Page 119 of Brutal King

We’re both out of bed in a flash, searching for the clothes we hastily discarded before we had sex.

“This is exactly why I say we should never fall asleep naked,” she grumbles.

“You could have gotten up and put something on.” I thrust a leg into my pants.

“I couldn’t move after what you did to me!”

I’d grin with masculine pride under different circumstances.

“Stay here.” I grab the Glock from my nightstand. “Lock the door behind me.”

“The fuck I will.” She’s out and in the hall before I can stop her.

“Carina. Fuck!” I chase her down the stairs and manage to stop her in the foyer. “Let me.”

I push her slightly behind me and open the door. Several of my men are waiting under the covered drive, all surrounding a vehicle that has apparently collided into one of the posts that hold up the portico.

“What the fuck?” The men move aside as we approach the black Bentley.

“Sir.” My head of security, Josh Hansen, appears from the chaos.

“What’s going on?” Carina demands.

“He rammed through the gate,” Hansen replies. “We shot at him, but couldn’t stop him.”

Sure enough, the back of the car is riddled with bullet holes. Thank God the posts were reinforced years ago, when Pops refused to teach Sofia to drive, so she took it upon herself to do it. She got only as far as the post. Damn near got herself killed when the roof partially collapsed.

“He’s alive!” one of my guards calls out. “Not sure about the guy in the back.”

I run to the driver’s side to see a very injured, and very unconscious man.

Carina gasps. “Oh my God. That’s Gideon.”

“Get them out!” I order.

Gideon is out first, then, his friend.

“Who is that?” Hansen asks.

“Itsuki. One of his personal guards.” I touch the man’s neck. “He’s dead.”

“What are they doing here?” Carina asks.

“It can’t be good, whatever it is.”

“Hansen, get the doctor here.” Carina is bent over Gideon, who is being carried by two men. “We can’t let him die.”

“Upstairs!” I yell at the men as we follow them into the house. “In one of the guest rooms.”

Gideon is laid on the bed. Carina comes in with a first aid pack and immediately goes to work inspecting his wounds. “He’s been shot three times. Maybe more.”

“Do you think Sofia did this?” I ask, hopeful.

“I doubt he would have come here if she had.” She gnaws on her lower lip, her brows tightly knit.

“You think she’s in trouble?” I can hardly voice the question.

“Why else would he have risked coming to Briar House?” She shakes her head as she uses gauze to stop the worst of the bleeding. “I hate to say it, Luca, but?—”

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