Page 155 of Kiss of Deceit
“Help me,” Hallie pleaded. “I can’t get up.”
“Quiet,” Leo gritted out.
“My leg won’t stop bleeding?—”
He removed the gun from my temple, shooting Hallie in the back of the head. Her body sagged, his shot killing her instantly.
“Two out of three,” I said with a short laugh. “Still think you’re walking out of here alive?”
He slammed the gun into my dislocated shoulder, and I bit back my grunt of pain, swaying on my feet. He wrapped an arm around my chest, pressing the gun to my heart. He went still when something flew past us before hitting a tree trunk. I stared at the silver hilt of the knife until Leo spun around.
“You missed,” he sneered, an edge of unease in his voice.
Her laugh echoed around the trees, the maliciousness of it shooting ice down my spine. In all the months I’d known Dani, I never heard her sound like that. There was no nerves or fear. She was cold and confident.
“Missed? When I use my blade on you, I’ll be close enough to see the life fade from your eyes.”
Leo’s grip around me tightened, and he shifted, hiding behind me. A crack of a branch had him whirling us around. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t see where she was. Which meant Leo couldn’t spot her either. When another branch cracked, he shot twice in that direction.
The cabin was fully engulfed in flames by now, and smoke was billowing through the trees.
“You missed,” she taunted from the other direction. He spun us around again, shooting three more times. My ears rang fromhow close the gun was, and I shook my head, trying to focus past the pain rippling through my body. “How many bullets do you have left? That gun holds ten. By my count, you have four left.”
“Bitch,” he breathed out, anger deep in his voice as he spoke louder. “I should have killed you years ago.”
“You should have,” she agreed, her voice bouncing off the trees as she moved. “But you didn’t. Your unhealthy obsession will be your death. How does it feel to be hunted?”
“I will kill you,” he bellowed. “The torture I did to you last time will seem like child’s play. You’ll be screaming in agony when I’m done.”
I sucked in a breath when she finally appeared in front of me through the smoke. She remained about forty feet away and had small knives in both hands. Leo tensed, keeping the gun on my chest. Her gaze went to him first, her eyes gleaming with vengeance. The calculated smirk on her lips grew when she took one step closer.
I trailed my eyes down her body, my stomach tightening. Blood spatter covered half of her face, and there were red specks in her hair. It was impossible to tell her sweater had been white with how much dried blood there was on it.
“Let him go,” she ordered, her voice as cold as her expression. “This is between me and you.”
“Put the knives down,” Leo countered sharply.
“Coward.” She cocked her head. “Do you think I’m stronger than you? Is that why you’re hiding behind him?”
“Stop trying to fuck with my head. It won’t work.” Leo dug the muzzle of the gun into my chest hard enough to bruise.
“It worked with Miles. That’s how I found out where you were.”
“What did you do to him?” Leo ground out, his voice shaking.
“I did what I do best.” Her cruel, mocking lilt sounded nothing like the woman I’d come to know. “I killed him.”
I could feel Leo’s racing heartbeat against my back as he kept me close. He seemed to be at a loss for words, and Dani just grinned as she continued.
“Oh, and he suffered. I made sure he didn’t bleed out from the first few stab wounds.”
“You ruined it all,” Leo roared, forcing me forward. “I’m going to kill him and then you?—”
“Enough with the threats,” she cut him off. “You want me? Then come get me.”
She spun around and darted behind a massive pine tree. Leo cursed under his breath, no doubt searching for any sign of her like I was. But the darkness had already swallowed her.
“Too bad about your son,” I murmured. “I was hoping he’d stay alive longer to suffer more.”
