Chapter Three #2
My focus is razor-sharp.
There is only one thing on my mind… Clover.
I can’t afford to stop, to hesitate, to get distracted.
A barrage of gunfire echoes through the warehouse, closer this time. I duck instinctively, feeling the heat of a bullet tearing past my ear. Blood trickles down the side of my face.
“Cover me!” Sin shouts, charging ahead, his boots pounding the floor like a war drum.
I move with him, ducking low, barreling through the smoke, every nerve on fire. My rifle barks in my hands, and another soldier goes down.
But we’re not alone.
I hear the familiar click of reloads and the shuffling of feet.
The Cartel is trying to flank us.
But it’s too late, we’re already inside, already making them bleed.
But the real fight? That’s still ahead.
My pulse spikes as I hear Clover’s voice, faint but unmistakable, like a beacon through the smoke.
“Phoenix?” Her voice is breathless, wild, but it’s hers, and it fucking shreds me to pieces. “Phoenix, oh my God. You came! You actually came to save me?” There’s a squeal at the end, like she’s won the lottery and I’ve just handed her a brand-new motorcycle.
But that’s not Clover.
Not the real her.
That’s the serum talking.
I force my way through the thick, choking haze. My boots slam against the cold metal stairs, every step a pulse of urgency in my veins. I’m getting closer. I can hear her clearer now, and it cuts through me like a blade.
“Phoenix?” she calls again, like she’s floating somewhere far away. “I knew you’d come! You’re my husband, duh! Obviously, you’re here. You always smell like sex and gunpowder and… loyalty. Ugh, I love you so much right now. But I can’t see you, am I still dreaming?”
Did they mix something else into this truth serum?
I climb higher, the smoke thickening, but I’m fucking relentless. I can almost feel her presence, the pull of her like gravity, pulling me upward.
“Do you remember what we did in the Bellagio garden?” Her voice is louder now, almost too loud, echoing off the steel beams. “Because my clit definitely does. I haven’t stopped thinking about it.
Nearly getting caught! God Almighty. Can we do it again after you shoot all these assholes?
” She giggles at the end, and the fire in my veins freezes cold for a split second.
It’s not funny.
Not even close.
But goddamn if she doesn’t sound like herself, even when she’s half out of her mind.
“Jesus Christ,” Sin mutters behind me, voice tight with disbelief. “They really loaded her up on that truth serum. She’s high as a kite.”
My stomach squeezes, needing more than anything to get to her. Every step is heavier than the last, my lungs burning from the smoke, my heart beating louder with every floor I climb. I can hear her—her voice, her chaos—and the panic claws at my chest.
I’m not there yet.
Not close enough.
And then I hear it.
Another voice.
A man’s voice.
Closer this time.
“Someone gag that puta. She hasn’t shut up in an hour.”
I move before I can even think, shoving open the door with my shoulder, the crack of it splitting the air like thunder. My gun is raised high, I’m locked in and focused…
Until I see her.
Clover.
My wife.
She sits in the middle of the room, zip-tied to a chair. Her legs are bare. Her body is battered, bruised, and blood-stained, but it’s her.
Alive.
But not by much.
Her head is tilted, eyes glazed but still burning with that fire.
And then she sees me.
Her face lights up, a manic grin stretching across her face like she’s seen a goddamn hero in the middle of a war zone.
“Phoenix,” she squeals, her voice too loud, too fast. She struggles against the restraints, the chair creaking under the movement.
“You look so good right now. I told them you’d come save me. This is just like in the movies.”
That smile, so wide, so fucking off, it grips my heart, shattering it.
This is not my Clover.
Not yet.
But she’s still breathing, and that’s all that matters.
Across the room, a soldier stands tall, grinning like he’s the king of the goddamn world. His faded prison ink tells me everything I need to know about him—he’s used to this.
The violence.
The pain.
The control.
“Well, well,” he sneers, his voice laced with cruelty. “The husband shows up. Right on time.”
My finger tightens on the trigger. “Let. Her. Go.”
He laughs, low and ugly. “Why would I do that? She’s been so much fun. Your girl has a mouth on her. We were just getting to know each other.”
I can’t see straight anymore. I can’t hear straight. My world narrows to that fucking scar on his face, and the rage inside me boils over. “You touch her again, and I’ll put a hole through your skull.”
He widens that sickening grin. “She told us all about you. About how good you fuck her. About how she loves it when you choke her a little. So I used my rope and choked her a little… she laughed the whole time.”
Clover, still floating on whatever high they’ve given her, giggles. “I did say that. It’s true. Veeery true, and I did laugh, though he didn’t turn me on like you do while you choke me, baby.”
I don’t wait.
I don’t even blink.
Bringing my hand up, I pull the trigger, shooting him, a clean shot to the chest, dropping him in an instant. My relief is brief because the room isn’t clear.
Not by a long shot.
More soldiers flood in as Sin’s voice cracks through the chaos. “Down!”
Bullets shred the air around me, sending debris flying as I dive behind a stack of crates. The air is thick with gunfire, explosions in the distance, and the overwhelming scent of burning metal.
We’re not out yet, and Clover sits in the middle of the fucking room, laughing her head off, bouncing in place, completely oblivious to the danger around her. There are bullets flying past her, and it’s like she is having the best fucking time of her damn life.
But I’ll get her out.
I swear to God, I will.
“This is so exciting,” she calls out, her voice rising above the gunfire. “It’s like an action movie. Oh my God, are you going to dive through the air in slow motion? That would be so hot!”
Shell casings rain down across the floor.
Gunpowder thickens the air until it burns in my throat.
Every few seconds, another Cartel soldier goes down.
Sin moving through the room with brutal efficiency, Ghost picking them off from above with terrifying sniper accuracy, Nitro clearing the edges of the room like he’s done this a hundred times, and Koa moving in with his blades to take out any stragglers.
A bullet slams into the wall inches from my head, causing the concrete to explode in a shower of dust. I twist to return fire, heart in my throat, but through it all, I still hear her. “That was so close. Phoenix, you’re a beast. I swear I’m getting wet just watching this.”
“Clover!” I shout over the noise, slamming a fresh mag into my rifle. “Baby, I need you to shut up.”
“But, I love you,” she shouts right back, unfazed. “You look so hot when you’re violent. You’re like… sexy John Wick, only sexier!”
I grit my teeth and keep firing. Another Cartel soldier drops, and then another, until the last man standing, their leader, is backing toward the window with a pistol clenched in his fist and the barrel aimed right at Clover’s temple.
Panic washes over his features. Blood drips down his arm from a grazing shot, his confidence clearly unraveling. “Back the fuck off!” he snarls, eyes wild. “I’ll put a bullet in her skull. I swear to God—”
I freeze, weapon locked on him, every muscle in my body screaming for action.
But I can’t risk a shot.
Not with Clover that close.
“Ghost has the shot,” Sin says quietly at my side. “He’s already lined up. Just say the word.”
I don’t hesitate and simply nod.
A split second later, the window behind the Cartel leader explodes inward as the bullet punches through his skull, snapping his head forward violently.
Blood splashes over Clover’s face as his body crumples to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut, his gun skittering across the concrete floor.
The silence that follows is deafening, thick with smoke and the stink of blood and gunpowder.
“Oh. My. God!” Clover breathes, eyes wide with amazement. “That was the most badass thing I’ve ever seen. Was that Ghost? Ghost is my favorite now. Can we keep him? Can he be our pet like Dracula? Baby, pleeease.”
I snort out a laugh as I drop to my knees in front of her, my hands moving faster than my brain as I cut through the zip ties. The second her arms are free, I wrap my leather jacket around her, pulling her into me, knowing I’ll never let her go again.
“Are you okay?” I ask, hands trembling as I check her over. “Did they do anything else? Anything I need to know about?”
“I’m perfect,” she purrs, slinging her arms around my neck. “I missed you. Like, so much. It felt like forever… forever ever, forever ever. I’m sorry, Ms. Jackson, ooh—”
“Okay, OutKast, let’s quit with the “Ms. Jackson” karaoke number. You were drugged, baby,” I murmur, brushing her hair from her face. “You’re high as hell.”
“Now, that makes sense,” she says with a dreamy smile. “Because I feel horny. And emotional. And weirdly spiritual. Oh, and musical… I’m like a bird, I’ll only fly awaaa—”
Sin’s voice cuts through another impromptu performance. “We need to move. This won’t be the last of them.”
I scoop her into my arms, her body limp but warm against mine. She lets out a contented sigh and curls into me like I’m her favorite pillow.
“Can you walk?” I ask gently, adjusting the jacket around her.
“I can do you,” she slurs. “But probably not stairs.”