Page 113 of Alluring Darkness

I slowly lower my gun. Connor, whose wrists are still handcuffed in front of him, has to twist his hands while doing the same. With our weapons pointed at the ground, we just stare at each other in silence. I already know that I am not going to shoot him, so I make no move to do anything else. Neither does Connor.

From behind my back, Gabriel lets out a low growl. “What are you waiting for?”

We only continue watching each other. It strikes me then that I might have been wrong. I’ve always kind of assumed that Connor was only protective of me because he had to. Because that’s what siblings do. But when I study the expression on his face and the emotions swirling in his eyes, I realize that he does actually love me just as much as I love him.

I’ve always thought that he found me kind of annoying since I’ve always been unhinged and unpredictable while he has always been stable and hardworking. That he secretly resented me because I did nothing to help restore our family’s position while he spent every day pouring his blood, sweat, and tears into it.

But it looks like I was wrong. Apparently, I don’t know my own brother nearly as well as I should. Unfortunately, though, it seems as if it’s too late to change that now.

“You have twenty seconds,” Gabriel grinds out. “Then I shootbothof you.”

“Do it,” I say, giving Connor a tired smile.

He shakes his head. “No.”

“Con, we both know thatyouare the one who needs to survive. I can’t restore our family’s name. I can’t help Mom. But you can.”

“I don’t care.”

“Ten seconds,” Gabriel says.

Terror floods my system. I flick my gaze desperately around the cave, but there is nothing there to help us. No other way out. If I can’t convince my brother to shoot me in the next ten seconds,heis going to die too. My heart pounds so hard that it makes my ears ring. I suck in shallow breaths as fear spreads like poison through my veins.

“You have to!” I protest, my voice almost breaking.

“No.”

“Con—”

“You’re my little sister and I will always protect you.” His gray eyes are brimming with emotions as he holds my gaze and gives me a soft smile. “Now raise that gun and shoot me in the head, or I will never forgive you.”

“Five,” Gabriel says.

“Connor!” I call.

“Now,” he snaps. “Do it now, Raina. I love you.”

“No, Connor, I—”

A gunshot tears through the air.

I gasp.

For a moment, it feels as if the entire world is suspended in time. I can’t move. I can’t breathe. I can’t feel anything.

Then reality comes crashing back around me.

Noise and movement and color explodes around me like a violent storm. After that moment of complete stillness, it shocks me enough that I flinch.

Everything is happening all at once.

Across the cave, four men in black clothes have entered the space like a sweeping wind of pure death. Guns raised, they advance across the stone floor behind my brother’s back.

Panic pulses across Shelley’s face as she finds herself with four killers behind her unprotected back, one of whom has already fired a gun into the ceiling. She yanks her weapon away from Connor’s head and starts to whirl around, but before she can turn, the butt of a gun cracks into the side of her head. She stumbles sideways, blood trickling down her temple.

Straightening, she finds herself face to face with Eli, Rico, Kaden, and Jace.

All color drains from her face in a flash.

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