Page 122 of Captive Bride

This is the last thing we’ll ever do together. I hope they live—but right now, I couldn’t care less about myself.

We take the Jag, the red curves reminding me of Rosaline. The nights I spent with her pale in comparison to a moment with Isobel. If I could, I would trade every fuck with Rosaline and every other woman I’ve ever known for one more night with Isobel.

Fifteen guys wearing black balaclava, armed with guns and the best training in the city meet us a block from the Governor’s mansion. We can see the white columns from here.

I leave the keys in the Jag. There isn’t a fucker dumb enough to steal a Montague car, not that I care anymore.

Three tall guys take point. I don’t ask their names. I pull on my own balaclava and take my position in the center behind the first row of guys.

My heart is pounding; I steady my breath. Adrenaline is a great thing, but I can’t be too amped.

I have to keep my goal in mind. The Governor.

“Go,” I shout.

The three in front take off at a run. A beat behind them are Merc and Benny. The others scatter around us, coming at the mansion from a wide arc.

The door is open, and the guy in front of me stumbles, a gunshot to the shoulder.

But he doesn’t stop. None of us will.

I won’t stop until the Governor’s dead, and my men won’t stop until our mission is accomplished. It’s about loyalty. These are my best and brightest, men who I know would never betray me.

Taking the house by storm is confusing and chaotic but I continue forward, goal in mind. I fire at guards, counting my shots.

The air smells like blood and gunpowder.

Guys are going down everywhere, some women too.

Bang!

I only have two shots left. I holster my gun. I need those last two shots.

Someone grabs me and has a knife to my throat.

Bang!

Merc shoots the guy behind me, dead between the eyes. He nods to me, and I run up the stairs.

My feet fall in time with my pounding heart.

“Upstairs!” calls a guard.

Three men appear at the top of the stairs. Three guns point at me.

I have to get past them. I have to get to him; it doesn’t matter how.

I bend my head and charge towards them. A bullet grazes my shoulder, then it connects with the heavy body of a man.

My vision is all red with pain. I swear and throw the guy I charged over the railing. I can’t hear the thud of his fall; I’m too busy hitting the other two.

They hit me again and again with fists and the butt of their guns. But my breathing is even now.

I’m almost there. I will find the Governor, and I will kill him.

Then I will kill myself.

Only then can I rest.

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