Page 67 of Kidnapped Bratva Toy

“You dumb bitch!”

As Nicholas screamed, he slammed Billie back into the wall with another hard shove, and I could see her head hit the surface behind her. She wobbled, trying to shake her head as she yanked on Nicholas’s arms.

He raised the gun, but I was right there, and I dove off the desk right into Nicholas. It took him down to the ground, and I rolled with him until we hit the opposite wall. The gun he’d stolen from the now-dead security guard slid across the floor, and I was glad for it.

Until mine when flying in the opposite direction as he grabbed my wrist and slammed it against the floor. With a low growl, I smashed the solid part of my skull into his face, making Nicholas reel back.

“Pietor!” Billie called from the side, and I kicked the heel of my foot into Nicholas’s head as he scrambled against the smooth tile floor.

His head snapped backward, and he landed on his back. He was out for now.

Spinning on my knee, I reached for my gun. I didn’t want that lying around for a number of reasons.

“We’re getting out of here, Billie. Don’t worry.”

The tips of my fingers brushed over the handle of my Glock just as a horrible scream cut through the air behind me. Whipping around, I saw Nicholas up on his knees, aiming the security guard’s gun at Billie.

“No!” Her voice was a piercing shriek as she called out.

Nicholas is going to shoot her.

I abandoned the move for my gun and shoved myself forward with everything I had. Despite the considerable distance between us, I couldn’t make it to Nicholas, but I could make it to Billie.

Soaring through the aim, my back and shoulders interposed between Billie and the gun right as another loud pop signaled its firing.

Time froze for a moment, silence and gravity-less floating all that I knew, and then I was whacked into the ground as everything sped back up, moving double-time to account for the missing seconds.

It was all bullshit nonsense that my brain was cooking up. Because right after the pop, the worst pain I’d ever felt tore through my shoulder, moving like a red-hot poker as it jabbed through to the front of my chest.

Even smashing into the floor at Billie’s feet—my face hitting the tile—didn’t hurt like the inferno searing into my upper left side.

“Pietor!”

My vision tunneled and went full static mode as I struggled to look up at her. My brain was very aware that I’d been shot, but the rest of me couldn’t process the stimulation for longer than a few seconds, the pain too much. I shook my head, trying to keep my eyes open as warmth oozed from my shoulder and a cold sweat broke out over my forehead.

I’d saved Billie from getting shot. But Nicholas was still up, and his gun wasn’t empty.

Chapter 27 - Billie

Having never heard a gunshot this close before, I was shocked by how fucking loud it was. Worse, I saw the horrible thing rip itself through Pietor’s shoulder. Blood seeped from the injury as he lay before me, and I was fucking gone. The earth didn’t exist, there was no air for my lungs, and my heart just seized up.

His eyes fluttered but then closed, and as the crushing weight of reality hit me, the stillness of shock was replaced by the frenzy of horror. I screamed. I screamed with everything left in my lungs as I slid myself across the floor toward Pietor.

“Pietor? Baby, come on. Talk to me.” My voice was low, and burning surged behind my eyes.

He didn’t answer. I didn’t know what to do. The only thing my frantic brain remembered was to put pressure on the wound. I reached out, shoving down over the injury—hard. Pietor stirred at that, groaning as I caused him pain.

“Hey, you’re going to be all right. I’ll call the house, okay?”

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.” Nicholas’s grating voice was sharp as a dagger in my ears. “You fucking fell for him! What the absolute fuck?!”

A horrendous, unhinged chuckle bled from Nicholas as he let his head fall back on a laugh, waving the gun as he tried to breathe around his stupid fucking giggles.

“What happened to being a good girl? A lawyer above reproach? You’re as bad as I am, you dumb cunt!”

My stomach dropped, anger and guilt and fury roiling through my veins, molten, hot, and ceaseless.

“Billie.” Pietor’s whisper barely reached me, but I looked down at him.

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