Page 52 of Room Twenty-Three: Tangled & Teased

I gulp and close my eyes, which makes my tears roll down my cheeks.

“We’re going to lie low for a couple of days, then we’ll disappear away from here.”

“I’m not…”

“It’s over Marco. Let her go.” My eyes open wide and I scan the room. I’m sure it was Jove’s voice, but I don’t see him.

There’s a scattering of footsteps sounding behind me. I go to turn, but Marco spins me until my back is against his chest.

My heart thrashes against my ribs, and I’m shaking with fear as the blade presses against my flesh. Marco’s breath warms my ear, his breathing now heavy as he waits.

“Last chance. Let her go.” Beau’s voice comes from behind me as more footsteps sound closer.

My heart races, knowing they came back for me. Or was this always the plan?

“She’s mine. She was always mine,” Marco hisses. “Don’t come any closer. I have a knife.”

“I’m not.” My body trembles uncontrollably as Marco tightens his grip on me. Fear holds me at the thought of what he might do to me. I want to say the words out loud, but I’m too scared my talking will press the blade harder against my neck.

I close my eyes and try to calm myself down, but the sound of footsteps approaching only makes my heart race faster. I now know that Marco had an accomplice in Australia who killed my cousin.

Is the killer here too? Is he hiding, waiting to kill anyone who gets in their way?

But it’s Jove who steps in front of me. His eyes on mine in the same way they were when he looked at me before he joined us in room twenty-three. The moment he knew he wanted me.

The moment that I’ve only just realized.

Beau steps into the room too, and I give him a weak smile.

“Drop the knife and you’ll live,” Beau says as my eyes notice a red laser on the ceiling.

I’m about to scream that there’s a sniper outside, but Beau gives me a slight shake of the head. And I know now that it’s Atty.

“She’s mine. You three took her away from me. I was supposed to be the one looking after her. Nobody else.”

“And you had her cousin killed so you could protect Erin from her murderer, or as you wanted her father to believe, from the Mafia,” Jove says.

Bile burns my throat as it skitters from my stomach. I want to bend over and throw up on the floor. Unfortunately, the knife planted against my throat stops me from moving at all.

Tears flood my eyes as Marco’s grip on me tightens.

“Let her go,” Jove warns.

I blink the tears away and stare at Jove and Beau in front of me, both men have their guns trained on Marco.

“If I can’t have her, nobody...”

There’s a pop in the air before I feel my body slipping away from his grasp. My head hits the ground hard, but I open my eyes and try to focus around me. Jove is standing above me with a gun in his hand, his face twisted in anger. Marco is lying on the ground, his body twitching in pain as blood gushes from his neck.

Jove leans down towards me and takes my hand gently, pulling me up to a sitting position. “Are you okay?” he asks, his voice soft and concerned.

I hold my head, still trying to process what happened. There’s a gurgling sound to the side of me as blood spurts from Marco’s throat.

Jove’s face darkens. “He was going to kill you if he couldn’t have you,” he says, the anger in his voice clear. “I couldn’t let that happen.”

I look over at Marco, who now lies dead on the ground. A shiver runs down my spine when I realize how close I came to the same fate.

Jove stands up, placing his gun in his holster. “Let’s get out of here,” he says, his voice firm. “I’ll send my people to clean up the scene.”

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