Page 110 of The Reluctant Wife

Whatever happened on that boat, I have to hope Quentin and Tyler and their teams found a way to escape. They are too battle-seasoned not to have been alerted in time.

Clutching my gun, I bend, allowing my muscles to relax, getting into the zone, pretending I’m back on a mission. I peek out the door again, but nothing moves. The wind rustles the leaves on the trees, and the surf pounds in the background. Outside, the sun has set.

I flatten myself against the door, then slide out and against the wall of the house. I shuffle forward until I reach the next edge and peek around. The moon is beginning to rise. The patio and the pool stretch out in front of me, but I don't see anyone. I can bet they’re around though.

I scan the surroundings, taking in any spaces where someone could hide, not that there are that many. It’s one of the reasons I chose this island for our honeymoon. It should have made it difficult for anyone to get close without one of us spotting them. Still, they managed to get to the boats and are certainly on this island. But where?

My phone buzzes, I pull it out to see a message.

Brody: I’m on a helo with paramedics on board. We’ll be out to you within ten minutes.

Thankfully, Brody stayed in Verenza, in case of just such an emergency like this. I just need to hold out until then.

A sound behind me has me spinning around. I spot a blur of white and shoot at the same time that a bullet whizzes past my ear. I race inside the house, managing to take cover behind the wall. I take aim at the place I saw the movement and fire off another shot.

It shoots through the dune grass, raising sand in its wake. Once again, I don’t see anything out of the ordinary.Goddam!

Sweat trickles into my eyes, and I blink it away. My heart hammers in my chest. My pulse thuds at my temples. Every cell in my body is alive and vigilant. My shoulder muscles bunch. That low hum in my ears screeches out a warning, seconds before a hail of bullets is fired at me.Fuck.

One of them slams into the wall of the house; one whizzes past me and embeds in the furniture. A third buries itself in thedoor. Then there’s silence.All the bullets have come from one source. I'm fairly certain there’s only one person out there.

The moon hasn’t fully risen yet. It’s bright enough for me to see, but it still means there are patches of darkness wherever the ground dips. Staying low, I train my gun again in the direction of the firing and, letting my instincts take over, I squeeze out three shots in response. There’s a yell, then silence.Gotcha.

I pull back and survey the landscape. The fire on the boat in the distance stands out like a beacon. I pull out my phone and glance at the time. Five minutes to go until the chopper arrives.

I scan the surroundings and make out what looks like a fallen body next to a grassy knoll marking the edge of the perimeter of the house which gives way to sand. The form on the ground is unmoving, which is not to say they aren’t armed and dangerous. I stay still, watching them for any sign of movement, and there’s none. I draw in a breath, then another.I shouldn’t go out. I need to stay here until help arrives.And yet, the need to see the bastard’s face, to find out who they are and make sure I’ve put them out of commission, builds in me. I glance at the burning boat, and anger grips me.

The people behind those attacks on the boats may have killed members of my family. It’s because of their threats, my wife has had to seek protection. Their actions traumatized her and forced her to hide from the public gaze. Just for the torment they caused her, for the distress that, no doubt, will have left a mark on her psyche, I must make sure they can never cause her further agony.

Taking advantage of the growing darkness, I slip out of the house and approach the person without making a sound, gun at the ready to shoot. When I reach them, I take in their features and my jaw drops. It’s a woman dressed in a scuba diving suit.

I’ve been trained to shoot to kill, but the fact that it’s a young woman who has her life in front of her gives me pause. My fingers falter on the trigger, a costly error, for her eyes flip open.

She smiles, a grim, vengeance-filled thinning of her lip. Then, she raises her gun and shoots.

54

Aurelia

"No," I scream as he reels back.

I race across the grass toward him as he stands there with the gun aimed at the person on the ground.

When Ryot locked me in the closet, I was so pissed off. If he thought he was going to leave me there while he went in search of whoever had blown up Quentin & Tyler’s boats, then he was dreaming. I heard him move away, then threw my bodyweight against the closet door over and over again. Luckily, the latch was defective and burst open.

I scrambled down the stairs, and when the sound of shots reached me, I almost had a heart attack.

This is probably the stupidest thing I can do. I have no weapon, no training, and no defensive armor. If I put myself in the line of fire, I'll likely put him in danger as well, because he'll be distracted.

There is no way I can stand by and watch him sacrifice himself for me either. He’s in danger, and nothing can stop me from going to him.

I burst out of the house in time to see him reel back. My heart pounds like a drum against my chest. I run so fast my feet don’t seem to touch the ground. In seconds I reach him, and grip his arm "Are you okay?"

He shakes his head as if to clear it, then cups my cheek with his free hand. "Areyouokay?" he asks tenderly.

"Of course, I am. Though I’m pissed that you thought you could lock me in the closet and leave." I shake a finger in his face. "You and I are going to need to have a talk about your protective instincts."

He smirks. "We can talk about my instincts anytime."

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