Page 28 of Roxanne

I hear the footsteps at the door behind me, but I don’t dare look. I can feel Eli getting closer as my brother and father enter the room.

“Cops will be here any minute, Eli… One of her neighbors will have called them,” Will hisses, but I close my eyes, and hold my breath.

This isn’t happening. This isn’t real.

* * *

Storm

I take another step closer to Roxy, but her uncle points the gun at her head shifting to the side so he can keep an eye on the three of us.

“If anyone moves, I’ll shoot her.”

Both her father and William are in front of me. They’re not close enough to get to Roxy or Eli. William moves slowly, holding his hand up behind his back. His hand is open, five fingers.

“Lower the gun, and we can talk about this,” Will says, tucking his thumb. Four fingers.

“I’m not a fucking idiot. The second I lower this weapon, I die. The only way I leave this room alive is with you three dead,” he scoffs. “The second I pull the trigger on one of you, the others will kill me.”

“Not completely stupid then.” William grins. Misha remains silent. Watching. Waiting.

Three fingers. I brace myself, ready to dive for Roxy. Eli must sense the change, because he looks at me.

“Nice necklace. Where’d you get it? Oh right, my knife.” I smirk, and his face turns red with fury. Two fingers. One…

“You fucking–” Eli says as William makes a fist, and I dive. The shot rings out, and then there's a scuffle behind me. I land with my arms wrapped around Roxy, holding her close. Protecting her. The pain doesn’t register at first, but when it does, I groan.

“Fucking shot me.” I drop my forehead to Roxy’s.

“Oh god, Storm, oh god, are you okay?” she cries under me, and I look down to see blood dripping onto her. My blood this time.

Chapter 9

Roxanne

No, no, no, no, no! Storm’s been shot. I can hear the others fighting, but I can’t take my eyes off Storm. I press my hand to the wound, stopping the flow of blood as much as I can. He grunts, but rolls to the side, his heavy weight no longer on me.

I move with him, keeping my hands pressed to his wound, trying to keep the blood inside his body.

“Oh, no, oh god, you're…you're bleeding!” I cry. Storm smirks.

“Yeah, I am. That's what happens when you get shot, Sinner.”

“Now is not the time to try and joke, Storm,” I scold him as tears fill my eyes.

“Stay down motherfucker,” I hear my brother shout and my head shoots to the left. I watch my father pull his leg back and kick my uncle in the face.

His nose immediately gushes blood, and this is the first time I've looked at him since he walked into my apartment.

There's no way my brother and father were going to let him get anywhere near me unless he took them down first. I doubt he's thinking clearly though. He's been imprisoned for years. I'm sure all he was focused on was getting his revenge.

I've never tried to plot murdering someone else, so I guess I don't really know.

My father left me with him once, he would never do that again.

“Fuck you!” Eli shouts, But my dad doesn't stop. He kicked him in the face over and over and over again. I can't look away as my father caves Eli’s head in.

“Papa…” I sniffle because Storm’s turning a terrifying pale color. He’s barely conscious.

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