12. Gabriel
GAbrIEL
The car hasn't even stopped yet. A man stands by the warehouse door watching our approach warily, raising his gun. I fire through the windshield. The shot detonates inside the car like a bomb. The man drops. Behind me, Damiano and Alessio erupt.
"Fuck!" Damiano shouts. "Couldn't you roll the window down first?"
"Jesus Christ!" Alessio growls. "My ears!"
My ears are ringing too. Not that I care. The car is still rolling when I kick the door open and hit the pavement at a run.
"Fucking crazy motherfucker!" Alessio yells behind me.
He and Damiano spill out after me, followed by Mauro.
I reach the warehouse door and rip it open.
Born into this life, my years of training take over.
I was raised for moments like this. My brain processes everything in less than a second.
Eight men. Spread out in a loose circle.
Weapons. Positions. Angles. A chair in the center of the room holding a slumped-over figure.
Not Audra. Pete. Dead. My gaze snaps to the floor. Audra!
On her fucking knees. Something inside me breaks.
The world turns red. The monster that lives inside me finally gets what it wants.
And this time, I don't leash it. A man stands over her with a gun pressed to her head.
When the door bursts open, he turns. The barrel starts moving toward me.
Too slow. I'm already firing. His head snaps back as the bullet punches through his skull. He drops beside her.
"AUDRA!"
Her head jerks up. For a split second, surprise flickers across her face.
Then the warehouse erupts. Gunfire explodes around us.
Damiano and Alessio storm in behind me. Mauro opens up from the doorway.
Men shout. Bullets slam into bodies and crates indiscriminately.
I'm already moving. A man rushes me from the side.
I catch him before he can fire, my hand closing around his throat. I squeeze. Hard.
Something collapses under my grip. His mouth opens, but no sound comes out—just a broken wheeze. I let him drop.
Another one comes at me. I smash the pistol across his face. Bone cracks. He drops.
The red is everywhere now. Rage pours through me like gasoline on fire. I barely hear the gunshots anymore. Barely see anything except the men between me and her. I'm going to kill every last one of them.
"GABE!" Someone's yelling. Far away. Like it's coming through water.
"He's losing it!" Damiano. I think. It doesn't matter. The world is compressed to one single object. Her.
"Not again," Mauro groans somewhere behind me.
Another body hits the ground at my feet. I barely register it. The red is still there. Hot. Blinding. A hand grabs my shoulder. Hard. Alessio.
"They're gone!" he shouts in my face.
But the words don't land. Not yet. My hands are still clenched.
My chest is still heaving. There's blood everywhere.
Then I hear it. Through the fog. Audra. Her name.
It slices through the rage like a blade.
She needs me. The red starts to recede. Slowly.
Like a tide pulling back. I turn. She's still on her knees in the middle of the warehouse.
But she's not the same broken woman I saw when I burst through the door.
She's holding a gun. A fucking gun. Both hands are wrapped around it. Arms straight. Steady. Pointed at us. Her eyes are clear. Focused. There's no panic there. No hysteria. No fear. She's ready to pull the trigger. Ready to take one of us with her if we move wrong. I raise my hands slightly.
"Audra."
Her head lifts. Our eyes meet. For a second, the entire warehouse disappears. The bodies. The blood. The gunfire. Everything.
There is only her.
And me.
She tilts her head slightly. Recognition sparks across her face. "You."
"Find someone alive," I tell the others.
My voice is calm again. Cold and controlled, my emotions once more in check. I start walking toward her. Audra lifts the gun. "Stop."
I keep moving. "You're not going to shoot me," I state with absolute confidence in my voice.
She proves me wrong. The bullet whistles past my head. "Fuck."
I surge forward. Another shot cracks. Fire rips across the side of my arm. "Fuck!"
"Gabe!" Alessio shouts.
But I'm already on her. I grab her wrist and wrench the gun free before she can fire again.
"Audra." I keep my voice low. "I'm here to save you."
She stares at me. Her eyes search my face. "Who the hell are you?"
I know she recognizes me from the station and the ball. It's written all over her face, but she can't figure out why I am here. She shakes her head slowly from left to right. Then her gaze slides past me. And everything in her changes.
"Pete." She drops the fight instantly and crawls past me, still on her knees. "Pete."
I let her go. There's nothing I could do to stop her anyway. She reaches him and pulls his broken body into her arms. "Pete…"
The sound that comes out of her next isn't a word. It's a wail. Raw. Broken. It cuts straight through my chest. I turn away.
"Boss." Mauro steps up beside me, holding out a small vial.
"What?"
He points at my arm. I follow his finger. Blood is running down my sleeve where Audra's bullet grazed me. Right. That.
I glance back at her. She's rocking Pete's body, clutching him as if she can somehow pull him back from wherever he went. The thought that there is nothing I can do to ease her pain sears through me. There is nothing anyone can do.
With an impatient huff, I shrug out of my jacket and rip the sleeve off my shirt. Mauro pours clotting powder into the wound. It burns like hell.
"That needs stitches," he mutters.
"Later."
"This one's still alive!" Alessio shouts from across the warehouse.
A groan follows.
"Got another one breathing," Damiano calls.
Good. I roll my shoulder once to test the arm. It still works.
"Pack them," I order. "Let's get out of here."
The others drag the two survivors toward the door. One of them is barely conscious, blood smears across the concrete as Damiano hauls him along. Alessio grabs the other one by the collar like he weighs nothing. They'll talk. We just need to keep them alive long enough.
I walk back toward the center of the warehouse. Toward her. Audra is still on the floor with Pete's body clutched to her chest. Like if she lets go, he'll disappear. I kneel beside her. "Audra."
She doesn't look at me.
"We need to go."
She shakes her head violently, clutching Pete tighter. "No."
Her voice cracks. "No, no, no…"
I reach out slowly and touch her shoulder. "Audra." My voice is softer than I've ever heard it. "He's gone."
The words taste like poison in my mouth. She finally looks up at me. Tears streak down her face. Raw. Endless. They break something inside me. Even though they're for another man. Fuck. If I could bring the idiot back to life for her right now… I would.
Gently, I try to pull her away. She resists for a second. Then suddenly she explodes. "WHY?!"
Her fists slam into my chest.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Each hit lands with desperate fury.
"WHY?!" she screams.
I don't stop her. Don't block it. Don't even move.
She pounds on me like she's trying to tear the world apart.
Then her strength finally breaks. I pull her into my arms and lift her off the floor.
She's still hitting me weakly, but her body is shaking violently now.
Her fists slow. Then she collapses against my chest. She's still crying.
Still gasping for breath. I hold her tighter and stand.
"Easy," I murmur. My voice is rough. "I've got you."
The monster inside me quiets. Because she's alive. And right now, that's the only thing that matters.