Page 48 of Room Seven

Bone cracks and my father lands hard on his ass into the growing water levels around us. A nearby stream must be flooding. Great.

“It’s time to play, Aster.”

I turn to see fucking Joseph Romanov barrel the willow branches. His shirt is ripped and the blood dripping from a gash over his eye and a few slashes across his chest tells me he ran into my men and narrowly escaped with his life.

Three hundred pounds of Russian slams me into the ground. Fingers as thick as damn saplings wind around my throat and I can’t breathe. Not even a little.

I gasp, kick, flail like a madwoman, but nothing I do dislodges Joseph. And if I can’t get him off me, that means the rising water under me will become a problem. It’s already at ear level. At that point, it’s a matter of what kills me first.

Since I don’t relish becoming gator food, I stab my fingers into a bleeding wound on the Russian’s chest.

He roars and jerks back. It’s enough for me to dislodge his weight and roll out from under him.

Fear so strong it holds the power to knock the rest of the air from my lungs clenches around my ribs. I push to my feet and find my father’s loaded gun pointed at my forehead. I drop to my knees and his gun stays trained on me.

I clutch my chest.

Viper comes into sight.

Not my fear, I realize when our eyes briefly lock.

My men. They were trying to get to me.

Everyone is so focused on Viper that no one sees Mirsha and Luther attack from the sides.

I see the muzzle flashes from my peripheral before I hear the bullets leave their chambers.

And then just as quickly as my nightmare began, it ends.

More bullets and revving motors and the rest of my father’s men run or die where they stand. I know Mirsha will see to it they all pay at some point.

Without the light from the car’s headlights, I can’t see the blood in the water pooling around my feet, but I can feel the warmth.

My back turns to solid iron as I fight to keep upright. I almost died. They almost died protecting me.

“Oh, God. What just happened?”

Tears mix with rainwater and I am being pulled into arms. Who’s I don’t know, but I know they don’t mean me harm.

“I am so sorry, Aster.”

Viper’s hold is so tight and warm and crushing and perfect. When he lets up on the pressure enough so that I can climb up him and wrap my legs around his waist. I anchor my arms around his neck and we just stand there in the rain.

The protective wall from the other two surrounds me and I am safe again.

“You found me,” I murmur against his neck to all of them.

“We found you. We always will. Wherever you walk on this earth, we will find you.”

The shield of Luther’s words wraps around my heart and heals old wounds. “Is it over? Is the nightmare really over? Can we be together now?”

Gray, amber, and blue meet my eyes. “Not even God can take us from you now. We are only sorry it took this level of violence and loss.”

I believe God brought us together using my cousin.

“My too. But he chose this ending, not us. Let’s go.” I turn into Viper and close my eyes. I don’t want to see any more death and violence for as long as I live.

All I need are my men and the love we have for each other.

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