Page 99 of His Promise

The man’s lips part and he falls to his knees. He drops the gun and it thumps on the floor. Blood covers his shirt, and he slumps forward, his face landing on carpet.

My gaze lifts to Settimo, his gun raised. He scans the room, presumably looking for any more threats, and then he lowers the gun. People swarm into the room. Lorenzo, Anthony, Victor.

Anthony rushes to me and crouches. He touches my bullet wound, and I wince.

“Help Abi,” I snap before he can waste too much time on me.

Without a word, he moves to her and starts examining her wounds. She’s hesitant, her body turning to shield Zeke. Anthony says something to her and she slowly turns toward him. Zeke nuzzles into her chest while Anthony inspects her and she groans through gritted teeth when he lifts her shirt to expose her ribs.

There isn’t so much as a patch that isn’t blue.

I turn to Devin and bare my teeth, every intention of wrapping my hands around his neck as he had me and watching the life drain from his eyes. I shift toward him, but then pause, turning my head toward Zeke. He’s cowering with his eyes shut in his mother’s arms.

Devin yells something, and Settimo stands over him, his gun pointed at Devin’s head.

“Stop!”

Settimo turns to me.

“Don’t,” I say, flicking my gaze toward Zeke.

Settimo frowns and meets Anthony’s gaze. “Get the boy and his mother out of here.”

Anthony lifts Abi, and when Zeke protests Victor pulls him away. He lifts Zeke over his shoulder and carries him from the room.

“Colter,” Abi pleads, and I give her a reassuring look.

“It’s okay, Abi. I promise.”

Anthony pauses and looks at me, but I don’t take my eyes off Abi. She nods and closes her eyes. Anthony carries her through the door and she’s out of sight.

Lorenzo reaches down his hand to me, and I take it. It hurts like hell, my shoulder and head both exploding with pain all over again, but I manage to stand. I cup my shoulder and face Settimo.

He holds the gun out toward me. “Do you want to do the honors?”

I shake my head. “We’re not killing him.”

“What?” Settimo’s face contorts and his eyes narrow.

“This day has been hard enough on Zeke. It isn’t going to be the day his father dies as well.” I look at Devin and glare. “Let the courts decide his fate. I don’t imagine he’ll fare well in prison.”

Settimo grumbles. “What about us? You expect us to just walk away after he’s seen our faces?”

“I’m sure you can find a way to persuade him to keep his mouth shut.”

Settimo sighs and glances at Lorenzo. Lorenzo’s hardened face shows nothing.

“What do you think of this?” Settimo asks.

Lorenzo looks at me, and for one short moment, I see understanding. Respect.

Family.

“I think it’s Colter’s call.” He turns back to Settimo. “We can handle it.”

Settimo considers it for a moment and nods, turning to me. “You need to leave. Ride with Anthony to the hospital and get that gunshot taken care of. Tell the police what happened, and leave us out of the story.” Settimo wipes his prints off the gun with his sleeve and tosses it to the ground. “You shot Mr. Cole’s kidnapping accomplice out of self defense. With Cole’s gun. It isn’t registered.”

I turn toward the door. “Thank you.”

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