Page 87 of Forbidden Hearts

Loud bangs sound beside me as bullets hit Santiago’s car. We dive behind the car to avoid the bullets raining down on us.

“Shit, my car!” Santiago says. “I just bought it a few months ago!”

“Stay alive, and I’ll buy you a dozen new cars,” I say.

We return fire at the two reapers, hitting one square in the face, instantly killing him. The other one—the one with the shotgun—keeps shooting at us from behind a column on the porch.

“Keep your eyes open,” I whisper to Santiago. “I don’t know if there are more reapers here. As soon as we take them out, we run ins—”

Santiago grunts and collapses on the ground beside me. He clenches his jaw as he places both hands on his thigh. Blood pools over his fingers on the leg. “Hijo de puta! A fucking pellet got me!”

“Are you okay?” I ask him. I don’t have time to inspect his leg because the other fucker keeps shooting at us.

“It’s nothing,” Santiago says. Sweat gathers on the side of his face, which he promptly wipes off with the back of his hand.

I have to end this now. For Alex and my brother.

“Fuck it,” I say.

I peek over the car and unload my entire magazine at the guy still shooting at us.

I pause when he stops shooting. There’s a moment of silence.

When the adrenaline leaves my body, I notice the man who was shooting at us is lying on the ground. His hands are on his bloody throat.

“Looks like I got him,” I tell Santiago. “I need to go find Alex. Do you think you can get back to my car? I should have a first aid kit in the trunk.”

Santiago nods. “Go find her. I’ll be okay.”

I rush to the first reaper we killed and take his pistol, then I walk to the one I just shot. He is staring at me as the blood gargles at his throat. Instead of putting him out of his misery, I grab his shotgun and toss it as far as I can.

I’m going to let him drown in his own blood.

“It’s over, Jacob!” I yell as I walk into the house. It’s quiet inside, but I can’t let my guard down. If there were other reapers around, they would have appeared by now. It’s unlikely there are others in the house. Still, Jacob is probably armed.

I inspect every room as I make my way to the back of the house. My adrenaline is kicking in again, and my heart is racing in my chest. I can almost feel it pulsing in my throat.

It’s not me I fear for. It’s Alex.

If she’s dead…I think to myself, but stop the thought before it can poison my mind. She can’t be dead.

My heart drops when I look out the screen door at the back of the house. Outside, Jacob stands behind a tearful Alex. His arm is wrapped around her throat, and the other holds a gun to the side of her head.

My fingers tense around the drip of the gun when I see bruises on her face and blood on her shirt, and my vision turns red.

“You decided to play the part of the white knight,” Jacob laughs. “But you’re outnumbered, Alonzo.”

“Your two men are dead,” I say. “It’s just you and me. If you have any balls, you’ll let Alex go and face me like a man.”

Alex is visibly shaken. I want her out of here as soon as possible.

“I don’t have to do shit,” Jacob says. “I assume you spoke to Ben if you knew to find us here. It’s only a matter of time before the cavalry shows up. And then you’re really gonna be fucked.”

A laugh escapes my lips, causing Jacob’s eyebrows to dip.

“What’s so funny?”

“First of all, I’m not afraid of your little boy band. And I hate to break it to you, but there is no cavalry coming to save you,” I say, slowly opening the screen door and stepping outside. “Ben sold you out for a continued working partnership withNuestraCasa. I may not be an enforcer anymore, but I still have a pull there.”

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