Page 16 of Unlawful Seduction

I pressed down on the accelerator, headlights almost immediately flashing in the driver’s side mirror. The roads of Mt. Mansfield were gorgeous in any season, but the blanket of white covering the thick foliage in the window was without a doubt my favorite. There was something serene, unspoiled about the area. To have someone potentially coming into my environment, interrupting my life because of some bad choices I’d made in the past pissed me off.

People didn’t like it very much when I became angry. They often faced the brunt of my violent wrath.

Without hesitation, I reached into the console, removing my weapon. I always had a fresh magazine and tonight wasn’t an exception.

Jax was fully alert, now sitting on his haunches. “Looks like we’re due for a small adventure, buddy. Just hold on.”

I pressed down on the gas pedal again, careful with my actions. Another turn was coming up, but the road itself was considered dangerous, not just because of the weather conditions, but also the steep drop-offs on one side. With a single wrong move, the driver of a vehicle could careen off the edge, spiraling hundreds of feet to their death.

If I was right about being followed, what I couldn’t take was the one percent chance that the fucker would survive.

Moving again would be a pain in the ass. I’d learned over the past ten months I was a small-town kind of guy.

I constantly checked the rearview mirror, the sick feeling I hadn’t experienced in a long time returning with a vengeance. There was no doubt I’d been followed.

“Hold on, Jax. Just follow my lead.” As I concentrated on the mile marker, I took several deep breaths. If there was one thing I hadn’t missed, it was the car chases. There’d been too many of them. I’d never understood why people had some crazy thought the end would be pleasant for anyone. At least the time I’d taken to hone my skills would come in useful.

Jax was staring out the back window, his whapping tail driving into the passenger seat. I was pissed off my furry buddy had been placed in harm’s way. The asshole would pay for that if nothing else.

But I knew there was a long line of reasons. Sure, I was curious how I’d been found after all the precautions I’d taken, but my experience told me this wasn’t some leftover member of the Valenti Crime Syndicate, not after all this time. Plus, I’d done a damn good job of making it look as if I’d also perished in the fire that had destroyed the family estate.

Killing the bastard Gio in the process.

The papers had even called me a hero for attempting to save lives, perishing while doing so. What a crock of shit.

No, whoever was following was all about something else, another blasphemous moment from my past that had come back to jerk with me. Perhaps even a hired gun. What did I care? Soon he would be dead.

After rounding the curve, I had the one chance to handle the issue clandestinely. I jerked the truck to the side, rolling onto a tree-lined road very few knew about. In the dark, there was almost nothing to indicate its existence.

The short window of opportunity wasn’t about waiting and seeing what he had planned on doing. I jumped out, Jax immediately behind me.

“Stay right here, buddy,” I told Jax as I crouched down. The engine from the other vehicle rumbled in the distance, the driver crawling forward since my truck was out of sight.

Thankfully Jax didn’t move as I crept close to the end of the road I’d turned on, keeping a low profile as I crowded the street. The other vehicle’s headlights were little more than a warm glow given the distance where the driver had pulled to a stop.

I glanced back at Jax before crowding the trees as I headed in that direction, able to remain out of sight. With the weapon in both hands, I proceeded with caution, agitated the headlights prevented me from seeing exactly what the fucker was doing.

Only after getting up close did I realize the driver had vacated the older truck. I spun around in a full circle, furious with myselffor how I’d reacted. The behavior wasn’t like me and could end up getting me killed.

A single crack to my right and I jerked to face it, crouching down and prepared to fire. That was the moment Jax decided to come to my rescue.

His single bark presented a moment in completely slow motion. Jax raced toward him with the speed of a greyhound. Once he was within a few yards, Jax lunged forward.

Whoever the driver was, he had a weapon in his hands just like I did. Instead of firing on me, he chose to deal with the more significant danger.

Jax.

The single gunshot was followed by Jax howling, immediately dropping to the pavement. The gunman was fast and while I was reacting to the horror of my dog being shot, the unknown assailant managed to spin and fire directly at me. Even though I jumped, the bullet caught me in the shoulder, the pain instantly blinding.

I dropped and rolled, my body sliding on the ice toward a drop-off. But the danger didn’t stop me; I fired off several rounds, catching the bundled-up man several times in the chest. When I hit the base of a tree with a tremendous thud, I was able to aim as the assailant tried to lift his arm to fire again.

The last bullet was driven between his eyes.

There was no need to check to see whether he was dead.

Fuck.

Fuck.

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