Page 108 of The Mistake

Staring at my wife, seeing her look at me, I could read her. She was so happy to see me, but she knew. The moment she took a step toward me, she knew she was going to die. They had done this on purpose. One of them had moved her to where she was now, and left her. She was going to grow tired fast. At least they hadn’t killed her.

I held a gun in my hand and I had it pointed at theman I knew to be their leader. He stood at the head, a smirk on his face. He also had a golden gun. His body was heavily inked, and I knew he was the one I needed to take out. What they didn’t understand was that all of them would die today.

Three years.I wasn’t only going to have three years. How did I get her out of this mess? Our life had been incredible.

I can’t even believe this shit had happened.

My wife was mine. I wassupposed to protect her. Love her. There was no way I would allow any of them to take her from me. Charlotte was mine. But I knew she needed to make that step. She needed to move. I don’t know how long she stood there, but she was growing tired. They were going to kill her.

Vlad, Rage, and I were the only ones here.

I heard the car and then turned to see Cassie. She climbed out of the car and ran, screaming Charlotte’s name. No one paid Cassie any attention. We were only interested in each other.

Charlotte was about to make that step, and the sun caught the light and I watched asone of the cartel pulled out a couple of knives. Before I could even make sense of what was happening, those knives were buried deep inside one of their very own.

A single gunshot rang out, and I reacted, charging forward.

Two of their own had started to kill their people, and I saw Ivan had also arrived. I didn’t care. I went for their leader. He’d not been taken out, but he moved too close to Charlotte. I knew what his plan was.

My wife had collapsed to the ground, her ankle unable to support her weight. Her screams rang out for all to hear.

I took out the leader’s knee, watching him fall to the floor. He went to point the gun at the floor, right where Charlotte was, and I took out his hand. He screamed in agony. The sounds were exactly what I wanted to hear.

Firing my gun a third time, I dropped it to the ground and reached behind me for my knives. I stepped forward, and drawing the blade together against the man’s neck, I looked into his eyes as I sliced downward, killing him. He slowly died at my feet.

Lifting my gaze, I watched as I caught sight of the two people who’d started to kill the cartel. Much to my surprise, I stared at The Beast and The Butcher. Man and woman. There was always rumors circulating about who exactly The Butcher was. Some believed them to be ghosts. I had met her a few times. She was deadly, scary as fuck, and seeing her in action, I knew all the rumors about her to be true.

Ivan was there aswas Cassie, who’d gone to Charlotte.

Dropping my knives to the floor, I went to mywife.

“I’m fine,” Charlotte said. “I’m totally fine.”

The pain in her face was clear to see.

I forced her to look at me. Staring into her eyes, I didn’t care whowere witnesses. “I love you.”

“You don’t have to say it,” she said.

“You can ask Michael.I had a meal planned. I was going to wine and dine you. Tonight I was going to tell you, Charlotte Yahontov, that I love you. I love you more than anyone else in the world.”

I saw the tears in her eyes. “I love you too.”

I leaned down and kissed her.

“Look, I know you both are having this touching moment, but we need to get her to the hospital,” Cassie said.

****

Ive

Charlotte had a broken ankle, a broken wrist, a couple of cracked ribs. A lot of bruises, but she was going to be fine.

The vet had called me. They’d been able to extract the bullet and Rose was going to be fine as well. They were going to monitor her overnight.

Staring into my wife’s room, I watched her. The doctors had given her some morphine, and she’d not been able to stay awake.

I knewIvan had moved close to me without me having to turn and look around.

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