Page 118 of Ronan

“Yeah, don’t I. Let’s get a couple of beers,” he says.

“Nah, I’ll have water.”

He nods and gets up to go to the bar. I watch him as he goes. However, a blonde woman in a corner booth catches my attention. She’s staring right at me.

I give her a look back as if to ask,What the fuck are you looking at? She keeps glaring until Byron returns to my side. I now have an uneasy feeling about this situation.

There’s not enough natural interaction happening. I count about twenty others here. I reach for the glass and the bottle of water Byron sits on the table and twist the cap off.

I’m glancing around, assessing the room as I pour the water into the glass then take a sip. The blonde gets up and leaves, but a brunette takes her seat. I try to follow the blonde with my gaze, but my vision becomes blurry. I shake my head, and the room begins to feel heavy.

I snarl and reach for my guns. “You motherfucker.”

I pull both guns and aim. All hell breaks loose. The brunette pulls a gun and aims at me.

I start to blast and back out the way I came. I catch the brunette in the forehead and hit Byron in the shoulder as he tries to run.

I take a hit to the chest—thank God for my vest. The bullet knocks the wind out of me, but I grit my teeth and bear it. I keep shooting.

I’m in trouble. My body feels so heavy and I’m starting to lose focus.

This is not the way I go out. I can’t die like this. Suddenly, my life flashes before my eyes.

I remember things about Uncle Freddie and his brownstone. There’s a soundproof basement. Myron locked me and Byron in it once while Uncle Freddie had to run out on business.

I shake my head clear and keep aiming. I know where she is, I can’t die here. I know where my sister is.

“I’ve got ya, love. I’m here,” Ronan says in my ear as he catches me before I collapse.

“He drugged me. Had to shoot my way out. I’m not hit, just drugged,” I say as I look up into his panicked eyes.

“I know where Anika is. She was right under my nose. We have to get to the house. She’s there.”

* * *

Ronan

I getDanny into the SUV and check her over frantically. I close my eyes and sigh in relief when I see she has on a bulletproof vest. When we entered the bar, I started shooting first.

Danny was holding her own, but I could see something was wrong. I thought she was hit when she started to tumble to the floor. When she told me he drugged her, white-hot rage tore through me.

“He got away,” Tadgh growls.

“She hit him. He’s not going to get far. We need to get to the house before he tries to. Danny thinks Anika is there.”

“Danny?” he says in confusion.

“Aye. Dean. Just get us to the house. Now.”

* * *

Anika

The worst partof being here is the soundlessness and the lack of sunlight. I didn’t know it’d been two years. Not until Myron mentioned it.

I’ve given up on anyone finding me. I’m only here waiting to die. I can only hope that my sister avenges me. That is, if she ever finds out what happened to me.

I’m too weak to fight. I can barely lift my own body. My lips are so chapped it hurts to press them together. I close my eyes and begin to tell myself one of Danny’s stories.

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