The darkness is both a blessing and a curse, and I squint and duck as another shot rings out. A flare of light in the trees to my right catches my eye, and I nudge Marcus in the ribs, jerking my head. “There.”
He glances in the direction I’m indicating, and I can just make out a whisper of movement in the darkness. Someone is out there. I don’t know if it’s Michael or Gabriel, but it doesn’t really matter.
Marcus presses a hard kiss to my lips. His lips taste like violence and chaos, and they’re gone far too quickly.
“Stay here,” he murmurs. “Don’t move. We’ll take them out.”
“Ry and I will take those motherfuckers.” Theo points in another direction, where the second group of attackers hides among the trees and gravestones. “We’ll flank them.”
“I’m going with you,” Victoria tells Marcus, drawing a second weapon and shifting into a crouch.
He looks like he’s about to object, but before he can open his mouth, a bullet hits the statue, sending bits of marble and dust spraying. He nods once, sharply, then shoots a look at Dominic. “Don’t go any-fucking-where.”
I know what he’s telling the man, can hear the warning beneath his words. Don’t leave Ayla.
It’s a mark of how fucked we are that he’s even willing to consider leaving me with Dom. But if those snipers aren’t stopped, they’ll close in on us soon and kill us all.
Still, as Ryland and Theo dart away from the base of the statue, using gravestones for cover, I can’t help but remember the last time we all split up. An awful feeling of dread twists in my stomach as I remember the standoff Marcus and I had with Carson. I remember not knowing if Ryland and Theo were even still alive, waking up covered in Marcus’s blood.
I can’t let that happen again.
I know they want to protect me, but I have to protect them too.
Marcus and Victoria sprint across the grass, firing into the darkness of the graveyard as they go. Another shot hits the angel statue, and I peer around the base, scanning the area near Genevieve’s grave.
I catch sight of Luca, still taking cover behind a headstone, and a second later, new gunshots ring out with a pop, pop, pop sound. They’re coming from the direction of the small road where he left his car.
So he did bring some backup after all.
And I’m sure his guards will be only too happy to kill anyone in this graveyard, whether it’s us or the assholes shooting at us from the cover of darkness.
One of Luca’s men gets tagged in the shoulder, and I have a moment of gratitude that they’re at least drawing Michael and Gabriel’s fire. That might give my men a chance to find the snipers and take them out.
Shouts rise up from nearby, and I pick out Ryland’s deep voice among them. Then more gunshots sound.
I peer around the statue’s base again. Luca’s men have reached him, and they lay down cover fire as he gets to his feet.
Fuck. We can’t let him walk away from this. We need to end it. Tonight.
Without stopping to think about what I’m doing or allow the panic welling inside me to take hold, I shift into a crouch, leaning farther around the side of the statue as I aim toward the group of guards that surround Luca.
My first bullet goes wide, but the second hits a man in the back. He goes down, and the remaining three pivot smoothly, raising their guns to fire back at me.
“Shit!” I throw myself behind the statue again, breathing hard, my heart slamming against my ribs. I turn to Dominic. “We can’t let him leave. We have to fucking stop him.”
He nods, his face grim in the darkness.
Then he surges to his feet, stepping around the side of the statue and firing at Luca’s guards. As they return fire, I dart out again and hit another one—the same guard that got shot in the shoulder by Gabriel or Michael’s sniper. He goes down, and he doesn’t get back up.
Two more.
Just two more.
Luca is shooting back at us too, and I can hear his angry bellow over the sounds of the fights playing out to my left and right. All I can do is pray silently that Marcus, Theo, and Ryland are still fucking alive as I focus all my energy on stopping Luca.
Another guard goes down, taken out by Dominic, and Luca whips toward him, firing off three rapid shots.
Dom’s body jerks. He lets out a low grunt and falls backward, crashing to the grassy earth that surrounds the graves.