Page 67 of Moon Blind Hearts
Chapter 39
Jules
One moment, I’m looking at the twisted face of my father after he’d just cussed despite his etiquette training. The next, a gunshot goes off. I don’t know who’s gun it is, but it isn’t Cash, Oak, or Sawyer. I also don’t know what the fuck is happening as Oak shoves me behind him and takes up aim of his shotgun. In the distance, I hear Bonnie shriek and Genie’s cry of alarm.
“Genie!” I cry, lurching toward the sound. I stumble out from behind Oak to find a gun pointed at me.
Augustus’ gun.
“You had a bastard while you’ve been away,” he spits, baring his teeth at me.
“Don’t call her that!” I snarl.
The end of his gun starts to shake. “You’re nothing but a whore,” he spits. “Breaking a stubborn horse is one thing. Raising another man’s bastard is another.”
“You’re right,” I reply, tipping up my chin. “I make good money from fucking men on the internet and letting them pay to see. But no one could pay me enough to ever fuck you.” I spit on the ground to prove my point. “Go to hell, Augustus Harrington, and take all that little dick energy with you.”
It’s a cheap shot and I shouldn’t egg him on when he’s holding a gun, but it’s satisfying when his face turns red.
Oak steps in front of me again. “I suggest you put the gun down.”
Augustus laughs. “Fuck you, hillbilly.”
He pulls the trigger, and the sound echoes against the wood of the house behind us.
Everyone moves at once. Oak slams back into me after the shot, and I realize it’s hit him. I scream, panicking, but he continues to cover me so I can’t get shot myself.
“I’m good,” he growls, straightening. “He missed. Stay behind me.”
It’s a lie. I know it’s a lie, but I can’t exactly do anything to help right this second.
As of this moment, none of us have fired a shot. I can tell Oak doesn’t want to since my father is right about one thing. It would look bad if a United States Senator, and potential president, was shot on their property. Attacking the secret service could be seen as an act of terrorism, which means we’re fucked. There’s nothing we can do except hold our ground and wait for back up.
Bonnie screams again and I start running before I realize, desperate to get to my daughter before someone else can. I see her surrounded by men, and I can’t do anything when someone hits Bonnie over the head with the butt of a gun. She collapses and another man grabs my daughter just as Ivy comes out swinging one of Cash’s fancy gargoyle statues.
“Take the child,” I hear my father say. “Secure the line.”
The screams tear from my throat before I can stop them. But as I rush forward to help Ivy as one of the black suits swing at her, something hits me in the back of the head and I go down with a grunt. I slam into the hard ground, the gravel digging into my body as I scream for my daughter despite the sudden dizziness and pain, dragging myself across the sharp rocks in the hopes of getting to her in time. My vision is blurry as I claw at the ground, begging for someone to save her.
Cash and Oak are at my side a moment later as I distantly hear the sounds of car doors closing. “Genie!” I cry, desperately trying to drag myself forward. Oak drags me to my feet despite my vision swimming. “Genie!”
The sound of tires spinning out on gravel reaches my ears.
“We’re gonna get her back,” Oak reassures me. “Come on.”
My vision is still swimming as I’m placed in the backseat of Oak’s truck and they take off.
Chapter 40
Oak
I’m bleeding all over the truck, the red trickling down my arm and getting onto everything from the seat to the steering wheel. There’s a sizeable bullet wound in my bicep, but I can’t be bothered to deal with it right now. I’ll worry about it later. Right now, my sole mission is to get that little girl back.
They’d taken her.
In the chaos, they’d shoved Bonnie aside, kicked Ivy down, and taken Genie. And when Jules had tried to get to her in the midst of the madness, I’d watched one of the secret service fuckers hit her upside the head. That asshole will have a nice black eye tomorrow when he’s sitting in jail, but I plan on giving him more of a reminder why he shouldn’t touch my girls.
My girls.
