Page 140 of Royal Bargain
Agony.
It sears up my leg like a wildfire, instant and consuming. My foot buckles, and I hit the ground hard, hands scraping concrete, blood rushing to my ears. The pain is so sharp it doesn’t even feel real at first—just heat and pressure and something wrong.
I try to scream, but my breath won’t come.
Red spills across the floor beneath me, soaking into the fabric of my jeans. I can’t tell how bad it is. I can’t tell anything except that I can’t move. Not like I need to.
My brain keeps screamingGo, get up, MOVE—but my body has already surrendered.
Somewhere in the blur, I hear Liam shouting my name, but it sounds distant. Warped. Like it’s coming through water.
The only thing I can think is,This is how it ends.
Not with a betrayal. Not with a bullet to the head.
But with a foot I can’t stand on. A voice I can’t raise. A body failing me in the moment I needed it most.
I bite down on a scream as pain tears through me, white-hot and jagged. My foot—God, my foot—I can’t even tell if the bone’s shattered or if it’s just the shock, but I know I’m bleeding, I know I’m down, and I know I’m vulnerable.
Somewhere through the haze, I hear my name again—Liam’s voice sounds broken and panicked.
“ANA!”
He surges forward, weapon raised, fury written in every inch of him. He’s going to kill Dariy. I see it—he doesn’t care who’s watching, doesn’t care if it starts a war.
But he never gets the chance.
Because out of the shadows—like they were waiting—more of Anatoly’s men emerge.
From the catwalks. From the crates. From the loading bay in the back.
Dozens of them.
Automatic weapons drawn, cold expressions locked in.
The Irish are surrounded.
Liam freezes mid-step, and I see the moment it hits him.
This was never just a fight.
It was a goddamn ambush.
40
LIAM
The gunshot splits the air like lightning.
Annika screams—sharp, raw, and terrified—as she crumples to the ground, clutching her foot. Blood blooms beneath her fingers, bright and spreading fast.
I move without thinking—bolt toward her—but Kellan grabs me by the collar and yanks me back behind a stack of crates.
“Don’t you feckin’ dare!” he barks, shoving me hard against the wall. “You’ll get us all killed!”
My heart is a sledgehammer. I can’t see straight. I can’t breathe.
She’s hurt.
