Page 68 of Ensnared
A hand wrapped around her arm and Eve looked up to see Dominic. His face was nothing like the usual stoic if not amused expression he always wore. It was a grim mask of determination as he practically yanked her up from the floor, pulling her to her feet.
"To the back yard, now!" he ordered, herding her forward.
Ricky appeared next to her, clutching a familiar ball of gray fur to his chest, his eyes mirroring her terrified ones. No words were needed. Fear coursed through them as they ran toward the sliding glass doors leading out to the back yard. Through the door, with Dominic's huge presence behind her herding them forward, Eve turned to look for Dimitri behind him.
He wasn’t there.
Her heart lurched painfully in her chest.
Still driving her forcefully forward, Dominic pulled her away from the house. Eve fought past his shoving and risked a look back through the wall of windows into the living room where she finally spotted him. Men were streaming in through the front door. Men that did not work for Dimitri. With guns in their hands, they fired into the house toward the couches where they had all sat moments ago prepared to spend the night with smiles and laughter. Instead, she saw Dimitri crouched behind the couch firing shot after shot. The strange men were falling but there were more to take their place.
Dominic grabbed her by the arm, his expression instantly hardening. "Keep moving!" he ground out.
"But Dimitri!" Eve's voice trembled, but the chaos drowned her words. She tried to move toward him, back toward the house. If she could only grab him and pull him along with her. Dominic's grip on her arms tightened painfully, pulling her forcefully away.
Dear God, he intended to leave him. Everything in her mind rebelled at that. "Dominic, no! We have to go back for him!" Her pleas fell on deaf ears as he propelled her toward the back gate, Ricky following close behind.
As they bolted across the patio, a deafening crash exploded from behind them, and two of Dimitri's men fell to the ground, crimson stains blossoming on their shirts. The once beautiful space was turning into a battlefield, the air thick with the acrid scent of gunpowder and fear.
"Stay low!" Dominic's barking command cut through the turmoil, and Eve instinctively obeyed, dropping to the ground as shots echoed around them. Again, her eyes pulled in the direction of Dimitri, but she couldn’t see him from her position. A desperate strangling pain thudded through her. She needed him here with her, to know that he was all right.
Dominic grabbed both her and Ricky and forced them to sprint across the backyard, the darkness of the night swallowing them in its depths, only broken by sporadic flashes of gunfire. Eve's heart hammered against her ribs, every step a desperate plea to return to Dimitri's side. But Dominic's hand around her shoulder was like a manacle propelling her forward.
Suddenly, from the shadows, a figure emerged, a gun glinting in his hand, and her world stopped. A gun pointed at her.
Was this it? Was this where she would die? For some reason, her mind tried to imagine the pain of a bullet slicing through her soft flesh. Would it be painful or would she die instantly? Like a deer caught in headlights, she couldn't move as her thoughts whirled with pointless questions. But Dominic moved. His big frame was suddenly in front of her, crowding her—shielding her. She heard the loud crack of the gun paired with a familiar shouting voice. Was that Ricky? Her stomach turned with the thought of him being shot but immediately disappeared when she felt Dominic's big body flinch and then the crushing weight of him as he fell, toppling them both to the ground.
From somewhere behind them she heard a deep sound. A roar? A scream? It was so deep, so agony-filled she couldn't tell. She didn't have time to. Dominic was already moving on top of her, his gun out and pointed ahead. One shot then two. Dominic fired at the man, causing his body to drop to the ground.
The gunshots from the house started again, faster and louder than before.
"Keep going!" Dominic's voice strained with agony; his grip unrelenting as they reached the gate in a low crouching run behind the hedges.
With horror, Eve noticed the dark wet spot at his side. Oh God, he was shot.
Dominic's face was a mask of pain and fury as he reached for the back gate. Toward the house, everything was suddenly silent and Eve turned back to it with a flare of hope. Was it over? Desperately her eyes scanned the ruined interior of the living room. Her glasses were slightly askew and she was sure one lens was cracked but she squinted to see.
Suddenly, she saw Dimitri standing at the far right of the living room. His blond hair was mussed and his pose was rigid as he stood there staring at something. Slowly, she followed his line of sight and wished she hadn't.
Something cold dropped inside of her like a single drop of water hitting a still pond as she watched a big man with long black hair pulled into a low ponytail point a gun back at Dimitri.
Two shots rang out into the night, each one piercing her soul as she watched Dimitri's body jolt.
Eve's heart tore as she watched him fall. A gut-wrenching cry tore from her throat and echoed into the chaos of the night.
Chapter 36
Dimitri’seyelidsflutteredopen,the sterile brightness of the room blurring his vision. Blinking, he looked around. Although the room had no windows, he knew by the equipment it was some sort of hospital room. His eyes stopped on a familiar figure standing on the other side of the room using both thumbs to type on his phone—Andrey. As if feeling his gaze, Andrey turned to look at him. His lieutenant's face was bruised and swollen.
The color in his face seemed to drain as each second dragged into the next. Dimitri narrowed his gaze at him and Andrey averted his gaze just as a woman stepped into the room. Dimitri's thoughts were a fuzzy fucking mess but he knew enough to see the relief in the lieutenant's eyes at the interruption.
The woman approached Dimitri, her words a distant echo as she spoke. Dimitri tried to focus, but the strange fog in his mind was making it hard. When she offered him a straw, a flicker of defiance surged within him. Why was she here? Why wasn't Andrey saying anything? And why did it feel like something was missing? Something very important. But the sudden need for water overruled his resistance and he drank from the offered straw.
The water helped clear some of the fog and Dimitri looked down at himself. The chill of realization swept through him; he really was in a hospital. He followed the IV line from his arm to the clear bag hanging from a hook near his bed, the sensors stuck to his chest, and the unfamiliar hospital gown he was wearing. Instinctively, he tested his limbs. They responded, albeit sluggishly. Yet the unsettling feeling of something missing lingered.
Dimitri glanced back to the man in the corner avoiding his gaze, a palpable tension lingering in the air. His mind felt foggy, struggling to grasp the missing pieces. Dimitri glanced around, seeking someone else, but the thoughts danced away, elusive and too fragile to hold onto.
A glacial chill swept through him as he looked around the room again, his gaze settling on his bruised lieutenant once again. Just what the fuck happened?
