appears behind him, his features carved from granite as he surveys what remains of his brother’s attacker. “Secure?”
“Winters is the one dead in the living room.” He sounds calm despite the visible trembling that’s spread from his hands up his arms. “This one is Darrow, a known associate of Tony Rosi. I couldn’t take him alive.”
“How did you know to come?” I manage, throat rough from screaming earlier.
Damien crouches to check Darrow’s pulse, a formality given the man’s slashed throat. “Sebastian saw you arrive on the door camera, and the guy who jumped you from behind. Called us when you two were taken down.”
Aaiden folds his arms over his chest as he stares at his little brother. “This wouldn’t have happened if you’d just come home.”
“Skyhaven was too far away from—” He cuts off, but when his eyes dart toward me, he gives himself away.
He clears his throat. “But there’s no time for that. Darrow said Tony and his men were on their way here.”
Damien shakes his head. “Tony’s already turned tail and ran.”
“What?” I demand. “How can you be so sure?”
Aaiden pulls out his phone to check a message. “Once he realized the family was responding en masse, he pulled his people back. Smart move, considering what’s left of his operation after this afternoon.”
“He’s a fucking coward,” Jade adds, peering through the blinds. “Always was. That’s why he hired scum like Darrow to do his dirty work.”
“What happened this afternoon?” I ask, still holding the knife.
Jade grins, feral with satisfaction. “We found his main distribution hub. Turns out our friend Darrow here was sloppy with his digital footprint.”
Damien rises from his crouch. “Sebastian tracked the money. After the encounter at Foundation, we had enough to find Darrow’s accounts, which led us straight to Tony’s main operation.”
“The police raid begins in forty minutes,” Aaiden adds. “Tony will be more concerned with saving his own skin than continuing his revenge plan on our family.”
The news should bring relief, but my brain refuses to accept that the danger has passed, that we survived. That Winters will never touch me again.
Gabriel, on the other hand, collapses like a marionette whose strings were cut, sitting with his back against the wall, the shotgun clattering to the floor from nerveless fingers. Blood still streaks his arms and face, the red vivid on skin gone pale with exhaustion.
The sight hits me harder than any violence tonight, but my feet remain frozen to the floor as he falls, unable to bridge the gap between us with the others watching.
Jade moves toward the door, pulling a gun from the holster under his arm. “I’ll secure the perimeter. Verify that Tony really did recall his goons.”
“Not alone!” Aaiden barks as he heads out the door.
His command earns him a middle finger from the young Omega before he vanishes from view.
“Hey, you okay?” Damien kneels beside Gabriel to probe along Gabriel’s scalp. “This wound is superficial. Are you hurt somewhere else?”
“I’m fine,” Gabriel grumbles.
Damien ignores him as he lifts Gabriel’s eyelids. “Pupils are equal and reactive. You don’t appear to have a concussion.”
Gabriel winces as Damien finds a tender spot. “I said I’m fine.” He tries to push the hands away. “Check Saint.”
“He’ll get checked when you do,” Damien responds, keeping his attention on his examination. “Both of you need medical attention.”
“We should get moving.” Aaiden’s brow furrows as he glances over his shoulder. “Cleanup team is en route to handle this scene. Medical is waiting at the manor.”
Gabriel sits still as Damien works, staring into the distance. His mind has retreated somewhere far from this blood-soaked room. His hands rest on his thighs, palms up, the shotgun forgotten on the floor. The adrenaline that kept him going has burned away, leaving behind a hollowed shell.
“Can you stand?” Damien asks him.
“Yeah.” But when Gabriel tries to rise, his legs buckle.
Damien catches him by the arm, steadying him. The shotgun clatters on the hardwood floor as Gabriel’s foot kicks out involuntarily.
The sound snaps me back to full alertness, my body tensing again, and I half-raise my weapons before I recognize allies, not threats. My heart races as Gabriel struggles to remain upright.
This man risked everything to warn me about the danger from my past. Came after me when I pushed him away. Fought beside me when we were captured. And now he can barely stand.
“My car is out front,” Damien says. “We can transport them both to the manor for medical attention.”
“Good idea,” Aaiden says with his head still cocked toward the hall. “Security will meet us at the main gate. Sebastian is clearing all traffic cameras between here and home.”
Aaiden’s words come from somewhere far away as Gabriel’s knees lock, and Damien steadies him until he finds his balance.
“I don’t want to go yet,” Gabriel protests.
Damien blinks. “That wasn’t a suggestion.”
“I’m aware.” Gabriel swallows. “But I… I need a minute.”
Gabriel stumbles past Aaiden and out into the hall.
The knife falls from my stiff fingers, and I shove the gun into my waistband before I follow, conscious of the other two Alphas trailing after us.
My stomach twists at the disarray of the living room, the furniture shoved out of place, an armchair overturned. And Winters sprawled on the rug, mouth slack, and a dark bloom soaking into the fibers beneath him.
Gabriel stops short at the coffee table and sinks onto its edge. His hands hang between his knees, his gaze locks onto Winters, and he doesn’t move.
Damien hesitates in the doorway, then turns to Aaiden. “I’ll get the car warmed up.”
“I’ll call Jade back,” Aaiden says as if he’s been waiting for the chance to do something.
Their footsteps retreat, the house settling into a heavy, unnatural quiet.
I stay where I am, watching Gabriel stare at the man who haunted my nightmares for years. Winters looks smaller like this. Less monstrous. Just another dead body in a long line of them.
Gabriel’s shoulders begin to shake, a subtle tremor at first, but then his breath stutters, sharp and uneven, and his hands curl into fists.
Whatever spell kept me in place shatters, and I move to put myself between him and the body, close enough that my boots brush his, and my chest fills his line of sight.
I touch his shoulder. “Hey, look at me.”
His head lifts, and tears spill over, tracking clean lines through the blood on his cheeks.
“I’m sorry,” he says, the words tumbling out too fast. “I should have stopped him. I told you I would. I should have been searching instead of moping here alone. Because of me, he got close to you, and—” His voice cracks. “I couldn’t protect you.”
Oh, fuck, I read this all wrong. His shock didn’t come from killing Darrow. It came from almost losing me.
I drop to a crouch in front of him, hands coming up to brace on his knees. “Gabe.”
He shakes his head, tears dripping off his lashes. “He touched you. He almost—” His chest heaves. “I saw him grab you, and I couldn’t stop him. I thought—”
“Hey, I’m okay. He didn’t do anything.” I slide one hand up to his wrist, gripping him hard. “None of this was your fault.”
A small, broken sound escapes him, nothing like the man who held a shotgun with steady hands only minutes ago.
His hands come up to clutch the fabric of my shirt, pulling me closer, and he buries his face against the side of my neck. “I’m sorry.”
“Me, too.” I stroke his back. “So fucking sorry. I should never have—”
I stiffen and pull away from Gabriel.
He protests, trying to pull me back in, but I shush him. “Just one second, and then I’ll hold you until you get sick of me, okay?”
With reluctance, he releases me, and I scramble toward the front door, searching through the debris until my hand locates the envelope I dropped when Darrow tasered me.
In the chaos of our capture and escape, I’d forgotten about it. What if someone else had found it, and the contents landed on Aaiden Rockford’s desk?
I could have ruined so much with my need for payback.
I return to Gabriel and hold the envelope out to him. “I ordered this when I was angry. When I wanted you to hurt like I was hurting.”
His hand trembles as it lifts, fingers hovering without touching.
“I never opened it,” I continue, my throat tight. “I crossed a line. What I did… using what you trusted me with as a weapon… There’s no excuse.”
Gabriel takes the envelope with shaking hands, staring at it as if it might bite.
I wait for Gabriel to tear it open and discover the truth he’s questioned his entire life. To confirm or deny his place in the Rockford family tree.
Instead, he lets out a shaky exhale and tucks the envelope into his jacket, still sealed. “I don’t need a lab report to tell me where I belong anymore. Not after tonight.”
“I’m so sorry I led Darrow straight to you.” My heart stutters in my chest. “I came to apologize and almost got you killed.”
“If none of this was my fault, then it’s not yours, either.” He lurches to his feet and grabs for me again. “Can we just promise to both try to be better?”
“Yeah.” I pull him to me. “This isn’t over, though. What happened tonight doesn’t erase what I did to you, or what you did to me.”
“No,” he agrees, arms coming around me again. “But maybe it’s a place to start over. We’ll work on rebuilding trust.”
“It might take some time,” I warn. “But I’m going to become a man who’s worthy of you.”
“Hey, don’t say the man I love is unworthy.” He nuzzles my cheek.
“Fuck, I love you, too.” I cup his cheek, directing his lips toward mine.
“We need to move,” Aaiden interrupts from the doorway, Jade pouting at his side. “The cleaners need to get to work.”
Gabriel straightens with a sigh. “I don’t think we’re getting out of going back to the manor.”
“How big is the bed in your suite?” I ask.
“Big.” Gabriel plucks at my bloody shirt. “I have a two-person shower, too.”
“After you both receive medical attention,” Damien says, leaving no room for further argument. “Car. Now.”
Gabriel pulls away first, but his eyes remain on mine, holding contact even as he moves toward the door.
I follow, drawn in his wake like gravity.
That is, until Aaiden steps between us to end the moment. “Save the romantic confirmation of life for when we’re not in the middle of a crime scene. Move.”
We follow him past Winters’s body without giving him a second more of our attention. I refuse to give him power over me again, even in death.
Outside, the night air hits me with a shock of cold, washing away the stench of blood and fear.
Two black SUVs idle at the curb, engines running, windows tinted to block anyone from seeing inside. Rockford security personnel stand at attention, their presence transforming the quiet cul-de-sac into a secured zone.
“My motorcycle…”
“We’ll have it brought to the manor,” Aaiden reassures me, and holds out his hand. “Keys.”
I hand them over, only for Jade to snatch them from Aaiden’s palm. “Dibs!”
Before he can scamper away, Aaiden grabs him by the collar. “No.”
I turn away as they start to argue. I don’t care who drives my bike, or whether it ever reaches the manor. The Rockfords can replace it. Staying close to Gabriel is the only thing that matters.
Whatever happens next, I won’t let him out of my sight again.