Page 65 of Guarding her Gangster Girl

“She’s not a killer,” I snarl. “Don’t you think she’d be out here facing you with me if she was?”

They exchange a look, and I can see the idea gives them pause. Lyssa takes a breath to speak, but before she can, everything changes.

On the other side of the room, a strange, fiery light zooms toward the floor-to-ceiling windows with a whooshing noise, and then the world explodes in a hail of glass and concrete.

A fuckingrocket launcher. Someone has fired right into the?—

Before I can finish the thought, high-powered rifle rounds thump through the house, punching holes into the walls as I dive for cover.

“Colombos?” Scarlett calls out her guess, already on the floor and scrambling for cover.

“If it is, then they followedyou,” I snap.

“They didn’t,” Lyssa says coolly from a few feet away, where she’s tucked up behind a cabinet. “And an RPG doesn’t seem like the Colombos’ style.”

She’s not wrong. The list of ammunition the Colombos requested in the cache we’re haggling over didn’t include…

Wait. The Consortium. HasEvasent someone after us? I suck in a breath and then duck as another round of shots slam through the room. I look at Lyssa across the room after we’ve both scrambled for better cover, a silent understanding passing between us. Whatever brought the Syndicate here originally, it doesn’t matter now.

We’realltargets.

CHAPTER 30

Brie

The safe roomdoor slides shut with a pneumatic hiss, sealing Holden and me inside. My heart pounds against my ribs like it’s trying to break free. I press my palm to the metal door, imagining I can feel Nik’s presence on the other side. The thought of her out there, facing unknown dangers while I’m locked away, makes my skin crawl.

“I should be out there with her,” I whisper, more to myself than to Holden. It doesn’t seem fair that I’m safe in here while Nik risks her life for me.

Again.

Holden doesn’t respond. When I turn, I catch him staring at me with an unreadable expression. “This place is…impressive,” he says, gesturing around the safe room.

I look around with him, imagining how he must see it: the security monitors lining one wall, showing every angle of the house and grounds; the hum of the air scrubbers; the shelves stocked with enough supplies to last weeks if necessary. This room has an adjoining bathroom with water-recycling and purifying facilities, and the walls were built to be near-impenetrable with a hybrid Kevlar and carbon fiber construction.

The light from the bank of monitors is bathing us both in an eerie glow as each screen flicks through a different view of the house and grounds.

“I had no idea you had all this,” Holden says. He sounds almost envious. He shouldn’t be. This room of supposed safety is only a reminder that we’re both in danger.

“Terry insisted on it,” I tell him wearily. “Said a woman in my position needed to be prepared for anything.” The irony isn’t lost on me. All this protection was available to him, too, and Terry still ended up dead.

I wonder if any amount of security can truly keep me safe in this world I’ve chosen.

Holden swallows hard. “He really cared about you, didn’t he? I mean, this house, let alone just this room…it’s incredible.”

For a moment, I’m back in that trailer park in West Virginia, dreaming of a life so far beyond my reach it might as well have been on another planet. Now here I am, surrounded by luxury that would make my younger self’s head spin.

But at what cost?

“All this—” I gesture around. “It’s juststuff, Holden. Terry kept me safe because we made a deal, and yeah, maybe he cared about me. But this house isn’t a reflection of how much he cared about me. It’s a reflection of how scared he was that someone would find out his secrets.”

Holden gives a sad smile. “I mean, you say that, Brie…but you were the one recognized as his partner. I loved him so much, but he never…” He cuts off with a catch in his throat.

My heart breaks for him. I’ve been so caught up in myself that I haven’t been there to help Holden through his own grief—and it must be that much worse for him because he can’t publicly display it. I go to him now and I hug him tight.

“He loved you,” I tell Holden fiercely. “Terry loved you with his whole soul. He talked about you all the time, how proud he was of you, how happy you made him. And you’ll see—when Frank gets the will sorted out, they’ll all see, the Family—just how much you meant to Terry.”

“I don’t know,” Holden frets. “That’s the thing, Brie—has Frank even spoken to you about the will?” He pulls away and looks at me.

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