He didn’t see her.
She slithered inside with a gun and brought a finger to her mouth, signalling me to stay quiet.
Somehow, Darla knew about Benjamin.
And it scared the fuck out of me that my headstrong wife was so goddamn close to the man who tried to murder us.
I wanted to snarl at her to leave.
We were on borrowed time.
If Benjamin decided to toe the firelit lamp resting dangerously close to his feet, we were all fucking screwed.
Benjamin licked his dry lips. “Of course, you fucking asshole. What else did you think I was calling you here for—shits and giggles?”
Darla positioned behind him with a clear shot of his head.
Relief slammed like a wrecking ball.
We might make it out of here in one piece.
“No.” I smirked. “But I only came here to tell you one thing.”
He narrowed his eyes. “What?”
“I’m the heir and you’re the spare, Benjamin. It was always meant to be that way. Je suis le seigneur desDe la Croixes and you will have to die with that knowledge.”
I signalled to Darla with my eyes to pull the trigger.
“Zeno. Zeno. Zeno.” Ben smiled deviously. “When will you realize that I’m always two steps ahead of you?”
Suddenly, Ben whirled around and raised his gun towards Darla.
“Darla!” I launched for Ben. “No!”
I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience where you witnessed every split second before the big crash.
Fear robbed me of breath.
My arms wrapped around Benjamin and we went tumbling down.
But not before he pulled the trigger.
Darla released a heart-wrenching cry as the bullet pierced her stomach.
She fell to the ground like a stringless bleeding puppet.
We landed with a loud thud and I rolled off Ben, yelling as I scrambled towards my wife. “No, no, no.”
Benjamin was faster. He thwacked the side of my head with the butt of his gun and a roll of dizziness clutched me. I still tried to reach her. “Darla, look at me!”
She whimpered, putting pressure on the wound in her upper stomach.
Benjamin grabbed me in a chokehold when I neared her and yanked me back. The arm around my jugular constricted my breathing, but I dug my fingers into it with a battle roar, trying to dislodge him.
While I struggled, Ben knocked the lamp in his haste.
Fire exploded along the trails of gasoline, licking the walls and the perimeter of the stables. It grew per second in a domino effect and heated the inside like a hot oven.