Page 94 of Let Me Love You

Now that he’s distracted, I push to my feet. With sore limbs, I surge forward and ram my hands into his back. He slams into the brick wall and turns to me. Blood drips down the side of his face, and his eyes bulge. His breathing comes out loud as he takes a step toward me.

I should’ve taken fighting classes along with the shooting.

“You’ll pay for that,” Paul sneers.

Sudden action explodes all at once. At least a dozen men file in beside me, coming from both directions.

My heart drops to the ground. I don’t recognize any of them. Tears spring to my eyes at the thought of being taken again. And not only the baby and me, but now Lana is also in danger. I was so close to getting away, but Paul somehow caught up to me and—

Victor strides into view from the darkness with a pistol in his hands, raised and ready. Butterflies take flight at the sight of him. He has come for me. When his gaze lands on me, his blue eyes soften.

Paul thrashes against two men, but it’s no use. They’re both twice the size of him, and they manage to knock him to his knees on the concrete.

One of the guards says something, but I can’t hear a word. I can only concentrate on Victor as he strides over to me. He pulls me into a tight embrace, crushing me to his chest. Our hearts pound together in sync. He bends down and places his lips on mine. The kiss starts out soft but becomes more urgent as our tongues collide. I run my fingers through his blond locks and tug gently.

But I pull away. Hurt and something like confusion crosses Victor’s face. The thought of his lack of trust slams into me. One inkling of a doubt was planted in his mind, and suddenly, I was enemy number one. If he was so easily swayed, it will happen again.

“I thought I lost you.”

I inhale a deep breath. “I’m okay.”

As if he can detect the lie, he stiffens.

When he catches sight of my raw wrists, fury enters his eyes. He tries to reach out for me, but I step right out of arm’s length.

“My wrists will heal.”

He shakes his head. “If I hadn’t jumped to conclusions—”

I hold up a hand, and he stops talking. “This”—I motion to our surroundings—“isn’t your fault. There are other things we need to talk about, but I left on my own. That was my decision.”

I’m speaking the truth, but Victor shakes his head. Should he have accused me? No. But none of Paul’s actions were Victor’s fault.

Elias strides over to us with Sully on his heels. “Victor, your men have Paul, and the police are on the way.”

A commotion pulls my attention, and I look over to where Paul is. He’s still trying to fight his way free, shoving at his captors. He slips away from one of the men and grabs his gun from the back of his pants. Pulling it out, he trains it directly on me. My lungs seize as I just stare. In all the scenarios that played out in my head, standing here, waiting to be shot was never one of them, but I have no energy to move.

The fight drained the rest of the drive I had.

Two gunshots pierce the air, and I’m thrown to the ground. I press my hands around my body, trying to find the gunshot wound. There’s no pain other than the ache from hitting the concrete. No hole.

Glancing back at Paul, he’s on the ground. His hand is clenching his chest where blood seeps through his shirt, drenching it within seconds. He’s a bastard, but I didn’t want it to end this way.

Blood trickles out of his mouth, and his unseeing eyes stare directly at me.

Elias steps in front of me, blocking my view. “I think you need to call your sister. She has been texting me nonstop.”

I blink a few times, trying to clear the image of Paul’s body and blank eyes. No matter how many times I blink, the image is seared into my brain.

Lana sits on the ground, her shoulders slumped forward. I crawl over to her.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

She nods, but a sob escapes her mouth.

Elias’s voice pulls my attention to him. “Do you think you can help her inside Lana’s?”

Victor nods, but my eyes narrow in on his blood-soaked sleeve.