Page 62 of Twisted Throne

I stormed back downstairs, my mind a roil of fear and rage. Where was the detachment I relied on?

“Paul!” Carlos called out to me from the foyer. “They’re starting to move in.”

Shit.

“Try to pick them off from inside of the house as long as you can before moving outside. Reinforcements will be here soon. We’ll close in when they do.”

And I’d be there. But first I had a waywardsoubretteto get to safety.

Glass shattered ahead of me as I reached the door to the sitting room. Thebastardoshad the house surrounded. We had no other choice than to move out to meet them head on.

“Carlos!” I ran up behind him to where he was stationed at the front door. “Have the men fan out into a ring around the house, we need to pop them off on the approach.”

There had been no sign of Gia, or even Lucy, upstairs or in the front of the house. I sprinted toward the kitchen and the back of the house.

Footsteps thudded. “Need a hand?” Alec ran up beside me, matching me pace for pace.

I grunted, then kept walking. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, it was never a bad thing to have someone at your back. I still didn’t like theculo, but he’d proved his loyalty.

A shot was fired. From the kitchen? I exchanged a look with Alec, then we both sprinted toward the kitchen door, guns at the ready.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Gia

There were grim-looking men running around everywhere when I got to the first floor. Random bursts of gunfire rang from outside. No one paid much attention to me, so I tried to just stay out of everyone’s way while scanning around to see if I could spot Paul, Lucy, or even Angelo. Except for seeing Ricky dash past me without a second look, I saw no one that I recognized.

Most of the hustle seemed to come from the front of the house, so I decided to check out the back first. I walked into the kitchen and saw Lucy standing to the side of the backdoor, gun drawn and at her side.

“Lucy!” She jumped a foot when I called out to her.

“Jesus fuck, Gia! You scared the shit out of me!”

“Iscaredyou? I’ve been looking for you all over!” I walked over and hugged her tightly, pointedly looking away from the gun she still held in her hand.

“Sorry, but if I’d had to look at Elena’s face for one more second I’d have scratched her damn eyes out.”

Lucy was trying to keep up her whole tough-girl front, but her voice quivered and her eyes glistened wetly.

“Hey, it’s okay to be confused.” I rubbed her shoulder and looked at her sympathetically. “I trusted her too, and I know you guys were pretty close.”

“Yeah. I guess.”

She pulled away from me and glanced back out the window.

“It doesn’t matter now, anyway. It’s whatever.”

Something hit the door with a loud thud, and we both jumped.

“Shit! They’re trying to bust down the door! We can’t let them get in!” Lucy took several steps back away from the door, then planted her feet and leveled the gun at the door.

“Lucy, we need to get out of here and get some help!”

A second thump sounded against the door, and I could hear the door frame start to splinter. I tried to grab her arm to pull her away, but she jerked away. I stumbled backward toward the door leading back out into the hall.

“Hey! We need help back here! Back here!”

“Fuck!” Lucy yelled from behind me.

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