Page 139 of Mad Love

“Please keep her safe,” I begged Brennan.

He nodded. “I’ll take her to the car.” Without waiting for confirmation, he swung Bex into his arms like she weighed nothing.

She let out a pained squeak before shooting me one last imploring look. “Maddie, come with me.”

“I’ll see you soon.” I watched as Brennan carried her away, her accusing hazel eyes fixed on me until the darkness swallowed them up. Then I looked at Chase and Seamus. “Let’s do this.”

Chase smiled at me, holding out a hand. I took it with a frown, using him as support as we went back inside.

“Stay behind me,” Seamus ordered quietly, moving in front of us and angling his flashlight under his gun as he walked into the destroyed ballroom. I turned away as his light shone on the dead guard.

“One down,” Seamus muttered.

Chase squeezed my hand, I assumed to offer comfort, but I was seconds away from letting him go. Unease crawled over my skin like thousands of ants, and I didn’t want anyone touching me as I looked for my father’s body.

How awful did it make me that I was hoping we’d find it?

We carefully made our way through the rubble to where I’d last seen Gary, lunging for the gun at the same time as me.

Seamus moved forward. “Second body,” he reported, looking over a piece of broken metal from the chandelier.

I grimaced at seeing the second guard with a delicate swirl of the chandelier protruding from his chest.

“Any sign of Cabot?” Chase demanded, shining his own flashlight around the space and illuminating more destruction.

“Not yet,” Seamus replied, moving closer to the edge of the room that looked out over the valley. “Maybe—”

A crack echoed through the space, and Seamus jerked and turned, firing his own weapon in a wild arc before toppling backwards into the dark.

“No!” I cried, running forward like I could stop him from falling, but I was too far away, and Chase gripped my hand, yanking me back.

“Stay where you are,” Gary snapped, the gun trained on us as he stood up from behind a pile of rubble.

Chase pushed me behind him. “I’m going to kill you with my bare hands,” he hissed, fury bunching up the muscles of his shoulders.

Gary chuckled. “Somehow I doubt that. You’re just as useless as your father.” He tilted his head, and in the silvery moonlight, I saw blood covering one side of his face.

“Fuck you,” Chase spat. “You’re a murderer.”

“I am,” Gary agreed with a smile. “Want me to prove it?”

A second shot rang out, and Chase collapsed in front of me with a grunt.

“Chase!” I dropped to my knees and pressed my hands against his shoulder as blood gushed from the wound. “Oh, God. Hold on, okay?”

“S-sorry,” he whispered, his face shockingly pale as he blinked up at me, his gaze unable to focus.

“Don’t, okay? Just fucking don’t,” I snapped, panic setting is as blood seeped from between my fingers. “You’re gonna be fine.”

He opened his mouth but couldn’t seem to get any words out.

“And then there were two,” Gary mused, limping closer. “To think, you almost got away. Thanks for coming back and saving me the trouble of tracking you down.”

I glared at Gary, channeling as much venom as I could into my eyes. “I hate you.”

“The feeling is entirely mutual,” he assured me, cocking the gun. “Say hello to your sister for me, would you?”

I refused to close my eyes or blink. I wanted him to see my eyes as I died, to see the defiance and fight and live with that memory until the day he went straight to hell.