Page 72 of Bottoms
“Finally,” Amira said. Throwing her hands into the air as we came into view.
I looked past Amira to the balcony and noticed a line of guns pointed directly at us. None of us would be able to make it out of here alive.
“Ditch the weapons,” she said, motioning to the floor in front of us.
We did as she commanded, and four guns slid across the tile.
“Don’t mind what Mr. Ryland said about you, Nessa,” Amira said, stepping down a few steps toward us.
Tanner, Colten, and Nik pressed in closer, encircling me, and Amira halted.
“And clearly, the proof is standing before us,” she said, gesturing to my men as if their loyalty was a sign of witchcraft. “Every now and then, I find a special little gem like you.” She smiled, clapping her hands together. “The crazy ones pay so well.” She beamed like she was a real estate agent with no budget.
“How can you see people as dollar signs?” I shouted to her. From what I had seen, the wealthy had a worse moral code than the killers.
“That’s all we are, sweetheart,” Amira said, and I hated the way the term of endearment sounded on her lips. “That’s all I am too, honey. The sooner you realize that, the simpler this life becomes,” she said, as if I was a child. “Well, not you,” she amended, heading back up the steps.
She walked towards Fynn, and he lifted his head to look at her as she approached. His hands pulled close to his stomach as he balled his fists together.
“I don’t care if someone is carrying her. Get her the fuck out of here,” Fynn growled, looking past Amira to us.
“And you never could have imagined my surprise,” Amira started, as if Fynn hadn’t spoken. “When I heard reports thattheFynn Graves was spotted at the Ryland Estate with a woman in gloves. Did you really think a haircut would be enough?” She bent down to look him in the eyes. “You’re wanted in at least twelve different countries.”
“I also had a mask on,” Fynn said with a smirk that I could see from here.
One of the guards kicked Fynn in the side with his boot, but Fynn just turned his head to the side and growled. It was so loud I could hear it from where I stood, and the hairs on my arm stood at attention. The guard went back to his gun, touching Fynn’s arm with the barrel.
Fynn moved as fast as a bolt of lightning, sliding his hands together to wrap around the barrel to yank the gun out of the guard’s grip. Fynn shoved the butt of the gun up, cracking it into the jaw of the confused guard. A shot echoed through the hall, and Fynn jolted forward, his face full of confusion, before falling to the ground.
“CEASE FIRE!” Amira yelled from her squatted position on the stairs where she had taken cover.
My feet surged forward, slipping between the men before they realized I had moved. My eyes set on Fynn’s unmoving body.
“Stop,” Amira said, and my feet obeyed.
I looked up, noticing every gun pointed at me. Even those directed at Fynn were now raised in a line across the landing. Amira smiled as she moved up the steps, getting behind the protection row. She looked down at Fynn’s body with disgust.
“I can’t sell them if they’re dead,” Amira said. She went to kick Fynn’s body with the toe of her shoe. Her eyes widened with shock for a split second when Fynn caught her foot with his chained hands. He rolled sharply, and I heard her bones snap before her blood-curdling scream echoed off the walls, and everyone jumped into action.
I reached for the closest gun, scrambling as I scurried, avoiding the wild shots that whizzed through the room. Hardly anyone had seen Fynn’s attack and were startled by a sudden change in direction while others struggled against her order not to kill me.
My hand tightened around the butt of a gun, and I wrapped my hand around it and sent a random bullet in the direction of the top balcony. Scrambling for the other guns, I pushed them back toward the boys, hoping they would catch up. I advanced up the steps toward the first row of shooters. Most of them had turned to see what had happened to Fynn, but my approach hadn’t gone unseen.
A shot rang out on the balcony, and my heart dropped out of my chest.
Arms wrapped around me, pulling me out of the way of the bullet that stuck into the stairwell. I looked up to see Tanner above me, breathing heavily as his eyes looked around. “Over here,” he panted, pulling me around the staircase.
We were tucked away underneath the landing above and out of direct sight for now.
“You know,” I said, laughing. I didn’t know what emotion I was supposed to feel because they were all bottled up in the abyss. “I’m not quite sure we’re going to make it through this,” I said, looking into his eyes in the harsh light.
A strip of light divided his face in two, slashing through the scar on his eyebrow, and I remembered the first time I looked into his eyes. The shy virgin asked three powerful, sexy men to use her for a few months before she went to work at a stuffy museum.
I barely recognized that person anymore.
A loud noise sounded above me, and the ground shook.
The world broke.
