Page 37 of Room One Hundred and Five

“Son of a bitch!” I grit my teeth and throw a hand over a deep one that tears at my cheek.

A fury so profound I can't even get words to form grips my senses. We were so damn wrapped up in each other none of us heard the bell or the whoosh of the elevator doors opening. I thought for sure the security team at Club Sin would have kicked his ass out of the building. Which they most likely did. But they can’t keep him out of the building. They can’t control him from coming to the Centennial for a meeting with his clients.

My gaze lands on a hole two inches from where Stefan’s head rested while I was on his lap.

Cold seeps into my veins and the meaning.

I don’t get to focus on the fact he nearly died for long.

“How bad is she hurt?” Adrian shouts over all the noise.

“Flesh wound. It’s only a flesh wound,” Stefan repeats, holding me tighter.

One second Stefan is rocking me like a baby and in the next we are off the floor and on our feet. He shuffles me behind a nearby partition and palms the weapon Adrian tosses his way.

“How the fuck did this piece of shit get in here?” Stefan gets a spray of bullets in our direction for his question.

“I gave him a temporary code. Didn’t think our new lawyer wanted us dead before we paid him for the work.”

Adrian sounds almost amused.

“You gave him the code to our elevator?”

Emilio appears calm, but there’s an incredulous layer of disbelief, too.

“It was a temporary code.”

Adrian’s tone is flat.

“Thinking out loud here, but maybe we don’t give those out anymore.”

“Stefan is right,” I add, questioning everyone’s sanity.

“I think you’re right, little flower.”

I dare a quick look around the wall Stefan has stuffed us behind. William has done the same closer to the elevator. Only the glint of light off the side of his gun now and again reveals his hiding spot.

“Come on, Astor. Give me what’s mine and I’ll be on my way.”

Adrian winks at me, and then the tension crumbles around us. There’s a blur of motion. Bullets fly. Glass shatters. Shards turn into tiny projectiles aiming to slice us to pieces. Stefan wraps himself around me while my two other men put themselves in danger for me.

“No!” I scream. I can not let them get hurt because of me.

Blackness overtakes me and all I can do is wait for Stefan to release his hold on me.

The bullets stop. Drywall dust dances in the morning sunlight.

“I never thought you three would stoop to fucking my left overs. I knew you were at the bottom working your way up after the shit your father pulled, but a Moone? Damn, I need to pick my clients better.”

Silence. Stefan takes the fresh clip Adrian hands him and reloads. Emilio does the same with his back against a tattered partition. He winks at me like this is all fun and games for him. The scars on his knuckles and the rest of all their bodies makes sense now.

If we make it out of this we are all going to have a longer talk.

“You’re not leaving here, William Brigh. Not on your own volition, anyway.” Adrian speaks as if he is stating a fact. Ice clings to his tone and if I were William my knees would give out right about now. Adrian wants blood. All my men do.

There’s another whoosh. I peek around Stefan to see two more men step off the elevator, guns ready.

“Move!” Stefan grabs me and I go from being on my feet to having my back on the floor.

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