The men and I ran down the stairs as a gunshot rang out. Adrenaline began to flood my veins as I rushed to the front door, pulling out my cell phone to call the police. I hit the red emergency button and then left my phone on the porch so anyone on the other end of the line could hear what was going on. Then, I ripped the front door open and saw Sam lying on the ground, moaning out in pain and bleeding from her leg.
Hovering above her, with his looming stature and a gun in her face, was John.
I knew there was a reason I never liked that jackass.
A gunshot rang out beside me from one of the men on the team. They had knelt down onto the porch, taking cover on either side of my house. John looked up and took in all of us staring at him, their gunfire trying to chase him away from Sam. My eyes locked onto her as I moved from the porch, shaking off the guy who had been late for the meeting. I had to get to her.
I had to cover her with my body like she had with me.
Bullets were flying as John took cover behind his own car. I rushed to Sam’s side, taking in the wound on her leg. I ripped my suit coat off, unbuttoned my shirt, and then wrapped it around her leg and tied it off as tightly as I could. She was crying out in pain as tears ran down her cheeks. I smoothed her hair back from her face, trying to figure out what had happened to her, what that asshole had done to her.
“We have to ... take cover,” Sam said.
“Okay. Okay. Just give me a second.”
I scanned my property and found my car parked off to the side. I scooped Sam up in my arms, trying to block out her agonizing sounds as I ran us for our car. Two of the guys in tactical gear broke off and headed to where we were going, guarding our car with their gunfire as I tossed us behind it.
“John!” I said. “John, stop this!”
The gunfire ceased and silence poured over my yard.
“I’ve called the cops. You’ve got nowhere to go. At this point, they’re probably less than three minutes out,” I said.
“Three minutes is more than enough time for a man like me,” he said. “You both have to die.”
“No one has to die today,” I said as my hired team surrounded us. “No one else has to go down for any of this.”
“Can’t get paid if the two of you are still alive.”
“Whatever he’s paying you, I’ll triple it if you back down.”
“And what the hell am I gonna do with triple the income if I’m sitting in jail?” he asked. “I kill you, and I’m out of the country in twelve hours, tops.”
Another bullet popped off, throwing the team into action as they rained down gunfire onto John’s car.
“We need to get the two of you back inside,” a man said.
“We’ll surround you, but you need to walk with us,” another one said.
I looked down at Sam, and she nodded, so I gritted my teeth and hoisted her into the air.
Six men surrounded us, walking in sweet tandem as we moved for the house. Sam was crying out in pain, trying her best to keep herself silent as she bit down onto her lower lip. John was still shooting, and the men were still trying to distract him, wanting to see him in cuffs as much as I did. I stepped us up onto the porch before I ran us into the house. Then, one of the men slammed the front door behind us.
“A room ... with no windows,” Sam said.
I drew in a deep breath as I ran down the hallway, tossing us into the half-bath I had downstairs.
“You stay here,” I said as I got up. “I’m going to go draw John out.”
“W-w-what?” Sam asked.
She reached up and grabbed my wrist, her grip light as a feather as I looked down at her.
“No, no, no. You’re not. You’re not doing that,” she said. “I’m the bodyguard. You’re ... you’re just—”
“The man who loves you,” I said as I knelt down next to her. “And there’s nothing else you can do. You’ve been shot, and I haven’t. Twice now if my count is correct. You have no say in this. All this shit ends today. On the count of three.”
“No. No. Derek. There’s no count. No.”