Page 31 of Unleashed
I tried to reach her.God, I fucking tried.But they had her inside before I made it, and I couldn’t chance shooting at them; the risk of a bullet hitting her was too great.
When that helicopter lifted, blades kicking up sand, something flipped in me. A switch. A wire. A fuse. Whatever humanity was left.
I remember the first man I grabbed. The way his windpipe caved under my boot. The crack of another guy’s skull when it hit the stone. How another’s blood sprayed my face when I slit his throat from ear to ear. His friend tried to run, but he didn’t get far. Took three bullets to the spine before I put my knife through his eye.
I hunted every last one of Anthony’s men who stayed behind. No survivors. Not one.
Some begged. Others fought. None of it mattered. They were all dead the second they touched her.
Talon had to drag me off the last body. I was elbow-deep in his chest cavity, carving out his heart like it owed me answers. That rage? It never left. I still wake up with the copper sting of blood in my nose.
“When are you going to stop kidding yourself?” Maximo eyes me before he takes a turn onto the highway.
“What are you talking about?”
“You and I both know it’s only a matter of time before you go to New York to get her. So why delay the inevitable?”
I clutch the vial at my neck, hearing her voice saying ‘I do’ over and over. Her blood is still warm in my mind. Still alive. Still mine. “I’m giving her space.”
Maximo snorts. “Space? Are you serious?”
“As a fucking heart attack. Besides,” I pull my palm down my face, “we have no idea what we’re up against with our copycat psychopath. It’s probably best to keep her as far away from me as possible.”
“At least we agree on something.” He switches on the music, some hard metal shit blasting through the speakers. “But?—”
“Oh, here we go.” I roll my eyes.
“After what I just saw, my guess is the more space you give her, the more unhinged you’ll get.”
I slam my fist into the dash, not even registering the pain. “I’m trying,” I clench out. “I’m fucking trying.”
“Listen, if you’re so hellbent on giving her this space you think she needs, you gotta be careful. If you’re not…you’ll be too far gone by the time she’s ready to come back to you.” Maximo’s knuckles flex on the wheel as he takes a sharp right, sunlight slashing across his face. “I get it. And I think you’ve got balls trying to be better and all…just don’t lose yourself while doing it, okay?”
I grind my teeth.
“Okay?” He snaps his gaze to me, and I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand.
“Okay,” I say, clenching my fists.
“Good. There’s no use in trying to be a better man only to turn into something she won’t recognize.”
And that right there is the kicker. I was a monster before I met her, then I becamehermonster. But if tonight proved anything, it’s that without her…
…I’m something far worse.
Chapter 10
EVERLY
The hospital room is too quiet. The kind of quiet that lets your thoughts grow teeth.
Morning light filters in through the blinds, thin stripes stretching across the white tile floor like prison bars. I’m propped up in bed, blanket pulled to my waist, but I haven’t moved in what feels like hours. Haven’t slept at all.
The monitor beside me beeps every now and then, just enough to remind me I’m still here. Still breathing. Still pregnant.
My hand rests on my stomach, flat and soft and still somehow…foreign.
A baby. Nine weeks.
