36
“No!”
“Austin, don’t!”
“Kill me instead!”
Gage and Rafe are frantic in their attempts to break free from the men who hold them in place, and all I can do is watch in horror as that bastard points his gun at the woman I love.
Even though I’ve managed to untie the rope around my wrists, doing something now like trying to overthrow him could put Sierra in even more danger, because as much as I hate to admit it, Austin controls the room.
He holds all the cards and we’re part of his game.
“Kill me, not her!” Rafe shouts.
“Austin!”
Sierra turns to me, tears streaming down her beautiful face, her entire body physically trembling as her hazel eyes hold mine. “Alec, I lo—”
Bang!
My heart damn near rips through my chest when the shot rings out, the sound piercing my ears louder than I expected, my skull feeling like it’s splitting in half.
My heart lurches, and for a second I think Austin’s pulled the trigger, but the hazel eyes that stare back at me are still bright and full of life, it’s the man behind her that roars in pain, falling away from Sierra as he collapses to the ground.
There’s another gunshot, followed by a heavy thud somewhere behind us.
I turn to see where the shots came from. I meet the gaze of one of Austin’s men from across the room, and that’s when I recognise him.
His name is Ian. He’s one of Max’s guys. He’s FBI, and the man lying at his feet is one of Austin’s guys.
As if sensing my recognition, he flashes me a small smirk and a subtle nod of his head, and suddenly, I’m emboldened.
Turning back to Sierra, I see Austin on the floor behind her chair, clutching his knee while he raises his gun with his free hand, aiming it straight at Si and I immediately kick into action.
I lunge for him.
Austin doesn’t expect my attack as my chair crashes to the floor and I land on top of him, batting the gun out of his hand. It skitters across the floor as I drive my fist into his face.
From the corner of my eye, I see Rafe fighting the guy who held a knife to his throat before three shots ring out in quick succession, the three men surrounding Gage and Rafe dropping to the ground one by one.
Austin manages to get a hit in, and my vision goes fuzzy for a second, but it’s clear from the lack of strength behind his punch that the coward hides behind his men and let’s them do his dirty work for him.
“Rafe, get Sierra!” I shout, gripping the lapels of Austin’s jacket, dragging him to his feet.
I lose my balance for a second, a little light-headed but I manage to stay upright as I shove Austin up against the wall, his head colliding with the concrete behind him.
“You made a huge mistake by touching her, you didn’t know it then but you were living on borrowed time. You were a dead man the second you laid a finger on her.”
The bastard grins. “You know it’s funny, you might have her now, but we both know who had her first.”
“Shut your fucking mouth,” I spit, digging my knee into his injured one and he groans in agony, the smile falling from his lips as he grapples for my arms to loosen my hold, but he’s too weak.
“Admit it, you and I both know who’s on her mind when her legs are spread wide open. Fuck.. her virgin cunt bled so nicely all over my di—”
He doesn’t get to finish his sentence before I thrust my fist into his face, the unmistakable sound of bones crunching filling my ears as his head collides with the wall behind his head.
I could quite easily kill him. It would take one simple quick snap of his neck and he’d be dead within a second, but he doesn’t deserve a quick death. He deserves to suffer as much as Sierra and all the other women and children who have fallen victim to him and his sick organisation.
He sinks to the ground at my feet, his eyes closed. He’s still alive but barely, blood pouring from his nose and the corners of his mouth, his arms hanging limply at his sides.
I stand over him, taking in the sight.
It’s over.
Behind bars or dead, it doesn’t matter much to me, just so long as he’s as far from Sierra and her family as possible. Just so long as every single woman and child are safe from him.
With him gone, his organisation will begin to unravel, and although it’s a small drop in a very large ocean of trafficking rings in this fucked up world, it’s a small victory I’m going to take.
I turn just as Sierra breaks free from her brothers, rushing towards me, a small limp in her step, no doubt a result of the car accident.
Relief washes over me the second she crashes into my arms, knocking me off balance for a moment. My arms wind around her back as I crush her to me, holding onto her impossibly tight just so I know that it’s real.
I tip my head forward, my lips brushing her hair. “It’s over, princess. You’re safe now.”
“Alec, I thought… I thought that…” She squeezes me tighter, her shoulders beginning to shake.
She thought she was going to die.
I won’t say it out loud, but for a moment, so did I.
“Max said to say he’s on his way,” Ian says, pocketing his phone as he makes his way over to us.
“Why didn’t he tell us what he was planning?” I ask.
“Because you all had to believe it yourself. If you knew, Austin would’ve sensed something was wrong. We were waiting for the right moment to take him down, and as soon as he dragged you and Sierra in here, I knew I had to act.”
“And it took for the bastard to hold a gun to my sister’s head before you decided to step in?” Gage asks incredulously, his arms folded.
Their voices fade into the background as a loud ringing fills my ears.
“We’re g’na be okay… G’na be fine…” Fatigue overwhelms me all of a sudden, my legs feeling weak beneath me and even talking is an effort.
“Alec?” Sierra asks, her voice sounding muffled as she pulls back to look up at me.
All I can see is her face, though she’s not clear, my entire peripheral vision is black and fuzzy, almost like I’m looking through a kaleidoscope.
Pain slices through my head like lightning as a wave of nausea rolls over me. The room tilts and suddenly I’m falling.
“Alec!” is the last thing I hear, and I’m out before I hit the floor.
I wake for a brief moment, the wail of sirens piercing through me like someone is literally trying to prise my skull in two.
Where am I?
Something acidic fills my mouth and I’m rolled onto my side before a torrent of vomit spews from my mouth, my entire body convulsing.
“Is he going to be okay?” I hear a voice ask, a beautiful, familiar, angelic voice.
Who is that?
“We’ll know more when we get to the hospital, Ma’am,” a deeper voice says.
Why am I going to a hospital?Am I dying? It kind of feels like I am.
I never imagined what death would be like. Would it be peaceful? Or would it hurt?
Everyone who has had a near-death experience has all told of a blinding white light that beckons you forward, coaxing you closer, and I guess they got that part right, because the light right in front of me is brighter than any light I’ve ever seen, even more so than the sun.
“Alec,” that angelic voice calls to me, her voice filling my head, echoing all around me. “Alec, please come back to me. Please don’t leave me,” she cries.
That light ushers me closer and all I want to do is give into it. I reach my hand out towards it. A few more steps and I’m there. It pulls at me like a magnet and I can feel myself wanting to get nearer.
“Alec, I love you,” the beautiful voice says. “I love you so much.”
An image flashes in my mind. An image of a young woman with raven hair, hazel eyes and a smile that would melt even the coldest of hearts.
Sierra.
My love. My heart.
How could I ever forget her?
I snap my hand back, retreating from that beacon of light, and instead I choose to fight.
Fight for my life.
Fight for the woman I’m so madly in love with.
Fight, because just as I begin to slip back into unconsciousness, those three little words are what save me.