Page 103 of Devious Secrets

He slides down to the ground, and I step over him. He’ll be dead in a matter of seconds.

Jogging to the back of the house, I step over bodies and pass my men as they’re taking care of others in this disgusting place. Clearing out Michael’s house is a clear message on where I stand with the DeAngelo family.

As I move through the house, one of my men run straight into me from a hallway.

“Fuck. Sorry.” Oleg stands before me. Artem and Kaz rounded up the men on this mission, so I’m not positive who’s here, but I haven’t seen Oleg since the wedding dinner.

“Did you find Kaz?” I question him.

“No, man. But I think he’s back there. I heard him yelling a second ago.” He points down the hall I’m headed. “I was going to check upstairs.”

I pause, staring at him. Something’s off. His gaze doesn’t completely catch mine.

“Alexander! I found her!” Kaz’s bellow steals my attention. I leave Oleg where I found him and run to her.

“This way. Down there.” Boris waves at me from a small room off the back of the kitchen. “Kaz went down already.”

I barrel my way down the cement stairs into the tiny area under the house.

“Megan!” I shove two of my men out of the way when they’re blocking me, and I rush forward.

Megan is sitting on the dirty concrete floor inside a makeshift cell with a bloody naked woman lying in her lap. She’s holding a wadded-up shirt against the girl’s neck.

“Megan.” I step into the cell. Kaz looks up at me from where he kneels on the other side of the girl.

“She’s been shot,” he tells me.

“She won’t wake up.” Megan’s tear-stained face turns up at me. “She was trying to protect me, and she got shot.”

I look at Kaz.

“There’s still a heartbeat, but it’s faint. She needs to get to the hospital,” he tells me.

By the looks of the girl, the gunshot wound might not be the only reason she needs a doctor.

“Megan, you have to let her go. Kaz will take her.” I lower my voice so she isn’t spooked and squat down beside her. Blood covers her chest and is smeared across her cheek.

Between all the dirt and the blood, I can’t tell if she’s hurt or not.

“Okay.” Megan nods. “Okay, but be careful. They hurt her a lot. Please be careful.” She looks to Kaz.

“I got her.” Kaz gently slides his arms beneath the frail girl as Megan releases the pressure on her neck.

As Kaz makes his way out of the cell and back up the stairs, Megan gets to her feet.

“Are you hurt?” I grab her arms and lift them up so I can see her torso. There’s no bruising on her stomach or chest, but there’s so much blood.

“I’m fine.” She assures me. “It’s her blood.”

I grab hold of her, hugging her to me. “You’re sure?”

“You came. I was so afraid you wouldn’t be able to find me.” She wraps her arms around me, burying her face into my shirt.

“I told you; I will always find you.” I clench my teeth, holding back the emotion threatening to escape.

Until I had her back in my arms, I didn’t allow myself to consider how close I was to losing her. But now that I have her, I can touch her, smell her, kiss her, I realize I was only a moment away from never holding her again.

“But I left my phone at the table,” she mutters into my shirt. “The tracker was in my phone.”

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