Page 99 of Third Degree

Hordes of people were running frantically toward the doors, and I realized I was running into them.

Boom.

My ears started ringing incessantly as I screamed out for Chelsea.

Boom.

I turned around to look at Carlo, Rina’s husband, just ripping through the crowd with his weapons.

“Carlo!” I yelled, hoping he would hear me through the desperate cries and screaming of the people trying to get out.

It felt like he was shooting aimlessly in the crowd, but I could have been wrong. Right now, I just needed him to stop whatever this was.

I lifted my hands up to see if, somehow, he would recognize me and stop whatever the fuck he was doing. Just as I was waving frantically, I felt something cold graze my shoulder.

Fuck.

I looked down, and a surge of terror shot through me as I saw a crimson stream staining my hand. I hastily lifted it to shield myself. Blood. It could only mean one thing…

No, I couldn’t abandon Elio like this.

Amid the cacophony of frenzied sounds, a wave of warmth enveloped my body, threatening to buckle my knees under the weight of sheer panic. With the crowd stampeding away from the center of the dancefloor, I knew that a single misstep would condemn me to being trampled underfoot.

Determined to survive, I clutched my injured shoulder, grimacing with each agonizing step toward the exit.

The noise was a relentless onslaught, but I pressed forward, my sole focus on reaching the sanctuary of the back exit, the very path I had descended earlier. If I could just find a sheltered corner hidden from prying eyes, I might stand a chance. With every ounce of strength left in me, I hobbled toward my salvation.

Finally, I reached the corner, my body slumping against the wall as a surge of relief washed over me.

Gasping for air with one deep breath, I let out a scream, but the sound dissipated into the void, swallowed by the encompassing shadows that surrounded me.

Nothing but utter darkness.

32

Elio

I couldn’t find her. We cleared out the entire fucking club. I heard the bullets in the VIP section immediately and then ran out the back door, where Julian had texted me that he had gotten Tatum and Maeve out.

I found the other friend, Chelsea, huddling in a corner with a man.

“Where is she?” I growled at her.

“I swear she was just with me. She said she was thirsty, so she left.”

She was by herself. By. Herself.

I felt my chest tighten, thinking about what I was going to find when I finally got down to the dancefloor.

One of Ricardo’s men was able to get a bullet into the shooter. He wasn’t dead and was quickly brought to the basement before the police could arrive. I had no fucking desire to share this prick with the cops. He was fucking mine.

“Where the fuck is she?” I grabbed Chelsea’s shoulders, and the guy she was with attempted to walk in my direction, but I shot him a gaze that said,I dare you.

It was either that or the Glocks, one tucked into my waistband and the other in my hand, that stopped him.

“I don’t know, Elio.”

I wanted to fucking kill this woman. Rationally, I knew it wasn’t her fault, but right then, I could have fucking strangled her for leaving Gianna by herself.

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