But I’m falling to the concrete. The hard, rough surface hits my palms as I catch myself, keeping my face from scraping hard, and then a weight hits me in the back.
I wasn’t hit by a bullet.
And I know without looking whose body is covering mine.
Lennox.
“When I tell you, we are going to run toward the car. Don’t stop. Don’t try to save anyone.”
“But—”
“No! For once, trust me that the best way to protect everyone is to get you out of here. You’re the one they want dead,” he says into my ear.
I’m not sure how much his words are true or just words to get me to do what he says, but I nod my agreement as more bullets fly close to my head.
“Run,” he says, jumping off me, giving me room to run.
I run toward the car, not stopping until I’m in the passenger seat. Lennox jumps into the driver’s a second later, and then we’re driving before I can even process what happened.
I spot the blood on him. I quickly examine my body, and I realize the blood isn’t mine—it’s his. He took a bullet for me.How many of the others did the same?
Chapter29
Lennox
Even though weneed the extra security, my own apartment feels like a prison now. The entire floor is now being patrolled and guarded by a dozen of Vincent Corsi’s best men. After the attack outside his condo, he had no choice but to offer some of his men for protection. And I’m grateful even if I don’t like feeling trapped in my own apartment.
Gage took a bullet to the back.
Hayes pulled apart his stitches and bled heavily.
Beckett got a concussion when he hit the pavement, covering Ri with his own body.
Ri, thank goodness, was uninjured—not even a scratch on her body. For added safety, they’ve moved into an apartment on this floor so we can all be together.
And I took a bullet to my shoulder when I protected Rialta with my own body.
Rialta is beat up. She’s scratched and bruised, but it’s more than that. It’s put her into a dark place. She’s barely spoken to anyone. Barely visited Hayes or Gage, who are laid up in bed. Barely left the bedroom.
She just sleeps. And when she’s not sleeping, she’s sitting in bed and writing in her journal. When I climb into bed at night, she says nothing. She doesn’t even fight me. She’s become a zombie.
And I have no idea what to do. I still have plenty of time left in the year bargain that I made with Vincent, but every day that she doesn’t speak to me feels like a wasted day. And I can’t waste any days.
I need her to fall in love with me now. Because I’ll never find the snake who attacked us, I know that. Even with the year Vincent gave me, we could all end up dead long before the year is up. And I have to complete my mission before I die.
I’m not sure how to approach her. And I’m not sure if I’ve made the right decision in asking Vincent to send his men. It gives me time to observe his men and see if I can find a mole in his ranks. And it gives me more men to fight, meaning at least the Retribution Kings will be more cautious in their attacks for the time being.
I stand at the top of the stairs of the loft, waiting for Rialta to notice me. But her head’s buried in her journal as she doodles away, completely ignoring me like every other time I’ve come up here.
I want to talk to her. I want to fuck her again—it’s the only time I feel like I have a chance to persuade her that she likes me. But she won’t say yes to either of those things. So I approach her with the only thing I know she’ll say yes to.
“I’ll teach you to fight,” I say.
It takes her a second. She’s been so used to ignoring me all week; she’s not expecting me to say something she might want to respond to.
“What?” She looks up at me, and it takes everything in me not to react to her. She’s so pale, her eyes are puffy, and her hair is matted. I don’t know when she showered last. All the sleep she’s doing isn’t helping her—she still looks like she hasn’t slept in a month.
“Come to the gym with me. I’ll teach you how to fight.”