Page 118 of Silent Betrayal

“Who the hell—” Paul says as he steps up beside me. I feel the gun drop, and realizing he will probably try to shoot them on sight, I turn and throw my entire body at him, trying to wrestle the gun free.

Our legs get tangled and we fall in a heap as the gun goes off.

“MINA!” Max yells as I continue to wrestle for a hold on the gun.

Paul pushes me onto my back, holding me down with a hand on my forehead as he raises the gun towards where several silhouettes are running towards us.

“NO!” I shriek, scratching my nails across his face.

“Ah!” he yells in pain, lifting his hand off my face. “You little whore!” He hits me across the head with the gun and pain explodes in my skull and nausea rolls through me.

He tries to lift the gun towards my guys again, but he’s tackled by two large bodies who push him clean off me.

I watch with wide eyes as my sweet Ben punches Paul in the face three times before Atlas pulls him back, only to deliver two blows himself.

“Mina!” Several voices exclaim and suddenly I’m surrounded by Gideon, Jasper and Max.

“You found me,” I say, panting heavily as I try to smile at them, but end up wincing when it makes my head hurt.

“I’m sorry it took so long, Sweetheart.”

“I’m just glad you’re here.”

“Love, where are you hurt?” Gideon asks, pushing my hair behind my ears. “There’s a lot of blood here.”

“He hit me with the gun.” I try to touch the wound, but several hands stop me from reaching it.

“Don’t touch it, your hands are dirty,” Jasper says, showing me my filthy hands. Even in the dark of the night, I can see what he means.

“Paul—He’s the one that killed all those girls. He was working with Simon the whole time!” I tell them, needing them to know he’s dangerous. “He said he was going to kill you guys, too.” My voice cracks on the last word as tears start to pool in my eyes.

“Is she okay?” Tucker asks, jogging over and leaning down to get a better look at me. When I look at him, he gives me a pained smile. “Hi Sugar, are you okay?”

“We’ve got you now, Angel,” Jasper says, moving himself behind me so I can leanagainst him.

I nod, emotion filling me. They found me and came for me. This, right here, this is what love looks like. It’s caring for someone, being tender with them and taking care of them. It’s letting them be who they are and loving them for it.

“I’ve called the chief, and he has the local police headed here now, and an ambulance in case we need it,” Dom says as he comes over and kneels beside me. He tilts my chin up, trying to look at my head wound, despite the surrounding darkness. A couple of tears roll down my cheek and I don’t try to stop them. I know none of them will care if I cry. They’ll only care that I’m upset. And right now my emotions are running so rampant, I don’t even know what I’m feeling the most. Relief, happiness, exhaustion.

“Where’s Paul?” Max asks.

“Knocked out, handcuffed, and shoved in the trunk of his own car until the cops arrive.”

“Malishka.” Atlas and Ben move in close and I reach my hand up to grip theirs one at a time, before exhaustion has me settling back against Jasper.

“Sweetheart, you don’t look so good, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere besides your head?”

I shake my head, wincing at the moment, as I answer through my sniffling, “I think I’m okay.” Jasper hugs me to him, and I cry out in pain. He quickly pulls back and looks me over with panic.

“Where did that hurt?”

“My side,” I tell him, suddenly noticing the throbbing pain in my side now the adrenaline is starting to wear off.

They all look down at my side, someone turns on the flashlight on their phone and aims it at my side as Jasper pulls my dress up. They swear, and I frown, trying to figure out what I’m looking at.

Blood covers my entire side, and I notice it leaking from a small hole.

“He shot me?”

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