Page 54 of Tempting Tessa

His face contorted into a monster. His grip around her neck tightened, causing her eyes to bug out. “The world has never seen a man like me.” He forced the end of the gun deeper against her temple. To Tommy and Jessie, he said, “We’re walking out of here. If you try anything, she dies.”

Tommy froze. Jessie’s gaze darted to him.

Tessa’s gaze met his. Her fingers dug into Harris’ arm, tugging at it to relieve the pressure on her windpipe. “Let…us…pass…” she ground out. “I…want…to go…with him.”

Tommy realized what she was doing—positioning herself for one final play.

Harris smirked. “Of course you do.” He rubbed his lips against her hair, drawing a deep breath as if scenting her shampoo. “You’re still my girl.”

Tommy wanted to bellow. He was going to break every bone in the man’s body.

Jessie laid her weapon on the desk and backed away to clear a path to the door.

“You, too, kid,” Harris said to Tommy. “Get out of my way.”

Tessa gave him a ghost of a smile as Harris’ arm loosened around her neck.

Swallowing past his rage, Tommy mimicked his sister’s actions, laying his weapon next to hers and giving Harris a wide berth.

Harris nudged Tessa forward, gun still at her temple. “If you change your mind,” he said as they moved for the exit, using Tessa as a shield, “I’m sure my daughter here will find a place for you in our new world order after we watch it all burn.”

Tessa moved so fast that Tommy almost didn’t realize what she’d done. Harris gasped and doubled over. The gun fired. Tessa fell to the floor, Harris on top of her.

His gun skittered across the floor. Jessie was on it, snatching it up as Tommy brought out the one in his waistband and bore down on Harris.

Who gasped for breath. Tommy yanked him off Tessa and saw blood staining his suit where a letter opener had been embedded between two of his ribs by Tessa.

The man continued to gasp like a fish out of water. She’d punctured a lung.

Tommy punched Harris in the face because, damn it, he didn’t care if the asshole was two steps from Hell’s gates, he deserved that and so much more. Then he shoved him at Jessie, who propped Harris against the desk, zip-tied his wrists, and called in their backup.

Tommy kneeled beside Tessa, who lay unmoving. The wool carpet had turned red on her right side, blood gushing from between her fingers where she pressed a hand against a wound. “Told you…” she said, her face pale and eyes glazing over, “I had it handled.”

Panic clawed at his chest. “Spencer,” he roared in his comm. “We need an evac now!” He stripped off his jacket and shirt, balling the cotton material up and using it to cover the gunshot wound. She winced and cried out, and he eased up, but only slightly. There was so much blood. Too much.

“Game over,” she whispered, her words slurring.

“Shh,” he said, the panic all-consuming. “You’re going to be fine. Swear on my life, I will not let you die.”

Meg and Declan burst in, saw Tessa on the floor, and exchanged a horrified glance. “Ambulance is on the way,” Declan told him.

Meg holstered her weapon and fell to her knees on the other side of Tessa. Spence burst in, took in the scene, and swallowed hard. “Hey, luv,” he said to Tessa. “You’re getting sloppy if you let that bugger shoot you.”

She shot him the finger.

He smiled. Tommy snarled at him. Spence’s smile faltered, and he made his way to Jessie. The two of them embraced and murmured in low voices.

Flynn’s goons arrived, arrested Harris, and a medic ordered Meg and Tommy away from Tessa. Tommy refused to go far, but Tessa gave him the side-eye, and he gave the medic enough space to work. A second one administered help to Harris, and when he was wheeled out on a stretcher, he cast a forlorn glance at Tessa. “Stupid girl,” he wheezed. “We could have…had it all.”

She shoved the medic aside and sat up, grimacing. “You want to know what your biggest weakness is? Underestimating others. You underestimated me, and that’s a mistake you won’t live to make again.”

“You can’t stop me,” Harris panted.

Tommy started to slam his fist into the man’s face again, but Declan stopped him. The bastard was wheeled away, and Tommy and Declan got Tessa on a second gurney. “I can walk,” she protested.

The EMT snorted, sticking a piece of latex across the IV needle she’d inserted into Tessa’s arm. Jessie held the bag of fluids. “Sure you can. How about you let me?—”

Tessa weaved her fingers through Tommy’s and hauled herself onto her feet. She swayed, and he caught her. “Listen to the medic,” he chastised. “You’ve lost a lot of blood.”

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