Page 183 of Brutal Collateral

Cackling, I shove the useless gun back at Griffin and bolt forward in a flying kick that pins Miller’s body up against the large plate-glass window. The force slams his head into the glass. The blow stuns him, but he snaps forward and headbutts me.

Son of a bitch.

I pin Miller against the glass with my knee in his chest while I furiously punch the window with both hands.

“Shite, I see what you’re doing,” Griffin yells. “Ava, get back.”

Griffin points his gun. Not at Miller. Atthe window.

My heart swells with pride that he figured out my plan. I couldn’t yell it, or Miller would have moved. Now he gets it and there are only seconds to act. Rand’s eyes widen in surprise as I duck.

Griffin pulls the trigger, several rounds going off with a shattering crash. A spiderweb of jagged shards glitters like ice shining in the moonlight. For a split second, time freezes as Miller tumbles backward and out the window, his arms flailing Hans Gruber style.

I go to jump back, but to my horror, Miller grabs my necklace, the thick braided chain that belonged to Griffin’s departed sister.

My hands close around his in a split-second attempt to get free, twisting, but Miller’s weight pulls me out of the window with him. We tumble twenty feet into the yard below.

The concrete pad flies up at my face, as I brace for what is surely a fatal blow.

CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

Griffin

Istand there, chestheaving, hands trembling from the adrenaline coursing through my veins. I can still hear the echo of glass breaking, see the shards sparkling in the air, and feel the rush of crisp fall air from the shattered window.

It’s over.

Miller falls, and I want to spit, he’s getting what he deserves. Fucking Ava. She brilliantly orchestrated his death to look like an accident. Like he jumped to this death instead of going into rehab. Shane will look into that damn cult and make sure no one retaliates.

He’ll fall two stories down, and I can’t wait for the sickening thud that is his head exploding.

Butmyheart explodes in my chest seeing Ava go out the window with him.

“Noooo!”I bolt forward and nearly fall out myself, holding on to an unsteady metal joist holding the empty leaded frame.

The silence below is deafening.

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