Page 67 of Hidden Heir

“Go on then.”

It takes all my strength not to look at Brooke as I hobble forward. I have to use the counter for support, but soon the laptop is in my hands, and I quickly type in a few search words. A bunch of articles flash up on the screen as Paul walks around to stand next to me.

“What the fuck is this?” he asks, breathing over my shoulder.

“That’s where your drugs are,” I mutter bitterly, clicking on one of the articles to enlarge the picture of Brooke’s burned-down flower shop. “You fucking destroyed your own product, asshole.”

“Is this some kind of joke?” Paul snarls. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

As he talks, I slip my hand under the counter and grab the first bottle I can find. “The drugs were there, Paul. You destroyed them. You, in your infinite wisdom, destroyed the only thing that might’ve saved you from the Murphys. I know they will do anything to prevent a war with us, if only to keep someone like you from running around with so much fucking freedom. And I hope they give you the slowest death imaginable!”

I lift my hand after unscrewing the cap of the bottle, glimpsing the label just as I throw the bleach into Paul’s eyes. He stumbles back with a scream and I glance at Brooke.

“Run!” I yell, then throw myself forward and tackle Paul through a rack of clothing. We land together, and pain shocks my body into submission for a few precious seconds, before my desire to give Brooke as much time as possible to run kicks in. A newfound energy surges through me, and as Paul screams against the burning, stinging bleach, I crawl on top of him and seal my hands around his throat. I lack the strength to puncture his windpipe with my thumbs but press as hard as I can.

I maintain the upper hand until he throws out an elbow and catches me on the side of my broken ribs. I cry out but refuseto release him. He punches me in the face and gut, but still I try to strangle him. I latch on until he surges upward and flips our position, sending me crashing into a table. The world tips and blood sprays from my mouth as he punches me. I punch him back and drive my elbow into his shoulder, then I brace on my good leg and throw my whole body back into him.

He stumbles and falls, tripping me up at the same time. Back on the floor, I grab a handful of his hair and slam his head into the ground repeatedly before he grabs at my broken knee and my stomach roils at the surge of white-hot agony. Still, I grapple with him, trying to take him down. Another punch to the jaw and I’m losing momentum until I hear Brooke scream.

No. She’s not supposed to be here! She was supposed to run!

I scramble off Paul and stumble through the clothing rack in time to hear a gunshot. For a moment, I think I’ve died as the thought of Brooke being shot enters my mind.

I blink and see a guard crumpling to the floor, dead. He lands in front of Brooke who stands near the door, shaking like a leaf with a gun in her hands. Two more guards lay unconscious at her feet, a fire extinguisher on the ground nearby.

“Brooke! You were supposed to run!”

“I couldn’t leave you,” she says, then raises the gun at me, her eyes wide.

Paul is on me a second later, wrapping his arms around me like a shield. I struggle, unable to gain leverage. Then Paul’s gun presses against my back.

“Drop the gun, bitch, or I’ll kill your boyfriend!”

“Kill him and I kill you,” Brooke calmly replies.

The thought of dying and leaving Brooke alone to face Paul terrifies me, so instead of trying to wrestle free, I cling to the arm wrapped around me.

“Shoot me!”

“What?” Paul and Brooke ask in unison.

“Shoot me! Or shoot him but just shoot Brooke! You can’t let him get away!”

“But I’ll hit you!”

“Shoot!” I scream as Paul suddenly starts trying to get away from me. I cling to him with the last of my strength as Paul raises his gun, aiming right at Brooke.

“Brooke! Shoot him!”

A single gunshot explodes through the air.

30

BROOKE

My head hurts. Each sluggish beat of my heart echoes through the darkness as I keep my eyes closed.

Numbness exists everywhere. The only thing I can feel is an ache in my skull, a tickle in my dry throat, and warmth around my nose. Everything else is absent.

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