Page 211 of Never Die for a Sinner
“Ava,” Levi growls, but realization is dawning on me.
Alex presses closer to my side.
“Did you really think you were an only child, Ava?”
No.
NO.
Alex grins in my face when reality comes crashing down on me.
“That’s right, sweetheart. Donovan Palmer is your brother.”
Time stands still, and my heartbeat ticks like moments on a clock.
My brother.
Donovan is my brother.
“Why do you think he paid Cross to watch over you?” Alex continues. “Daddy screwed me over and thought he could save the only thing he has left. Doesn’t that piss you off?”
“Fuck you,” I breathe, and he just chuckles.
“Good idea. What do you think he’d say about that?” His free hand starts to roam, while his knife stays against my throat.
Disgust coils through me when he grips my breast through my clothes, and I surge in his grip to try and get away from him. A cry slips free when he tightens his hold on my hair, no doubt pulling strands free.
“Or maybe the boyfriend . . .” he chortles in my ear, moving lower and laying his hand flat over the center of my thighs. “Mmm . . .” he moans, staring pointedly at Levi. Levi takes a step towards us, his gaze murderous, but Alex digs the knife into my throat, and I gasp at the pain. “She’s nice and warm. Tell me, Cross . . . how does she feel? Soft and sweet?”
“Let her go!” Nolan roars. Taking a step forward. Alex drags the knife closer to my throat, hauling me back. I wince, feeling the blood slipping down my skin and soaking the collar of my shirt.
“I’m going to fucking kill you,” Levi says, watching the trail of blood, his voice holding a deathly calm.
“I’d love to see you try,” Alex sneers, and unfortunately, it’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
Everything happens so fast.
A shot rings out, and my eyes shoot to Donovan Palmer emerging from the shadows. His eyes meet mine, but it’s only a split second before the most heart-wrenching sound fills the room.
Alex is the first to be shot. He crumples to the floor, and suddenly, I’m released. I fall to my side on the broken concrete, and Levi lunges for Alex, pinning him to the ground.
The two men struggle, and the sickening sound of bone meeting metal fills the air when Levi plunges the knife directly into the side of Alex’s throat.
“No!” I snap when someone tries to tug me away.
DEA, FBI, and the Seattle police department swarm the scene, and Levi’s lost in the sea. I fight to get to him, searching for him in the swarm of bodies.
Levi’s eyes find mine, and I reach for him, everything moving in slow motion.
“Come on, Miss Ava,” I hear, and the hands that can only belong to Hector grip me tighter, attempting to drag me towards the door, but the flash of a gun catches my eye.
Alex may be bleeding out on the floor, but the gun in his hand . . . it’s pointed right at the back of Levi’s head.
This world means nothing without you in it.
I shove away from Hector and dart to Levi, just as the shot rings out through the air.
Our gazes meet.
