Page 146 of Royal Bargain
ANNIKA
Dariy doesn’t even flinch.
“I don’t care if she’s his stepsister,” he snarls. “That doesn’t change anything. Annika sold us out the second she opened her mouth about Harborview.”
My blood runs cold.
“That’s not true—” I try to say, but my voice is lost in the roar that follows.
“Fire!” Dariy orders.
Gunshots explode across the factory floor.
I scream and hit the ground, instinct taking over. The noise is deafening—metal ricochets, concrete chips fly past my face, and someone shouts in pain. My ears ring. My body won’t move fast enough.
The sharp sting in my foot flares again, hot and pulsing, but I barely feel it beneath the panic. Where’s Liam? I can’t see anything through the smoke and confusion.
I press my hands to the filthy floor, trying to make myself small. Invisible. My heart pounds so hard it’s like it’s trying to break out of my chest.
This is it.
This is how I die.
Bullets fly past me, too close. I can hear men shouting—Irish voices, Russian curses—but none of it matters. I’m not going to make it out. Not like this.
Then,
“Annika!”
Liam.
His voice cuts through the haze, sharp and terrified.
He’s suddenly there, dropping beside me. His hands are on me—checking for wounds, brushing hair out of my face, trying to pull me up.
“You’re bleeding—fuck, Ana, you’re hit?—”
“I can’t… My foot…” I gasp.
He doesn’t hesitate. He lifts me into his arms, shielding me with his body as he runs, weaving between the crates as more bullets crack overhead.
We hit the ground hard behind a metal beam. He curls around me, his chest heaving, eyes wild.
“I’ve got you,” he whispers fiercely. “You’re safe.”
Another gunshot. Then another.
And then,
“STAND THE FUCK DOWN!”
Anatoly’s voice thunders across the warehouse like the crack of a whip.
Silence falls. Utter, complete stillness. No one dares move.
No one dares breathe.
Even the air seems to hold its breath, caught in the middle of something ancient and dangerous. Liam’s grip on me tightens. I can feel his heart pounding against my shoulder.
