Page 317 of Redeemed

It’s Elijah, Cornerstone’s head doctor. He mentored Isaiah during the first year of our marriage, and of course, Elijah blamed me for every single thing that went wrong.

“You.” He stalks toward me. “Your sin has brought God’s wrath down on us all.”

Stumbling back, I shake my head. “N-no. That’s not true.”

“It is,” he shouts. He stoops down next to my father and pulls his jacket back to reveal a holstered gun.

My heart is in my throat as Elijah takes the weapon and stands. As he aims it at me, I raise Colton’s gun and point it at his chest.

“You don’t have the guts,” Elijah sneers. “You women are too soft.”

Elijah’s body jerks just as his gun goes off, a split second before I shoot him. His bullet goes wide, narrowly missing me. He drops to his knees with a pained grunt, and I realize he has two bullet holes in his body—one in his chest from me, and one in his arm.

It takes me a moment to realize what just happened. Someone else must’ve shot Elijah right before we both pulled the trigger. There were… how many gunshots were there? Three, I think? There had to have been three.

I whirl around, trying to figure out who else shot him, and my gaze lands on Wes. My jaw drops as I do a double-take. What the hell is he doing here?

His chest is heaving, and he’s looking at me with a mixture of emotions on his face. Horror because I’m pretty sure I almost just died. Relief because I didn’t—thanks of him.

“Don’t hesitate next time,” he calls before whipping around to help Kellan.

Kellan. Is Cal here, too?

Before I can figure that out, I’m swept up by two muscular arms and crushed into a hard chest. My body instantly recognizes it, and I let out a sob of relief.

“Luc!”

His lips pass over mine for the briefest of seconds before he grabs my right wrist and secures a handcuff to it. The other one is already around his left wrist, so when I tug my hand away, it only brings us closer together.

“Lucas, what—”

“If they take you, they’re taking me, too. I’m not leaving you here alone again.”

“Luc, go,” Colton yells from across the room. Him and Jeremiah are still fighting a man with a knife, and more are closing in on them. “Xander, now!”

As Lucas drags me toward the side exit, Xander bursts into the church with a few other men who’re dressed head-to-toe in black. He grins at me as they all start dumping gasoline onto the floors and splashing it on the walls. The smell is so potent I have to cough.

Xander’s voice echoes off the high ceilings as he shouts, “Either get out or burn.” He’s holding up a lighter in one hand, and the other is clutching a half-empty gas can.

Right before Lucas pulls me outside, I catch a glimpse of the remaining Cornerstone men retreating toward the front. It gives everyone else the chance they need to dash toward the exit Lucas and I just came through.

Colton and Jeremiah are first, and then Wes, Kellan, and Cal, followed by the other men with the gas cans. Xander is last, and he heads straight for me.

“Haven,” he breathes out, the relief so potent in the way he says my name that I feel it deep in my chest.

His hands frame my face as he kisses me hard and deep. The smell of gasoline masks his normal smoke and leather scent, but I couldn’t care less. I slip my free arm around his neck and move my lips against his.

He’s here. They’re here. I’m safe again.

“Xander,” Colton says impatiently.

Pulling back, Xander shoots him a playful glare. “What? You got to kiss her in the middle of all the chaos back there. This is only fair.”

Colton keeps his mouth shut, which is probably a good thing. He knows he has no grounds to stand on.

Xander flicks the lighter open and hands it to me. “The honor is yours, doll.”

The flame is so small, and it feels strange that I’m about to destroy a place I spent so much time in when I was younger. But this needs to be done. Cornerstone’s church is a house of pain, not a house of God.

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