Blaze (Virtues & Lies 3)

Two bullets. Two shots bleeding together. Two whole fucking seconds till I land on my side. The crack of my shoulder hitting the hard floor rattles through me as fire spreads through my chest.

Fuck.

Chapter 14

FLEUR

The dusty air clogs my lungs, making it impossible to catch my breath as I grapple with the lock on the back door. The smell of decay suffocates me as visions of the decomposing cat in the other room morph into images of us. Me. My little girl. Ryan…

I’m trying to shake the echoing vibrations of the gunshots from my ear drums, but all it does is play with my balance.

“Open. Open, open, open…please.” I’m begging the damn, rusty bolt as it refuses to budge.

“Stop.” The low, familiar gravel makes me freeze.

The grind of heavy footsteps has me working the bolt hard enough that it cuts through my palm when I finally get it to open.

I’m scrabbling with the latch when hands close around the tops of my arms. Large hands that are impossible to shake free from.

“No!” Voice breaking, I’m dragged to the small dining table and forced into a rackety chair.

Nausea threatens to overwhelm me as the man lowers his hood.

“Lucian?”

I don’t understand why he’s here. I thought that when they found me that it would be Christopher or Freddie. Possibly Leo, but not his father.

He takes a dented helmet off, dropping it on the table beside me. When he reaches for my bleeding hand, I recoil.

“Touch her again and I won’t give you a chance to explain why you’re here.” There’s the distinct sound of the gun slide and the click of the magazine into place.

“I’m here to help you.”

“You fucking shot me!” Ryan rounds to our side, his gun squared at Lucian’s face.

The thumping of my heart bruises as I take in the blood across his collarbone. His shoulders are unusually slanted which only serves to make the pained expression on his face all the more harrowing.

He’s going to die because of me too.

Another life because of me.

Me.

Maybe…maybe I should end this. Give them what they want. Arabella won’t let them hurt my baby.

I stand, clutching my belly tightly as though it could be easily snatched from me.

“Don’t you fucking dare!” Ryan pushes between Lucian and me.

Bile rises up my stomach as the acrid smell of rotting life settles inside me.

“Ryan…”

“Shut up!” he grunts back at me.

“Don’t forget your place,” Lucian sighs over the scrape of another chair on the hard floor.

“This is my place. Between you and her.”