Page 66 of If Tomorrow Never Comes

Diego uses that moment to punch Killian, breaking his nose. Blood gushes over his teeth as my brother groans in agony.The Bone Breakergets to his feet and rushes toward us. “Get her off this fucking yacht, Liam! Go!”

Killian get’s his shit together and fires another round into Diego’s thigh. He screams out, falling before us, huffing and coughing against the wood of the deck. Simultaneously, Madison screams a blood curdling scream and squirms her body until I release her.

Handing the gun to Diego, Kil says, “Your two choices are: manage to get off your yacht before it blows up, or kill yourself before then.” He looks down at his watch. “You have another ten minutes to decide. Madison stumbles to Diego’s side and presses her hand over his leg wound.

He hisses at the pressure. “Madison.Don’t. You’re wasting time.Dale. Get the fuck off this yacht. Right now!” he grits out.

“I’m staying. If that’s how the two of you are going to end this, then I’m staying. We—Ididn’t just go through all of this for Diego to end up dead. He’s a good man. He’s just like the both of you. I know this is part of your work. It’s part of war and the nature of the underworld, but you two are just like Diego. Deep down in those testosterone driven bodies are big soft hearts.” She looks up at Killian. “Your future wife would never forgive you if you do this. She’s like me. Shewillfind out. And by some chance she didn’t find out, you would end up telling her. The guilt would eat you alive, Kil.”

Killian runs a hand through his hair. He’s contemplating. “Your child will not forgive you for killing their uncle,” Madison continues.

Diego looks at Madison in shock. “Sel is pregnant?”

“Yes.” She wipes his forehead of the blood and brushes his sweat drenched hair off his face.

Kil still hasn’t said a word. He’s just watching the interaction between Madison and Diego.

“This isn’t you, Kil,” she says grilling him. Maddy turns her head my way, her eyes filled with unshed tears. “Or you,” her voice cracks as she speaks. “Don’t do this. Let’s put this all past us. Let Diego run a brand new syndicate. Make peace with each other. You’re going to be family now. A child is coming into this world with the blood that runs through all of your veins.”

I look down at my watch.Fuck. “She’s right, Killian. I’m not leaving himhere. We all played a role in Madison ending up here. Let’s deal with this when we get off this fucking death trap.” Killian snaps out of wherever he was and scoops Madison up.

“Killian!” she screams, panic lacing her voice.

“Grab Diego, will ya?” He shakes his head, clearly wondering if Madison is right or realizing she bewitched him again. Either way, I am happy with this. I don’t think I would have been able to leave Diego here to die, regardless of what my brother had wanted. Although, I don’t think he would have been able to go through with it. Knowing damn well his future wife would hate him. Madison would hate him, and perhaps one day his future child would too.

I help Diego up to standing and hoist him over my shoulder. With haste, I descend the staircase. Killian and Madison are already down the second flight, leading back through the kitchen and out to the main deck. We are almost to the bottom when I slip on blood. Diego and I fall forward, sending him and I tumbling down the remaining stairs.

“Fuuuuuck,” he moans out his obvious pain. I’m sure his ribs are still killing him, and he just landed on the side of his body with the bullet holes. Part of me feels satisfied knowing he’s in pain.I just hope he’ll survive his wounds—for Madison’s sake.

“Come on, mate. Up ya go.” I find my balance and try to hoist him back up. This time is a lot harder getting him to stand. “If you could, perhaps, move a little faster, that would be lovely,” I growl.

I use all the strength I have to get him up, but he’s a decent sized mother-fucker—and right now—he’s pretty much dead weight. He tries walking a few steps on his own, out of pride, but stumbles. “Fuck. Just go, man. You don’t have much time. Madison needs you. Don’t waste another minute trying to save me. Give Sel a kiss for me and tell her I’m sorry.”

Sweat drips down onto my watch as I check the time. We have two minutes to get from here, across the deck and onto the boat Conor has waiting for us. We also need to get as far away from this fucking yacht as possible before the bomb goes off. The minute they said ‘I do’ we had Seb set the timer.

Diego knew he would only have a little bit of time to get himself off the yacht. Of course no one planned on Madison going on a suicide mission, or for Killian to change plans last minute and decide to kill Diego.

“Madison will be devastated if you don’t come back with me. I can’t do that to her. Cause as much as I fucking hate to admit it, you mean something to her. I won’t be the reason she grieves another loss. If we go out, we go out together.”

Bending over, I manage to get my arm under him and start dragging his arse across the deck. When we get to the back of the yacht, I once again toss him over my shoulder and lower myself down the ladder. Conor helps me get Diego into the boat and eases him down to the floor.

We all lose our balance as Killian takes off like a bat out of hell. I haul Madison to me and cover her and Diego with my body as the heat and power of the blast slam into us. Diego’s yacht goes up in flames as we manage to escape by the skin of our teeth. Conor lets out a low whistle.

“Jesus. That was close,” Killian murmurs, navigating us back toThe Triquetra.

I lean back, giving Madison and Diego room to breathe. Madison looks back at the devastation and throws a hand over her mouth. Fireworks go off as the flames lick the remainder of the sinking yacht.

“Oh my God,” she sobs. She doesn’t allow herself to waste much time at all, refocusing her attention onto Diego. She jumps into action, grabbing me by my belt buckle and pulling me to her. She starts to undo it and my mind goes wild. So does my cock—but we aren’t really in the right place to be getting naked. With a crack, she pulls the leather loose from the belt loops. Her hair whips me in the face as she drops down and uses it as a tourniquet for his leg.

“You shouldn’t have come back,” Diego rasps through gritted teeth. Loud enough for all of us to hear over the hum of the engine and the insane firework show.

“Agreed,” Conor chimes in.

“You could have been killed,” Killian says patronizingly.

“What the fuck were you thinking, baby?” I add, my voice thick with anxiety and emotion.

Madison whips her head around so fast, her fervid gaze landing on each of us. I’m not entirely sure she’s even human for a moment. Her eyes hold so much heat, we are all about to go up in flames—just like Diego’s yacht. Except this explosion—will be far worse.Trust me.

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