Page 111 of The Last Dance You Saved
Our eyes caught. Fear. Anger. Desperation.
I remembered seeing those emotions in Mila’s eyes that day too.
I had to save Fallon. Had to save myself. Had to stop him.
With his weight on my legs, I was trapped, but I stretched my arm out, using every ounce of power I had to reach for the gun. Adam shifted, swearing, still cradling his torn flesh, trying to right himself, and the weight had my finger slipping off the grip. I bucked, my knee colliding with his wounded arm and causing him to scream again.
Hope filled me when my hand closed around the weapon.
I raised it shakily, shoving it toward his face and snarling, “Get off me!”
He used his good elbow to slam into my stomach, and even as I groaned and gasped for breath, I pulled the trigger. His body jerked backward, blood spreading along the shoulder of his white button-down.
“You bitch! You fucking bitch!” he wailed.
With one more kick, I was free of him.
The door of the office slammed open, and the sound of a rifle cocking filled the air, followed by my brother’s voice, dark and furious, saying, “Get away from them, asshole.”
Ryder eased across the room, blue eyes zapping with lightning, cowboy hat tipped back, lips stretched tight. His gaze darted from me, to Fallon, to Theresa’s dead body, and finally back to Adam who’d scrambled to rest against the wall, cradling his wounds.
“You’re bleeding,” Ryder growled, eyeing the blood that coated my arms and clothes. “You’re fucking bleeding.”
He stepped toward Adam, aiming the rifle at his chest, and I was barely able to stop him from pulling the trigger. “It’s not my blood, Ryder. It’s his.”
My brother grunted, a wolflike noise that warned of an attack, and then yanked me to him. For two seconds, I let myself lean into my brother’s comfort. Let myself wallow in the knowledge I was alive. That Fallon was alive. Tears swarmed, but I held them back as sirens filled the air.
My entire body was trembling as I handed Ryder the pistol and dragged myself away from his comfort. After finding the knife I’d dropped, I fell to my knees in front of Fallon to cut her free.
Boots pounded in the hallway, and a voice shouted, “Sheriff’s Department, put your weapons down,” just before Deputy Walker eased into the room with his gun drawn.
It took Walker mere seconds to assess the situation, glaring at the sight of Ryder with two guns pointed at Adam and a dead woman.
“Goddamn it, Hatley, did you have to shoot them? Do you know how much paperwork I’m going to have to fill out now!”
“I didn’t shoot anyone,” Ryder said. “That was all Sadie.”
Once Fallon was free, I pulled her to me, wrapping both arms around her trembling shoulders, burying my face in her hair as she clung to me. We were alive! Nightmares might haunt us for years, but we were alive.
Walker spoke into his two-way, asking for an ambulance, and I heard Maddox’s voice demanding a sitrep. Ryder’s phone started jangling, and then my ringtone went off in whatever pocket Adam had slid it into after using it for the code on the safe.
“He’s got my phone,” I told Ryder.
With the deputy’s gun aimed at him, Adam didn’t even move as Ryder searched his pockets, pulled my phone from the depths, and then ripped the bag with the jewelry in it off his wrist. Adam hissed in pain as Ryder glared down at him. “You’re lucky you’re not dead, asshole. You’re lucky my sister has more goodness in her left hand than you do in your entire goddamn body. If she hadn’t stopped me, you’d be on your way to hell. Just remember that when you’re sitting in a prison cell, cooking up more vengeance and hate. You owe her your damn life.”
Ryder stepped back just as his phone went off again, and he whipped it out. “I’m with them now.” He assessed us both, slowing as he took in my face that was screaming and the ugly bruise already forming on Fallon’s temple, and his jaw tightened. “They’re alive. Some bruises. But they’re whole.”
I heard the dark voice on the other end and knew it was Rafe just from the tone. My heart soared and broke at the same time. He’d sent me away, and I hadn’t had time to come up with a plan on how to keep him. Now, he’d arrive to take his daughter and vanish from my life. It made the tears fall harder. It made me squeeze the teen in my arms just a bit more.
Ryder waved his phone toward me. I shook my head. I couldn’t talk to Rafe yet. Not when I’d almost failed him. Not when Fallon had saved us more than I had. Not when I knew it was over between him and me.
“Let Fallon talk to him,” I said softly.
Fallon’s head whipped up. When she saw the phone extended, she reached out and took it. “Dad!” Her tears came harder on hearing his voice, and I just held on as she cried and talked through her sobs. “We’re okay. We’re okay. Sadie saved us.”
It wasn’t true. We both knew it wasn’t true. She’d saved us.
Fallon paused, listening to her dad. “I love you too. I love you so much. Okay.” More pauses. “Mom? Oh God, Mom… Uncle Adam… No. No. He’s alive… He’s alive. They’re taking him to the hospital and then to jail. He killed Theresa. He just shot her, point-blank, as if it was nothing.”
