Page 85 of Intertwined Souls

I pull my gun out as I jog up the stairs just to be safe, but I don’t find anyone as I make my way down the hall until I get to the last door on the right. Entering the room, I let my eyes run over Grayson and Cade before they land on Harley.

I swear to God, I am going to spank her ass raw for putting herself in front of an obviously desperate trapped psychopath with a gun.

Harley

My stomach turns as my eyes quickly dart around the large, dimly lit room. The far wall is lined with what appears to be dog cages. I can see two kennels currently occupied, while another girl is laid out on a metal table to our left tied down.

The fourth girl is barely able to keep her head up as the man in the suit is holding her back against his chest, with a gun touching her temple.

“Get the fuck out or I will kill her and every other whore in this room!” he screams at us.

His eyes dart wildly around the room, his voice trembling slightly. I take a step forward, and Cade tries to grip my arm, but I pull away quickly, focusing on the man.

“Who says we want them kept alive?” I raise a brow at him, hoping he won’t call my bluff.

His mouth gapes open as he tries to figure out what to say, the tiny amount of confidence he had disappearing as confusion takes over.

The girl he’s holding up has managed to barely raise her head enough when she heard my voice. Her long beautiful black hair is braided down her back, and when we lock eyes, I can see the same pain there I’ve glimpsed in the mirror countless times before.

She has bags under her dark brown eyes, and her lips are tilted down in a deep frown. She looks put together, but also like she is falling apart at the seams. I try to convey with my eyes that we are here for her, that we’re here to help them, but when she inhales deeply and squeezes her eyes tightly shut, I know she is about to do something stupid.

Everything happens within seconds. The man is too confused and thrown off by what I said to be on guard, so when she drops her weight he is forced to either drop with her or let her go.

When she hits the ground, he aims his gun down at her just as one of Vance’s guys takes a shot, hitting his shoulder and causing him to drop his gun as a second shot echoes through the room. He stumbles and cries out but manages to stay on his feet.

His eyes darken in rage, and he charges directly for me, seeing as I'm the closest intruder to him.

I brace myself with my knife, but Cade gets to him first. Slamming into him and rolling onto the ground, he gets on top of him and pounds into his face with his fists.

One of Vance’s men steps in to help while Grayson walks slowly towards the cages. When I look back down at the girl on the ground, she has grabbed the gun the fucker dropped and is using what little strength she seems to have left to roll onto her side and point it at Grayson.

“Stop.” Her voice is so hoarse you can hardly hear her, and Grayson doesn’t notice the weapon now being aimed at him.

Diving to the ground, I knock the gun out of her hands, and she immediately attacks.

Flinging herself at me, she manages to knock me onto my back out of surprise. Grasping her arms, I flip her and straddle her thighs, pinning her wrists on either side of her head.

“Stop! Stop fighting me—please! I promise we’re here to help, but I need you to calm down,” I try to plead with her through her screams and jerky movements as she tries desperately to gain control.

A soft cry comes from one of the girls by the cages behind where we are currently on the floor. It sends adrenaline flowing through her, and she is able to get a wrist free and claw at my neck until I have to release her other wrist to get her to stop. She wiggles out from under me and turns to dive towards Grayson by the cages, but I grip her ankle and yank her back towards me.

“Please stop. I don’t want to hurt you!” I yell, but her eyes are set on Grayson, and she is too far stuck in her head to truly hear anything I’m saying.

My hand grips her hip, attempting to pull her back, but I pause when she gasps and flinches. Pressing down slightly harder, I can feel how the part of the black slip she is wearing that I am touching is soaked.

Her body jerks, and then she seems to give up and starts sobbing while trying to grip her side. I bat her hands away and raise the black slip dress up to find a bullet wound on her side. Fuck.

“Hey! Someone, I need help over here!” I yell as I use her dress to press down as hard as I can on the wound to stop the bleeding. Locking eyes with hers, I say, “It’s going to be okay. I promise. We are here to help.”

“No. N–no. I prom–promised. I told her, I told her I could be strong,” she stutters and gasps out through her sobs.

“Who? Who did you tell?” I demand just as Vance drops down next to me with a black medical bag of some kind. He gestures for me to move my hands as he pulls the dress away and presses gauze down on the wound oozing blood.

“Help me roll her on her side so I can see if it has gone through or not,” he urges quietly.

Nodding, I help rotate her as gently as I can.

He curses under his breath and shakes his head as he looks up at me. “No exit wound.”

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