Hollywood Princess (Hollywood Royalty 2)

I try to make sense of it, try to see that the man in front of me is the same one who’s taken care of me from the very beginning. “It was you all along,” I whisper in shock. “All the letters, the heart, the roses … it was you?”

He puts his hands in his pockets. “After the stone, I was going to come to you.” He shakes his head. “But then Brian took you off the grid, and I couldn’t get any info on where you were.” He looks up and then exhales. “Nothing. He wouldn’t cave even when I threatened him. The only time I could get to you was at your shows, and then it was too late at that point.” He continues to shake his head, as if trying to get his thoughts in order. “I had people watching you with him, and they said you were in love with him.”

I laugh at him. He’s off his fucking rocker. “This is a joke, right?” I ask him and then look around. “This whole thing is a joke, right? You can’t seriously think I could love you?” I tell him, and he walks to me. His hand comes out, and it happens in slow motion or maybe it is just my brain taking longer to catch up to what just happened, but he backhands me across the face. I see stars. I’m not sure what is going on, and if I wasn’t tied, I would have fallen over. I try to focus and see he is now standing in front of me with a gun pointed at me. “You might as well shoot me because there is no way in hell I’m marrying you!” I yell at him, trying to wriggle free. Everything happens so fast, and I’m not ready.

The front door gets kicked in or shot in, I have no idea, but Tommy finally looks over at the commotion, and I see him. Brian. Dressed in all black, he’s holding a gun in his hand and pointing it straight at Tommy. Tommy finally registers who it is, and his hand goes up, and he pulls the trigger. The sound of the gun firing echoes in my ears, and suddenly, my throat is raw with the yells coming out of me. “Nooooooooo!” I sob out, screaming and yelling the whole time as I watch Brian stumble back and all I see is blood.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Brian

“He has her,” I say to Hunter, crouching down behind a shrub, waiting for the signal to go. The minute I got off the phone with Cori, I sprung into action. Hunter was on the phone with Dante, who was on the phone with Anthony and Rachel.

Between the four of us, we had eyes on him ten minutes later. It helped that I put a tracker on his phone, but it was the longest ten minutes of my life. From there, we got on the phone with the SWAT team and the FBI. I was ready to call in every single favor that I and my family had.

I rushed to the command post that we had the local police do. It’s funny how fast shit gets done when you know the right people. I pull up to a van that is open on the side as unmarked cars start arriving. I get out and toss my black jacket in the back and rip my shirt off to get ready for war. In a matter of five minutes, Hunter, Dante, and I are ready and in black gear. I am tightening the Velcro on my bulletproof vest. “Why are we standing around?” I ask impatiently, looking at the guys in charge who are all pretty much dressed the same way as I’m dressed.

“We have to make sure we have everything in place,” Jake, the local cop says, crouching down next to me. He presses the earpiece in his ear. “The back is secure.” He listens. “We have eyes on the suspect, and he’s waving around a gun,” he says, and I get up, but he pushes me back down. “Don’t get your woman killed.”

“You tell me, Jake. You know your woman is in a house with a crazy madman and you aren’t charging in there?” He doesn’t answer.

“Be smart,” Hunter says from beside me. “We want her in one piece.”

“He touches a hair on her head, and I’ll put him seven feet under,” I say, and then Jake looks at me.

“He just hit her.” And I don’t care anymore. I charge toward the house, running low just like I was taught in boot camp to get to the door without anyone even knowing I’m there. My hand holds my gun in front of me. “Stand down.” I hear from beside me, and I look in the window, and I see her. He is in front of her while she looks at him with dry tears on her face, but she’s angry. I’m proud that she didn’t let him win, but then he does something that makes my blood run cold. Ice is running through my veins now, and all I see is red.