Page 67 of Wicked and Bound

Dread twisting his gut, he crept into the labor and delivery room, crossed the dark room dominated by three empty beds with blank monitors and empty incubators beside them. Women gave birth here, probably before they had their newborns ripped from their arms forever.

His fury climbed another ten notches. Every one of these fucking monsters deserved to die. And for threatening his woman, he’d be more than happy to start with the doctor first.

“Back up or I’ll shoot you.”

Haisley. Nash nearly sagged in relief to hear her trembling voice again.

As his eyes adjusted to the dark, he caught a glimpse of her through the observation window, wearing a flimsy blue shift, torn in the scuffle, and a narrow-eyed glare of determination.

His training screamed at him to act, to protect, to eliminate the threat. But one wrong move, one misplaced shot through this maze of medical equipment and thick glass, and he could get Haisley killed. The doctor was using her as a shield too effectively.

His fingers whitened on his weapon as Dr. Haynes advanced with the syringe.

“You won’t shoot me.” Dr. Haynes’s eyes held a desperate gleam as she took another step closer to Haisley. “You don’t have it in you.”

Haisley’s hands trembled on the Glock. Nash saw the war in her eyes between survival and the weight of taking a life. He’d been there. That moment before your first kill changed you forever. He wanted to spare her that burden, but he couldn’t fucking reach her in time.

“Stay back!” Haisley shouted, her voice trembling even as her hands remained steady.

“One little stick, and this will all be over. Black Velvet just wants what’s hers.”

“Fuck you both. I’m not property.”

“You’re whatever we say you are!” The doctor lunged suddenly, syringe poised above Haisley’s neck.

Nash was already moving, but he was still twenty feet away, separated by a maze of medical equipment and the thick observation window. His heart skidded to a shuddering stop. Everything slowed to terrible clarity—the glint of the needle, Haisley’s wide eyes, the distance he couldn’t cross fast enough to save her.

“No!” The desperate roar tore from his throat.

A gunshot cracked through the air. Shock blanched across Dr. Haynes’s face, replacing her cold superiority as she clutched her chest. Then slowly she crumpled to the ground.

Haisley stood with the Glock still raised, seemingly frozen in shock. A bruise was forming on her cheekbone, but her eyes blazed with righteous fury.

Nash burst through the door and raced for Haisley. Karliah followed him into the medical office, skidding to her knees to check the doctor’s pulse. He held his breath until the female operative shook her head.

That was it. The bad doctor was dead.

He cupped Haisley’s face. “Are you okay?”

She looked at him, pupils dilating, terrified and lost. She was breathing too hard and trembling from head to toe. “S-she was going to drug me. Take me to Black Velvet. I couldn’t… I couldn’t let her.”

“I know. You did good. Real good. Listen, Black Velvet is?—”

“Here,” a female voice snarled from the portal.

The guards parted like a dark sea as Mila strode into the medical wing, her designer heels clicking against blood-stained linoleum. Her caramel hair was wild around her face, her evening gown splattered with blood. Gray’s? Nash hoped. But it was her eyes that stopped him cold—fever-bright with triumph and madness.

She moved with predatory grace, each step precise and measured, like a lioness cornering her prey. Guards flanked her in practiced formation, weapons raised, hemming them in from all sides.

Fuck. He should have gotten them out of here the moment Dr. Haynes went down. With every exit blocked, they were trapped in this concrete hell. His mind raced as he did aquick count. More than a dozen armed men, all with automatic weapons, plus whatever backup Mila had brought.

Against him, Karliah, and Haisley, who was still shaking from having to take her first life.

Their odds were catastrophically bad.

He scanned the room frantically for options—anything he could use as cover, a weapon, a distraction. But there was nothing. Just medical equipment and cold steel tables that wouldn’t stop bullets. They were cornered like rats in a sterile cage, and he had no way to protect Haisley or their baby.

Beside him, she gasped, horror transforming her face. “Mila? You’re…you’re Black Velvet? All those women… All those babies…”

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