Page 55 of Bound By Longing

Dimitri lifts his gun straight at my head.

And then Mila is there, running into him. She shoves him to the side right as he pulls the trigger. Intense pain fills my arm as the bullet goes through my shoulder. I ignore it and shake Vladimir off me. I punch him three times, and he falls to the ground, knocked out cold.

“Bitch,” Dimitri seethes, shoving Mila away. He comes running for me again, but I manage to hide behind a column as he fires. The moment he’s out of bullets, I sprint for him. I grab the gun from his hands and toss it to the side. Dimitri stands no chance against me as I rain punches down on his face.

Just like Vladimir, he’s unconscious.

Lev is crawling away toward the back door.

“Not so fast,” I mutter, approaching him and picking my weapon off the floor. I flip him onto his back and point my gun into his face. “You’ve tested my patience for far too long, Lev.”

The gunshot goes off.

But it’s not me who shoots Lev.

I double back, staring down at the blood slowly seeping from my stomach. I got shot. Spinning around, I see Dimitri has woken back up and is pointing his gun at me.

He goes to shoot me again, but then Mila stomps onto his hand. He cries out, dropping the gun. She quickly picks it up and runs for me. “Damien, we have to leave.”

I groan and stumble to my knees.

“Damien!”

I nod. I need to keep moving. For Mia’s sake. She helps pull me up, and together, we limp out of the house. Lev doesn’t bother chasing us. He knows he won’t win with his busted leg.

But Dimitri isn’t hurt. He comes sprinting out of the house.

Mila runs right up to him, making him stagger back. “You wanted to marry me at one point, Dimitri. You wanted to keep me safe. Let us go. Don’t hurt me, please.”

“I think we’re a little too late for that.” He points his gun at me.

Good thing I already had my own weapon drawn. I land a shot to his arm, making him drop the gun. He cries out, staggering back.

I slump against my car, all the energy leaving me. I’m quickly losing blood. I won’t last much longer.

“Give me your keys,” Mila says. With bloody fingers, I hand them over to her. She helps me into the car before getting in herself and driving away. “You saved me again. Damien. Stay with me, please.”

I can feel the darkness taking me under.

MILA

I know I can’t take Damien to the hospital. Too many questions. So, I have to call Mikhail.

“Mila?” he asks, sounding incredibly confused that I’m calling his cell phone in the middle of the night.

“Damien’s been shot. I need your help.”

He doesn’t respond.

“Mikhail! Please. I’m coming to the penthouse. Have a doctor. Please.”

After a beat, he says, “All right.”

I hang up and focus on driving. “Damien, we’re almost there.”

He’s not moving.

“Damien!” I reach over and check his pulse. He’s still alive. Good. But he won’t be for long.

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