Alvaro grabs my hand, stopping me from moving, and turns once again to face Marcum. Men on both sides have weapons drawn. Any way I imagine what happens next… is bad, and with each moment that passes my fear increases. I’m practically choking on it now. It literally hurts to breathe. I can hear my heart pounding, my pulse beating so hard that it roars in my ears.
“You’re growing tedious, Marcum Kincaid. I paid for my bride twice and now, I’m keeping her.”
“You didn’t pay anything. They both ended up dead.”
Alvaro smirks and he even manages a small laugh. It sounds so evil that I want to block it out. “Whatever,” he answers. He sounds so pleased with himself.
“I have a proposition for you, Alvaro.”
“What could you possibly have that I want? I have the woman,” he says, and as if to prove his point, his hand moves to my breast and squeezes it hard, causing me to cry out in pain.
“You that anxious to try and claim what I already own?” Marcum asks. His words hit me wrong, but I’m too scared to be upset. I know he’s just trying to get a rise out of Alvaro.
“Once she has a real man, she will forget you.”
“What if I could give you something you want more?” Marcum asks, and his tone chills me down to my toes.
Please God… don’t let him mean what I think he does.
“Nice try, Kincaid, but I don’t think that’s possible. I’ll be going now. I’m sure you understand Toi and I have a lot of things to catch up on.”
“How hot were those flames in that whorehouse in Dallas?” Marcum asks. “From the looks of you it had to be bad. You must have thought the devil himself was coming to claim your sorry ass.”
“What do you know of my accident?”
“Quite a bit, since I’m the one who was contracted to do it, you sad fuck.”
I hear Alvaro growl and then the sound of the gun discharging as he pulls the trigger. I see Marcum’s body fall back with the force of the shot, and I scream. I try to run to him, but Alvaro grabs my arm and refuses to let me. My shirt rips as I try to get free, but I can’t get away.
All I can do is watch helplessly as Marcum hits the ground and his blood blooms against his skin in a sick, overly-bright red.71MarcumI grunt as the bullet rips through my shoulder, tearing through the skin, muscle and cartilage, and I’m pretty fucking sure it hit bone. I might have overplayed my hand a little. I needed to get his attention though. Now I need to rein him in enough to get Toi to Max. I need her safe. I don’t give a fuck what happens after that.
“That’s for trying to lie to me, Kincaid. I know who tried to kill me. I tortured him for over a year.”
“What did you do, have him look at your face?”
That wasn’t exactly reining it in. I’m angry because there’s no scenario I come out of this and that’s a sad realization for a man who suddenly has everything to live for. If I could I’d dice this motherfucker up. I’ve got a weapon—the asshole didn’t ask for it yet—but I don’t dare risk it with Toi where she’s at right now. Alvaro doesn’t like my taunting, though, and I know that by the way he shoots me again, this time just a hair lower than the prior shot.
“Motherfucker!” I growl out, even though I wish to fuck I could have kept silent. That one was more painful though. There’s instantly more blood too, so I have to wonder if he hit an artery. I need to be smarter and get Toi safe before I let him finish me.
“Marcum!” Toi screams and I hear Max cursing in the background. He’s itching to kill the motherfucker, but he knows as well as I do, he tries anything and Toi will probably die. I can’t let that happen. She needs to live on.
“I grow tired of you,” Alvaro growls.
“The man you killed only took the job. It was offered to me first, and I turned it down. I can give you the man who ordered it all.”
“Then tell me.”
“I’ll tell you what I know, for a price.”
“Have you looked around you, Kincaid? I have the girl. My men have me protected and your men all have guns pointed at them. Why would I pay you anything? Besides, where you are going, you won’t take anything with you.”
“My men have your men surrounded. Maxwell over there was a sniper. They’re not shooting for one simple reason—they know I don’t want them to. You want out of this still breathing, Alvaro, you’ll give me what I want.”