Page 91 of Wilde In His Arms

Just then, one of the agents appeared, staring down at the ground with a flashlight.His head snapped up and their gazes locked through the broken window.

Nick whispered, “He’s probably got her in the kitchen.”

The agent pulled his gun at the same time Nick pulled his.

The agent walked forward to go to the sliding glass door that opened into the dining area next to the kitchen.

Nick headed for the hallway, calling out, “Aria, what’s taking you so long?”

She didn’t answer him.

The second he stepped into the hallway, he spotted her.Javier had one arm banded around her neck, her head right next to his face, her body shielding his as he stood with his back to the wall, the dining area to his left, the living space on his right.

His right arm was covered in blood.He’d cut his sleeve off and used it as a bandage over his bicep where Aria had stabbed him earlier.

Nick stayed as calm as could be expected and fell back on his training.“Let her go and put your hands up.This doesn’t have to end the way it will if you so much as flinch.”

Javier raised the gun in his hand and pointed it at Aria’s head.

She didn’t even balk.Her gaze held steady on him.

“Don’t move, sweetheart.He’s not going to hurt you.”Nick’s heart pounded against his ribs.Sweat broke out on his brow.

Javier’s face contorted into disdain and rage.“I’m going to fucking put a bullet in her like you did to Julia.”

Nick shook his head.“She hasn’t done anything to you.You want to shoot someone, shoot me.”

“No!”Aria went limp in Javier’s hold, taking him by surprise and pulling him forward as her knees bent and her weight dropped toward the floor.

Everything seemed to happen at once.

In his peripheral vision, he caught one of the agents coming in through the front door, gun drawn.

Aria reached down to her cowboy boot and extracted a knife, the blade gleaming, right before she palmed it and shifted sideways to break the hold Javier had on her neck.

The second agent on duty lined up a shot at Javier just outside the sliding glass door.

Aria used her free hand to push the gun in Javier’s hand away from her as she stabbed him in the same arm, pinning it to the wall.She scrambled back and fell to the floor, giving him and the agents a perfect shot.

Javier wailed in pain and lost his grip on the gun.It dropped to the floor with a thunk and it skittered across the floor toward Aria.She left it where it landed.

Nick rushed forward, his gun leveled at Javier’s head.“Don’t fucking move.”

“What the fuck is with her and fucking knives?”Javier grimaced as he looked at his arm, blood trickling down his skin and dripping onto the floor.

Nick loved that she wasn’t afraid to defend herself.

Javier hissed some more.“It fucking hurts.Get it out.”

Aria stood up beside Nick.“My brother gave me that one before I left the bar, so I’d like it back.”

The agent who came in the front door holstered his gun, pulled out cuffs, and approached Javier.He hooked up his free hand first, then raised a brow about how he was going to free Javier from the wall.

Aria looked at him.“You shouldn’t pull the knife out of his arm.Not until he gets to the hospital where they can stop the bleeding.Shall I?”

Nick couldn’t believe how well she was handling this.“Go for it.”

She approached Javier.Pain etched lines in his face and filled his eyes, but he still remained a threat.And he took advantage of Aria’s proximity and tried to headbutt her.She clocked him, right in the eye with her fist, busting open a cut at the corner of his eyebrow.“That’s for Stacy.You want some more?Because I’d be happy to make you bleed all night.”

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