Page 292 of Unexpected Hero

Who says romance is dead?

But we need to leave.

What if the cars leave us behind? He said we’re not safe here. And I don’t want to stick around to find out why.

What if Viktor and his armed men are coming? If they catch us trying to escape, they’ll kill us.

We’re all witnesses. They’d never let us walk away.

Before I take my next breath, a blond woman with her head shaved on one side comes up behind me and grabs my forearm. “Violet, come with me. I need to get you to the van.”

I shrug from her grasp. “I’m not going without him.”

Bounding into action, I race across the room to James, who’s squatting over the asshole who burned me with his cigarette.

James grabs him roughly by the back of the head with a handful of hair, murmuring something low enough that I can’t decipher the words. He slams the fucker’s face into the carpet, yanks his head back up, and does it again before pulling a knife out of one of his many pockets.

He’s menacing, filled with so much wrath.

I love it.

Considering how many times I visualized hurting these monsters, I’m on board with his plan to deliver vengeance on my behalf. If that makes me a psychopath, so be it. If they didn’t want me to become a monster, they shouldn’t have made me that way. Actions have consequences.

But I can’t let James get in trouble for me. I may be simple-minded, but I know that even cops can’t rough up restrained men.

“Everybody out,” one of the men yells from the front yard.

I grab his arm. “James, come on. Please. We need to go now.”

“Get to the van, Lettie. You don’t need to see this,” he seethes, still brandishing the knife. “Kri, get her out.”

She’s on me again, this time a bit more insistently. I eye her down, finding her a bit intimidating.

But I’ve had far worse. And there’s kindness in her eyes.

“I need to snap him out of this,” I tell her.

The engines in our getaway cars rev. I don’t see any more girls in the house.

The woman nods at me, then tips her chin toward James.

He has his arm around the neck of the man, choking the shit out of him. He’s a second away from slitting his throat when I fling myself onto the floor, wrapping my body around his side to pull him off the man.

“Please come with me now, babe. Please. I can’t stay here another second. Please, James. Please. Take me home. I need you.”

He glances from me to the monster on the floor and then back to me. His face softens when he sees my desperation.

With a resigned nod, he stands, pulling me to my feet. He scoops me up in his arms and carries me out, carefully concealing my exposed buttocks in the process. Someone closes the front door behind us.

Our tormentors remain inside the house.

My muddled thoughts can’t decide if that’s good or bad.

While he carries me away, I look over James’s shoulder as the house’s exterior comes into view. Despite the dark of night, I get a decent view for the first time. Oddly, it leaves me feeling… nothing.

Empty.

I don’t understand what’s happening, but I no longer care about the men inside or the house. All I care about is this man holding me in his loving arms, making me feel safe. When I look at him, I’m less empty.

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