Page 74 of Chaos Luck Wrath

As the blade drove into her brother, his hands released her before she hit the point of no return over that wall. Layne gasped and coughed for air as her feet hit the ground on the side of the wall she was grateful to be on.

Drawing the short blade out of him, she angrily punched him across the face while he was still stunned. Her eyes stared at her ultimate betrayer as he slipped and fell to his knees with a hand grabbing at the wound in his chest.

Layne walked behind him, grabbing a fistful of his auburn hair. She jerked his head back so he was looking up at her. “I should thank you for hating me so much. You’ve made this so much easier.” In a smooth motion she slashed the edge of the blade across his throat, blood flooding from the critical arteries that she just severed.

There were some gurgling sounds before enough of Liam’s blood stained the snow around him and he fell into permanent unconsciousness. Seeing that he was well on his way to hell, she released her grasp on his hair and watched his lifeless body fall forward onto the ground.

She let out a relieved breath that it was over. Part of her mourned that it had to come down to this, something that could have been unavoidable if Liam had chosen a much different path in life. The other part of her was just happy to live another day without his constant attacks on her happiness.

Getting pulled from her thoughts, she heard the roof access door open up as Joey and Gage pushed through. Her gaze softened as she looked at them both, seeing the relief evident on their faces seeing she was ok.

“It’s over.” She sighed and gave a small smile.

The familiar sound of a gun popping off echoed throughout the air. One, two, three quick shots went off in succession.

Joey went from a moment of intense happiness that Layne had finally ended Liam’s pathetic existence, to one of seeing his worst nightmare.

Layne’s body jerked as all three shots landed on her chest, tearing holes in her jacket. The force knocked her down, her body hitting the ground hard.

While Joey’s only instinct was to get to Layne, Gage’s eyes followed the trajectory of where the gunshots came from. Standing across the way was Mick, smirking at the successful strike against the last of the O’Reillys.

Feeling the phantom pain of what it was like to have a single bullet enter his chest, it ached more painfully as three hit Layne’s. With pain riddling his voice, he yelled out her name, “LAYNE!” Joey didn’t give a fuck if he took a hundred more bullets, he only cared about the woman he loved that had just been gunned down in front of him.

Needing to eliminate the active threat, Gage retrieved his gun from his thigh holster and began firing at Mick, quickly working on emptying his last damn clip as he ran towards his target. “You motherfucker!!”

At least one of the bullets found its way into Mick’s stomach causing him to stagger. It gave Gage enough time to tackle him to the ground, using the butt of his gun to repeatedly smash into his face. This old shitbag deserved to feel his wrath before he died.

Making sure Mick stayed dead this time, Gage used the last bullet in the chamber at point-blank range between the man’s eyes. That was a moment he wished he could relive over and over again. Instead, just the memory of it would have to suffice for Gage.

Arriving at Layne’s body lying on its side, only a few feet from her brother’s, Joey dropped to his knees next to her. She lay there still, nearly looking like an angel as the snowflakes clung to her dark eyelashes.

Horrified, Joey stared down at her, paralyzed by his fears becoming reality. Hidden behind her closed eyelids were the sparkling emerald hues he had fallen so desperately in love with. The pink pouty lips he had kissed countless times were partially swollen and bruised from her altercation with Liam.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck. Layney!” Joey’s hands grabbed her, trying to rouse her awake. His teardrops felt frozen against his cheeks as his panic set in. His hands began to tug at the busted zipper on her jacket from one of the bullet holes.

After the ringing in Gage’s ears stopped from firing that bullet into Mick’s shitty face, he could hear Joey behind him shouting at Layne. He got up and ran over to the two of them, kneeling on Layne’s other side, across from Joey.

Losing Rosie had broken both Joey and Gage and Layne had mended that wound; losing Layne would destroy them both beyond repair. Already, Joey was beginning to lose his shit as he fought with the zipper with trembling hands. Joey’s voice cracked under the emotionally charged whisper, “Layney, you can’t…please.”

Gage swallowed against the lump forming in his throat, preventing him from getting any words out. Layne had to be okay, she was meant for so much more than this. Yet, he was terrified to see anything that said otherwise.

Pushing past his fear, Gage finally shoved Joey’s hands away from Layne’s jacket zipper and forcefully tore it open.

Joey straightened as he saw what lay underneath, sitting back on his heels. “What the…”

“Thank fuck…” Gage leaned over and laid his head on Layne’s stomach as he blew out the breath he had been holding.

Underneath the jacket was a slim bulletproof vest that had a cluster of the three bullets lodged into it.

Sitting back up to look at her, Gage was grateful he had managed to convince Layne’s stubborn ass to wear the vest tonight. Otherwise, he would have never forgiven himself.

Layne’s eyes slowly opened as she stirred with a groan, “Fuuuck.” She winced at the burning sensation against her chest. Despite the vest doing its job, it sure as hell did little to ease the sting of the impact that had stolen her breath away. She had a feeling the bruising was going to be quite the collage of colors.

Before Layne could make the effort to sit up, Joey pulled her upright and locked his arms around her. “Layney, you fuckin’ scared the shit out of me.” There wasn’t much that frightened him, but losing her was a fate worse than death.

Her muffled voice spoke into Joey’s chest, “If you keep squeezing me so tight, I’m going to die of suffocation.” She groaned again as the aches and pains were screaming throughout all of her body.

Gage’s arms joined Joey’s as they both embraced her with the unspoken promise of their everlasting protection. “We aren’t ever going to let you go, Lucky Charm.”

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