Page 107 of Shades of Grey & Gold

He falls back and I think I continue to scream, but the ringing drowns out every sound.

The man flips me forward in the alley in front of a car that has pulled up.

I try to fall to the ground.

I just need to give Cal time.

Time to get out here to—to save me.

To get to me.

My throat feels like it rips as I scream.

I see the man clearly now. He has light skin and dark features, sharp eyebrows and black eyes. His hair is shaved down to the skin, his expression is bored as he grabs my clawing hands and holds them against my sides.

I feel arms behind me and I’m being lifted again.

I drag the heels of my shoes across the concrete, pushing my feet down as hard as I can—they slip off.

For a moment, my mind forgets the situation altogether, focusing only on how sad Sophia would be if she knew those beautiful shoes were lost in an alley.

And then the ringing in my ears swallows the rest of the world as it goes dark.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Cal

Gio’sonthegroundalone as I hear but don’t see the car in the alley peel out.

My phone buzzes in my pocket and I tuck the gun away again.

I recall the sedan idling in front of the café.

The bald man in the passenger seat smiling at me like we share a joke and the tilt of his chin that I missed before.

He tipped his chin up, but not at me,past me.

To the back. Because that’swhere Max was.

“Max.” Her name is an alarm as I’m already moving to Gio on the ground, his breath stuttering, blood hot through his fingers pressed against a spot in the middle of his chest. I drop to my knees, press against his hand. “Stay with me.”

But my head is on a swivel, scouring the space in the same breath.

Fresh tire arcs.

Her shoes in the road.

Black heels just lying on the asphalt.

They didn’t come to kill a boss.

Too loud.

Too final.

They came to take what would hurt more.

“They came for her,” Gio sputters. “They were waiting when we came out here, they knew we’d go out the back and you’d stay and—”