Page 85 of Broken Love

“Obviously,” Lilah growls, digging the knife deeper against Caleb’s neck.

I shudder. “You don’t want to do that.”

“I kind of do actually. I really don’t like people wasting my time…”

Archer takes a short step closer and pumps his shotgun. “Neither do I,” he says. He gestures between them. “So, how about the two of you just come with me.”

Elijah furrows his brow. “Who the hell is this?”

“Bounty hunter,” Lilah mutters under her breath.

He rolls his eyes, unimpressed. “Oh.”

Archer steps forward again. “Oh?”

Elijah lays his finger over his trigger. “That’s close enough,” he says.

I reach out and lay my hand on Archer’s arm, but my eyes never leave Caleb’s. She looks so confident, even now. Even with a knife to her throat and a gun inches away from her head.

My warrior woman.

Her eyes twitch toward the couch, silently signaling at me to take cover as she pulls her hand free and the revolver flashes in the light.

Caleb pulls the trigger, firing one shot at random to take the twins by surprise. Lilah ducks behind the sofa, withdrawing her knife as Caleb rolls forward onto the floor.

I grab Archer and pull him down with me to safety as Elijah fires several rounds in our direction before pointing the gun down toward the floor, directly at my wife.

“Caleb!” I cry, watching in slow motion as she raises her revolver.

She fires a shot at Elijah, but he dodges in time. The bullet strikes the wall behind him as he takes cover with Lilah behind the sofa.

Caleb can just barely push herself up, but she manages to roll over onto her stomach and slide her revolver across the wood floor toward me.

“Cover me!” I tell Archer.

He peeks out around his chair and fires a few rounds toward the twin’s hiding place as I rush for the revolver.

Adrenaline pounds in my ears, fueling bravery I’ve never felt before in my life. The twins could easily get one shot off and I’d be done for. Any moment now could be my last, but I won’t let that be true for Caleb Fawn.

I kneel beside her and she latches onto me as I pull her off the floor.

Archer stops to reload. We all pause as the police sirens grow loud outside. Red and blue lights blink, shining through the pale, white curtains.

“About time…” I point the revolver toward the chairs and hold Caleb in my other arm. “By the way… I lied. The door does have an alarm for multiple failures. Usually, it’s more than three in a row but I reprogrammed it so the police were alerted silently after the first failure, so technically you called the cops on yourselves. Kid stuff, really.”

Lilah pokes her head out, staring daggers at me while Elijah does the same.

I smile. “I’d say you have another minute tops before they come bursting in here, so you have two options. You can get arrested and spend your night trying to explain the cobra tattoos to the LAPD… or you can go with Archer.”

Lilah stands up, refusing to back down. “And how do you expect to get out of this without them shooting you?”

I shrug. “I’m Fox Fitzpatrick’s best friend. My presence here will get cleared up in about fifteen minutes.”

“I’m his best friend,” Caleb argues in my ear.

“Not the time, honey.” I hold her closer and steady my grip on the gun. “Now, what’s it gonna be?”

Lilah seethes, her chest rising and falling with angry breaths while Elijah slinks a little further away from Archer’s shotgun.

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