I glance over my shoulder and my heart drops like an anvil.
He’s pointing a gun at her.
My brother is pointing a fucking Glock at the woman I love.
Without thought I lunge at him, fear and rage erupting like twin volcanos inside me.
I hear the satisfying crunch of bone and Gio’s howl of agony, then the deafening crack of a gunshot, right before glass shatters, breaking the single second of deadly silence in between.
Aria’s scream pierces the air before she drops like a sack of stones.
My heart stops.
It takes less than two seconds to reach her but I feel like I’m wading through molasses for each second.
She’s contorted on the floor next to the sofa, a ball of oversized shirt, towel and rivers of hair.
I freeze when I reach her because I’m terrified to even think…
If she’s…oh Jesus…if she’s dead…
A supersonic reel of the world’s destruction slams through my head as I unfreeze and reach for her.
My hand shakes uncontrollably as I turn her over.
This whole world willburnto ash if she’s…if she’s…
Through her rage of hair, her blue eyes blink at me and I see color again. Blood rushes to all my frozen parts and I stay bent over, hands on her trembling body as I gasp for breath. As I check her over frantically.
Relief and rage punch through me once I determine she’s okay.
Fuck!
Crouching low, I whisper in her ear. “Stay down, angel. I’ll be back in a minute but I need you to stay put, okay?”
She doesn’t answer and I don’t really expect her to. I’ve hurt her deeply and the road ahead is paved with canyon-size boulders we have to navigate.
But it’s a fight I intend to win.
All I need to know right now is that she heard me, and her slow, rage-and-terror-filled blink tells me she did.
I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to her, I promise myself. Every single second she’s terrified is a year I’ll make her feel more loved and cherished than the last.
The vow is branded on my soul as I rise, turn and face my brother.
He’s placed a healthy distance between us, his head tipped back as he nurses his broken nose with a pristine handkerchief now wet with blood.
“You took a fuckingshotat the woman I love?”
Gio pales and stumbles backwards at my roar but he’s not fast enough to avoid me.
My second strike cracks his jaw.
He yells in pain.
Good start. But I’m nowhere near appeased.
I pull back my arm, ready to pummel him until there’s nothing left.