Page 88 of Sin and Redemption

A grenade cut our conversation short as it landed a couple of feet beside Maximus. He moved quicker than I thought possible and kicked the thing away. It flew toward the cage of Houdini and exploded, tearing a hole into the fence. Maximus aimed into the woods and fired several shots, then ducked back down. He grabbed my arm and tugged me around to the back of the truck.

Suddenly, Houdini was there, baring his teeth. I had never gone close to his cage, heeding Maximus’s warning. Maximus raised his gun, but the dog rushed away, soon chased by more dogs freed from their cages by Cara. Shots rang out as barks and snarls erupted in the forest, closely followed by screams and more snarls and shots.

Maximus pulled me toward the remains of the other truck. Before we even reached it, I could see blood pooling on the ground.

Cara ran in our direction, her expression filled with determination.

Maximus and I finally reached Growl. His calf was torn apart, but a belt around his thigh, right above the knee, seemed to have stopped the blood flow. “He’s alive!” Maximus shouted as he sank to his knees beside his father. He felt for his pulse and nodded, looking relieved. “He must have passed out after he stopped the blood flow.”

Cara threw herself down beside him and touched his cheeks. “Ryan? Ryan!”

Maximus removed his own belt and wrapped it around the thigh as well.

Growl opened his eyes and looked at his wife. Relief flooded me, and tears ran down my cheeks. Maximus squeezed my hand. “You okay?”

“I’m fine.”

He glanced at my belly. “What about her?”

“She is too.”

I could feel her moving. The excitement was definitely affecting her.

Maximus pushed to his feet. “I’ll hunt the attackers now.”

“You should stay,” Cara said. “Your father is in no state to protect us.Youneed to protect Sara and your father, Maximus.”

Maximus looked torn between the need to chase the attackers and his need to protect us. Eventually, he nodded and gazed into the woods with his guns pointed in that direction. The screams and snarls had quieted, and there were no shots.

He patted Bacon, who had stayed by our side.

“The dogs will have taken care of the attackers,” Maximus said quietly. “There were too many.”

“They protected us,” I whispered.

“Houdini was out for carnage,” Maximus said.

A few minutes later, my dad and brother and more reinforcement arrived at the house. Dad and Flavio immediately led me into the house, while Growl was taken to the Famiglia hospital by Primo. The rest of the men searched the woods for the attackers, Maximus included.

When they returned twenty minutes later, Maximus’s expression was dark. He was still in his blood-and-dirt-covered pajamas.

“Did they escape?” I asked worriedly, getting up from where I’d huddled under cozy blankets in front of the fireplace.

“No,” Maximus said. “Houdini was still chewing on Adrik when we found him.”

I could hear the regret in his voice, the longing for retaliation. I didn’t know who Adrik was, but I assumed Maximus had been hunting him for a while, and that could only mean he was somehow linked to our capture.

“That’s good.” I searched his eyes. “Right?”

Maximus shook his head and kicked off his boots. “He was supposed to be mine.”

I took his hand and squeezed, drawing his attention away from his dark thoughts. “Who was he?”

“Jabba’s father, out to avenge his sons.”

Revenge and more revenge. I got it, to some extent, but this led to more pain than we could all take.

We’d been closing in on Adrik for weeks. I had felt it in my bones that I needed to protect Sara but had underestimated Adrik’s determination and hunger for revenge. All of us had. It had almost cost the lives of the people I loved.

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