Chapter One #2
This time, it wasn’t a blast that caused the damage. The entire frame of the building gave way with a shriek of twisted metal and shattered concrete.
I coughed and tried to brush the grit and grime from my eyes enough to see what new threat I faced.
From what I could tell, it looked like something large and heavy had hit the outer wall like a battering ram.
When the wall gave way, a large chunk of the steel door frame caught Gunnar across the chest. The impact knocked him backward, his left leg pinned at an angle that made my stomach turn.
Blood sprayed from his mouth as the impact drove him to one knee.
He didn’t cry out, but his face contorted into something between a snarl and a grimace, his bloody teeth bared, his eyes fixed on Pippa. His arm was still extended toward her, fingers spread, as if he could reach her through the smoke and the chaos.
Pippa screamed. A raw, animal sound that cut through everything. She lunged forward, dropping to her knees beside him, her hands going immediately to the spreading blood stain on his shirt. “Gunnar! Gunnar!”
Her palms pressed hard against his chest. Blood welled between her fingers. Gunnar’s eyes found hers. His mouth moved. I couldn’t hear what he said.
Two Kiss of Death members closed ranks around them.
They moved with military efficiency. One of them dropped to a knee beside Gunnar, checking his pulse, barking an order to someone else.
The other man positioned himself between the pair and the doorway, firing occasionally into the smoke.
A third member joined them, and then they were a wall, shoulder to shoulder, creating a pocket of relative safety around Gunnar and Pippa.
The child Pippa had been protecting was wailing now, a high, thin sound. The older woman had scooped her up and was pressing her against the wall, one hand over the girl’s eyes.
I looked down at Melanie. She was curled into a ball, her face hidden against her knees, rocking slightly. Unhurt, as far as I could tell. Shocked, but physically intact.
The gunfire had mostly stopped. There was the occasional pop for the next several minutes.
I tried to block that out because I knew those sounds were the Kiss of Death men executing an intruder.
Which probably should have horrified me.
Instead, knowing they were willing to risk getting caught and going to prison -- or the lethal injection chamber -- to keep everyone in this place safe made me feel better than I had in a very long time.
I appreciated that sense of security more than anyone here could ever realize. Even my sister.
When I finally managed to talk myself into looking around the couch again, I saw men in dark suits moving through the smoke. When one of them calmly shot a man as he walked by, I realized the men in the suits were the ones doing the executing.
After a while, one of the men spoke into a small radio. “All clear, boss.”
Seconds later, Antonio Miles came through the opening.
I recognized him from his regular visits to Haven.
Tall, muscular, and imposing, he wore power and grace like an elegantly combined cloak.
His dark chestnut hair was cleanly cut, his short beard neatly trimmed, both with a smattering of silver throughout.
His charcoal suit looked like it cost more than everything I owned, and it was immaculate despite the dust and the early hour.
His expression was composed, almost clinical, as he surveyed the common area.
Antonio’s men fanned out through the building. Two remained with him, flanking slightly behind. Antonio’s gaze swept the room. It paused on Gunnar. Anger and sorrow flickered across his face before he continued to take in the whole scene around him.
Until he saw me.
I still crouched beside Melanie who sat with her back against the wall, knees drawn up, watching everything with hollow eyes.
Antonio crossed to me with focused strides.
He knelt, bringing himself to my eye level.
He rested one arm on his bent knee as he leaned in to study me.
Close up, I could see the fine lines at the corners of his eyes, the subtle tension in his jaw.
He smelled like expensive cologne with traces of gunpowder.
And, God help me, it was an intoxicating combination on a man like him.
“Are you hurt?” His voice was level, but I sensed the tension in his voice. My answer mattered to him very much.
I shook my head, needing to speak but unable to. For multiple reasons. He held my gaze for long moments. When finally satisfied, he straightened in one fluid, effortless movement.
He turned to one of his men. “Did you get everyone?”
“Yes, sir. Three of the bastards are dead. One escaped through the lower service corridor but he won’t get off the property.”
“Make sure he doesn’t.” Antonio’s tone didn’t change. “The building?”
“Secure, but we’re going to have to move everyone.
Housing women in high-risk situations always comes with violence.
” The guy looked angry as he spoke to Tonio.
“As great a thing as this is, talk to Knuckles about moving it deeper inside this maze of warehouses. Being adjacent to the compound isn’t going to cut it for Haven anymore. ”
“Knuckles and I already have something in the works. Is help on the way?”
“Yes, sir. We have people coming to take the injured to your private wing at Vandy. They’ll have the best care in the state.”
It should have surprised me that the Miles family had a private hospital wing, but it really didn’t. I was beginning to think the man was richer than God. Which hit a little too close to home. I’d been sold to another man who’d been richer than God. The pattern wasn’t a comfortable one.
“Is someone coming for Gunnar?” I could see the devastation on Pippa’s face.
“Yeah, honey.” Knuckles, Pippa’s father and the president of Kiss of Death, knelt with his daughter to gently keep her out of the way while Pain and Nadine worked on Gunnar. He’d yet to speak but had nodded or shaken his head at questions Pain asked him.
“Gunnar. Please. Please look at me.”
Pippa’s worry and desperation hit me like a physical thing.
Raw, stripped of everything except need.
Gunnar had gone still again, his eyes closed, but his chest still rose and fell regularly, if a bit shallow.
Men had somehow managed to get the beam off Gunnar and pulled him clear, but it was obvious he wasn’t out of danger.
Antonio knelt next to Gunnar on the opposite side from Pippa. “I’ve got a surgeon waiting on him,” Antonio said quietly. “I have a private ambulance on the way to take him to Vanderbilt. They will take him straight to surgery.” Pippa nodded without seeming to hear him.
Melanie reached out and rested her hand on mine, diverting my attention. She seemed to have pulled herself out of her panic. I knew how she felt. If I hadn’t had her to focus on, I doubt I’d have made it as far as I had without crawling into a tiny space to hide for a week.
“The children,” she said. Her voice was thin but steady. “Are the children safe?”
“They’re upstairs,” I told her. “In the other safe room. I saw them go in with Tiny and the men with him.”
She closed her eyes. “Good. That’s good.”
As she spoke, an ambulance crew hurried in, flanked by several of Nashville’s finest out of uniform. I recognized most of them as belonging to Antonio.
As I watched in silence, Tonio stood in the shadows out of the way and unobtrusive. But I felt his gaze focused directly on me. We stared at each other, neither willing to look away first.
The medics worked fast, sliding a board under Gunnar and strapping him down while Pippa clung to his hand.
I saw Gunnar squeeze her hand and open his eyes once.
He said something to her before the medics raised the stretcher to take him outside.
Knuckles had to pry her fingers loose so they could leave with him, and she made that low and broken sound like a pained animal.
They hurried Gunnar through the ruined doorway into the night. Pippa stumbled after them. Knuckles went with her, his arm around her shoulders.
Melanie’s hand tightened on mine. I helped her up, and one of the suited men appeared at my elbow.
He spoke softly to Melanie and reached out a hand for her to take.
Surprisingly, she did. I watched him lead her toward the front, to whatever transport waited, and I should have followed.
I knew I should have followed. But I couldn’t move with Antonio still looking at me.
He crossed the distance between us again. He stopped close enough that I had to tilt my head to hold his gaze, even after I stood.
“You went toward the fighting,” he said. It wasn’t a question.
“I had to make sure anyone downstairs was safe. There are always people down here.”
“There were.” His expression was unreadable. “That cut at your hairline needs attention.”
“It’s just a scratch.”
“I didn’t ask how deep it was.” He lifted his hand and touched two fingers just below the matted blood at my temple. “I told you to let someone look at it.”
“You came for me,” I said. “Not Haven or anyone else here. Me. I saw it on your men’s faces when they found Melanie and me. I want to know why.”
For a long moment he said nothing. Then he opened his mouth as if to speak but didn’t. Finally, he lifted his chin. He should have looked arrogant, but the gesture came across as stubborn. When he spoke next, his answer wasn’t at all reassuring.
“When I figure it out, I’ll let you know.”