Tempted by her Daddies: Chapter 56

Where the hell was he?

Salem woke up groggily, staring around him. What was going on? Why was he lying on the floor? This old body didn’t take well to sleeping anywhere but a bed. Not that he was that old at thirty-eight. It just felt that way.

As he sat up, he took stock of where he was. It was hot. Really hot. And there was a chain around his wrist, securing him to the wall. He saw something move in the dark.

No, not something. Someone.

Relief flooded him.

“Alexei? Alexei, are you all right?” he asked.

“What the fuck happened? Why did you let me drink that much last night? And why am I handcuffed to a wall?”

“You weren’t drinking,” he said urgently, looking around for Roman. There he was. He was still sleeping. He was secured to the wall as well.

Shit. Was he all right?

“I think we were drugged,” he added.

“What the fuck?”

Roman stirred with a grumble. “What’s happened? Why is it so hot? I need a drink.”

“It must have happened on the plane,” Salem said slowly, trying to make his brain work.

His last memory was getting on the plane.

Salem glanced over himself again. All right. He was still wearing the same clothes he’d worn onto the plane and so were Roman and Alexei.

That was good.

“They must have taken my laptop,” Roman said, studying the handcuff around his wrist as though he could figure out a way to free himself. “What are we going to do? Where do you think we are?”

“It’s all right. You wiped your laptop, right?” Salem asked.

“Yeah, before I got on the plane,” Roman replied.

“Good. Now, we just have to figure out where they are holding our girl and get to her.” Somehow.

“I’m guessing we’re on Pinky’s island,” Alexei said. “He has several as decoys. This could be his main one. It’s warm and humid. And only those closest to him would know where it is.”

Suddenly, a door opened and Salem caught a glimpse of the landscape outside. Although it was semi-dark, he could make out some palm trees. And Alexei was right, it was warm and humid.

Maybe this was some sort of storage hut. There were no windows so that would make sense.

A good-looking man walked into the room, switching on a light.

Fuck.

Motherfucker.

How? How was it this man? There had been no clues. Sure, they’d known Pinky was likely Irish. Or that he misled people into thinking he was.

But this . . . this hadn’t been on their radar.

“You!” Alexei said, sounding shocked. He tugged at the restraint around his right arm, the chain straining as he attempted to free himself.

Jesus.

“All along it’s been you? Why? Don’t you have enough money and power? You have to go stealing more?” Alexei demanded.

“You know, I was very close to trusting you with my identity, Lyoha,” Pinky replied calmly. “To letting you into my close circle. But I am glad I never did it. Otherwise my plans could have very well been ruined. And I have big plans.”

Standing before them wasn’t just Pinky, the criminal mastermind. Standing there, was the favored candidate to become the next Taoiseach or Prime Minister of Ireland.

God.

The irony was that he had promised to sort out the high crime rates that were plaguing Ireland at the moment.

Then it went off in his head like a lightbulb.

“It’s you, isn’t it?” Salem said with sudden understanding. “You’re supplying the weapons to the gangs in Ireland. You’re creating the issue so you can come in and solve it. But there would be no issue without you.”

Fuck.

Why hadn’t anyone considered that already? Well, no one would suspect someone like Patrick O’Connor of being the infamous Pinky.

This was so much worse than he’d thought.

“Now, would I do that?” Pinky said. “Well, yes, it seems I would. Create a problem, then fix it. It’s the biggest con there is. And a way to make you beloved to everyone.”

Fuck.

This was a huge mess.

“Why are you so interested in Escana?” Salem asked. “Is it just about their natural resources? About their wealth and power and having it for yourself?”

“It was in the beginning. Although there’s always been a personal aspect to it. I remember the kings when we were at university. They were Gods. Everyone flocked to them, loved them, despite their perverted ways. It was sickening. My father used to go on and on about how sick they were with what they did to women.”

Had his father tainted his view of them? If he ever got out of here, he was going to have Roman look into his father.

“I also hate being thwarted. I do not like to lose. I had my way in. Jeric would have been my puppet; I would have been the power behind the throne and have had access to all that wealth. They had to pay for ruining my plans.”

So it was partially about revenge and jealousy, but also about the need for wealth and power.

It twisted people.

But he wondered if Riordan knew what his brother was up to? Was he in on it? It was hard to believe that Riordan had them all fooled.

However, Mark Roberts had.

“Riordan Orr is your brother,” he said.

“Half-brother,” he corrected. “I’m so sorry that you had to work so closely with him. Such an uptight bastard. He’s never liked me, you know. We have the same father, but we’re so very different. His mother didn’t abandon him like mine did. She took him away and raised him to be weak and pathetic. But don’t worry, I’ll soon put him out of his misery. He’s on my list.”

Salem breathed out a sigh of relief. So at least Riordan hadn’t had anything to do with Pinky.

“Where is Tamsyn?” Alexei snarled. “You kidnapped her to lure us here, so let us see her.”

“Oh, is that what you think? Hmm, I knew I was forgetting something.” Pinky turned and knocked on the door.

Mark Roberts walked in, but Salem barely took him in despite his anger toward him. His gaze immediately went to his girl.

Who looked like she was in terrible shape.

Alexei let out a low, terrible noise of pain. Salem got it. He couldn’t fucking take it that she was in pain. That she’d been hurt because of them.

“Let her go,” Alexei snarled.

Mark grinned and then let her go and she dropped to the floor in a heap. She didn’t move.

Please let her be breathing.

Please.

He let out a deep sigh of relief as he saw her chest move.

“Hmm. Seems like she’s having a nap,” Pinky said, nudging his toe into Tamsyn.

“Do not touch her,” Roman ordered.

“Ahh, so it’s true. The three of you really do have feelings for her,” Pinky said.

Shit.

Should they have let him know that? Did it make a difference?

“Told you,” Mark said.

“Traitor,” Alexei snarled. “You’re dead.”

“Actually, asshole, you’re dead,” Mark retorted. “All the times that the two of you put me down and talked to me like you thought I was stupid . . . well, now I’m getting my revenge.”

“So you decided to betray your country?” Salem said incredulously. He moved his gaze from Tamsyn for a moment. Perhaps it was best to keep their attention off her.

The last thing he wanted was for them to hurt her more.

“Because of the way we talked to you?” Salem added.

“Oh no, it was before I even joined your team,” Mark told them. “And what has my country ever done for me? Given me nothing but debt and headaches. The wife left me, took my kids, took my fucking dog. I was up to my eyeballs in debt, living in this cold, smelly studio. So when I got Pinky’s offer . . . well, I took it.”

Pinky had obviously done his research.

Fuck. How had he not seen it? Salem felt sick.

“What do you want?” Salem asked Pinky. He was the one who was really in charge, not snivelly Mark Roberts. “What do you hope to get out of this?”

“That part is easy . . . you’re all going to die. Along with those brothers-in-law of yours. The princes’ cousins. Oh, and your sister. Her, too.”

Salem had to hide his panic.

This motherfucker wasn’t getting away with this.

“What? Are you going to try and pretend that you didn’t call them in for back-up? I know you did. I even made it easy on them and let you keep your trackers. Too bad you’re all going to die in a sad fire. I’ve got this entire island rigged up to go boom. It was time to clean house.”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Salem deliberately showed some panic. Like he knew Pinky would expect.

But he didn’t know how many favors they’d all called in. How many people were answering the call and following them here.

He couldn’t know about Alexei’s contacts in Africa. Salem’s contacts in the Middle East. Or the fact that some of his soon-to-be brothers-in-law had friends with contacts in Polynesia and America.

That there was a team of American mercenaries who’d they’d called on.

Everything was going to be okay.

“I expect they’ll be here in an hour or two. So I’m going to be really nice to you and leave you with your bitch. She might have a few confessions to get off her chest before her death.”

Both Pinky and Mark left. He shot a look at Alexei, then Roman. Both men remained silent. They got it.

They might be alone, but he bet there were eyes and ears on them.

He shuffled his way toward Tamsyn.

Roman muffled a pained groan. “Do you think she’s badly hurt?”

“I don’t think she’s in a good way,” he replied. At a stretch, he could just touch her. “Tamsyn. Tamsyn, baby, wake up.”

She let out a small groan but then seemed to slip into sleep again.

Fuck. Was waking her the best idea? She must be in so much pain, and he hated that.

But he also needed her to be awake and aware for when the cavalry came.

Which should be within the next hour or so. Pinky had that part right. He just had to hope and pray that someone figured out that Pinky had this place wired.

“Pet, wake up. Wake up for me right now.”

She was so sore.

Why was she in such pain? It was so bad that she thought she might vomit.

Breathe. Just breathe.

“Pet, open your eyes.”

She forced them open, looking up at Salem. What was that smell? It smelled like blood. Why could she smell blood?

“Are you hurt?” she asked him. Her lips were so cracked and dry that it was painful to talk.

“No, Bunny. You are.”

She turned her head toward the sound of Alexei’s voice.

“I’m hurt. How did I get hurt? Why are we all on the ground?”

“I don’t know how much you remember,” Roman said. “But Mark, our work colleague, came to our house and drugged you. He kidnapped you.”

Mark.

Oh God. Yes. She remembered Mark. She started shaking.

“Fuck, she’s shaking,” Alexei snarled.

How could he see that? It was so dark in here that she could barely make them out.

“We need to stop upsetting her,” Alexei snarled.

“She has to know what’s going on,” Salem said. “Baby, Mark kidnapped you and then brought you here. There’s a bad man, a criminal that we’ve been trying to track down for a while. He was behind your kidnapping. He wants to kill us all, he’s just waiting for Alina’s men to get here before he’s going to blow this place up.”

Oh.

They knew all that.

“You saw him?” Tamsyn asked.

“Pinky? Yeah?” Alexei said.

“Or perhaps we should call him by his real name. Patrick O’Connor. He’s got the whole world fooled,” Roman said in a strangely bitter voice.

Yeah. He did.

“What did he . . . what did he say to you?”

“Not much,” Salem said. She could hear the curious note in his voice. “He had Mark kidnap you to lure us here. He has a beef with us for trying to take him down and with Alina’s men for thwarting his plans to get hold of Escana. To put Jeric on the throne with him as the puppet master.”

Right. Yeah.

That had been the plan a while ago.

And when that plan was thwarted, he’d gotten mad, because no one crossed him.

“Come here, Pet,” Salem told her. “Come here to me. I need to hold you.”

“And me,” Alexei said.

“Me too,” Roman added.

Would it hurt to take one more moment? To have one last hug?

Surely not.

She needed this. So she shuffled over toward Salem, bit by painful bit.

God, she hurt.

But it was nothing in comparison to what was coming.

“I would grab you and lift you, but I’m scared I’ll hurt you more,” Salem told her.

She wasn’t sure it was possible to hurt more. This was, by far, the most painful beating she’d ever endured.

Finally, she was close enough that Salem could carefully lift her into his lap with his free arm, holding her loosely.

“Baby,” he murmured. “God, I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry that you were kidnapped because of us. Hurt because of us.”

Shit.

It seemed that she couldn’t take a last moment before she had to tell them the truth.

“It’s not your fault,” she told him as she moved off his lap and crawled to Alexei.

“What do you mean it’s not our fault?” Alexei said. “If anyone is to blame, it’s me. Pinky holds a grudge against me because I was a spy in his midst.”

“He does.” She kissed Alexei lightly. “I’m surprised he hasn’t beaten you worse than me.”

Alexei frowned and opened his mouth as though to question her further, but she moved to Roman.

Her ribs were burning, her entire body throbbing in pain and she still wanted to throw up. But she reached Roman.

“Just how badly are you hurt?” Roman whispered as he lightly cupped her face between his hands.

“Physically? I’m a mess. Emotionally? I’m ruined.” She moved away from him, from them all, and slid up against the wall.

Her breathing had grown shallow, and she felt light-headed.

Come on.

You have to do better than this.

You’re their only hope for getting out of this alive. Even if you have to sacrifice yourself, you have to save them.

“What are you doing?” Alexei demanded. “Get back here, Bunny.”

“No,” she croaked.

“Pet, come here. We need to protect you and to do that, we need you close.”

“Don’t worry,” Roman reassured her sweetly. “We’ll look after you.”

“Nothing like this will ever happen to you again,” Salem told her.

“We promise to protect you better from now on,” Alexei said gruffly.

“You can’t protect me.” She had to be careful with what she said as she knew he had cameras in here.

“We will keep you safe,” Alexei told her.

She shook her head with a sad smile. “You’ll all change your mind once you learn the truth.”

“What do you mean?” Salem asked. “What truth?”

“The truth of who I am.” Tamsyn cleared her throat. She didn’t know how long she had, and she had to get this out quickly or she might not be able to get it out at all.

“What are you saying?” Roman asked.

“It’s not a coincidence that I met you all or that the agency sent me to work for you. That was all set up. Everything was a set up. I was there to spy on you and feed back information to him.”

“You . . . you’re working for Pinky?” Alexei said in horror.

She could feel everything changing. It was like their disgust and hatred was pushing down on her, making it hard for her to breathe.

“Work isn’t the word I would use. He . . . he has something on me. And he uses that as a threat to keep me in line. To keep me doing what he wants.”

Were they all right? Had he hurt them as revenge?

No, they had to be okay. He would have told her if they weren’t.

“Wait . . . what information did you feed him?” Salem asked. “Information you found from us?”

“Is it your fault our last mission wasn’t successful?” Alexi asked. “Did you tell him about it?”

“Were you pretending to be asleep when Roman and I were talking about it?” Salem asked.

What?

Confusion filled her.

“No! No, I tried to only give him information that wasn’t important. I did my best to protect you and them. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. I had to take care of everyone. You don’t understand . . . I tried . . . I tried my best.”

And it wasn’t good enough.

She was never good enough.

What had she been thinking? She was never going to win in this.

All she ever did was lose.

“Who is them?” Salem asked.

“And why? Why did you want to protect us?” Alexei snapped.

“Because somewhere along the way, I came to like you all. And then I ended up falling in love with each of you. Which was the stupidest thing I could have done, but you can’t help who you love. I know you might not believe me. But that’s what happened. I fell in love.”

“You really love us?” Alexei asked hoarsely.

She nodded. God, she loved them so much that it hurt worse than any beating.

“So why did he kidnap you?” Roman asked. “Why beat you up if you’re working for him?”

“Because he’s mad at my betrayal. And I fear what that means for the people I care about. I told you a bit about my background, Salem. My mum died when I was around ten. She was all I had. My father . . . he was in and out of my life as a child. He would visit my mother for short periods, then disappear. I didn’t even realize that he was my father for years.”

She shook her head at the hazy memories.

“One day, she never came home from work. The police turned up on the doorstep to tell us that she’d been in a car accident and hadn’t survived. Mrs. Philips from next door was looking after me. Child services got involved. I told them that I had a father, but I don’t know if they looked for him. Instead, I was taken to live with my Grandpa.”

She’d been terrified. So alone.

“At the time, I was living in Ireland. But Grandpa lived on this island off the coast of Scotland. It was small and cold and barren. There were no other children there. I honestly think that my grandfather had no idea I existed. Some of the people on the island who remembered my mum said that she left when she was eighteen. That after her mum, my grandma died, my grandpa went a bit off the rails. He rarely interacted with anyone. I think she might have run from him and never looked back.”

She took a slow breath in until a sharp pain hit her side. Stupid ribs.

You’ve survived worse.

You just need to be strong enough to take them down and save your guys. Then you can leave this world knowing you’ve left it better.

And hopefully she’d have done enough to make up for the other things she’d done in her life.

“My grandfather . . . he was . . . well, I’m not sure. He was a hard man. It was clear he didn’t know what to do with me. He’d lived alone a long time. He didn’t like me crying, or that I was a girl. He would take me on hunting trips, teach me to be silent and stealthy, how to kill and gut an animal, how to use knives and guns. I think he was ex-army. It was terrifying and I was so lonely and scared. Then I met some of the other people on the island.”

She swallowed heavily. She was so thirsty. “They saved me. They helped get me access the internet as Grandpa didn’t have anything like that. They even found a way to help me with my schooling. I was never the best reader, but I was pretty good at maths. I don’t know if my records were lost or destroyed, but child services never came to check on me. No one cared that I wasn’t enrolled in school.”

He’d likely gotten rid of all that.

“Actually, I think my father destroyed all trace of me. It served his best interests to do that. Having an illegitimate child wasn’t good for his clean image. I don’t know why he didn’t just kill me. Although it meant that he could use me for his own purposes.”

Maybe she shouldn’t say as much . . . but what did it matter now? She was going to die and these guys deserved to know the truth.

“Just before I turned eighteen, Grandpa died, and I didn’t know what to do. But my friends on the island helped me. They gathered up supplies and money. I was going to leave on the next supply ship. But then he came in the middle of the night for me. He drugged me, brought me back here to his island. And he started to train me. I refused at first, resisted, even though his training was far harsher than Grandpa’s.”

She swallowed back the memories. The last thing she wanted was to show any more weakness. But the beatings had been the least of it. She’d been subjected to psychological torture that had changed her even more than Grandpa’s training had.

“I . . . things were bad. So bad. But the thing that broke me, that had me doing what he wanted, were his threats against my friends. He promised to go back and kill all of them. Wipe them out. And I knew he’d do it.”

She studied them as best she could in the near dark. It was getting lighter outside, sun peeking through the cracks in the ceiling and under the door.

But she couldn’t tell what they were thinking.

“So I became the person he wanted. A spy. Who would suspect me? When he needed someone to sneak into a building or someone’s house to find evidence or plant it, I was his person. I didn’t have any records. I’m a ghost and I had the skills he wanted. He had people brought in to train me. To make me the weapon he wanted. And when he wanted me to get close to the three of you . . . to send him information, that’s what I did.”

“What information did you send him?” Alexei asked.

“Bugger all, really.” She let out a huff. “You guys had good security. I couldn’t find a lot. I fed him enough to keep him happy. But my downfall was not telling him about the invite to Escana. That was unforgivable because he could have used that to take you all out. Use me to take you all out.”

“Why didn’t you tell him?” Salem asked.

“Because I don’t want to hurt anyone, but I particularly never want to harm the three of you. Because I love you.”

She knew they wouldn’t believe her.

But, before she died, she had to tell them how she felt about them.

The door opened suddenly, but she didn’t flinch. She was too numb to react.

“You love them, do you?” Her father sneered down at her.

Mark grabbed her, pulling up so she stood in front of him, facing her father.

It felt wrong to call him that. He didn’t deserve the title.

“Hello, sperm donor,” she said dryly. “I would say it’s nice to see you, but I’m tired of lying.”

Slap!

The force of his blow had her head flying to the side and her cheek throbbing. Just add it to the rest of her pain.

What did surprise her was the guy’s reaction. Their yells and anger filled the room. Mark held her up with both hands on her upper arms and he let out a nasty laugh.

He was a good actor; he’d had her fooled back when she’d met him at the house.

“Fucking bitch! You deserve to die with them.” Her sperm donor smiled evilly. And she couldn’t help but tense. “But that would be too easy. And you need to pay for your betrayal. So you’re going to come with me.”

Mark tossed her over his shoulder before she could react and then he was walking out of the hut. She forced herself not to react, even as her body tensed.

It was better for him to underestimate her.

She stared back at her men, the light from outside allowed her to see them more clearly. They all looked devastated.

So perhaps they did care about her a bit.

Tamsyn just hoped that they knew that she wouldn’t let them die.

“Let’s go,” her sperm donor said. “Our cameras caught the princes sneaking onto the south side of the island. As soon as they reach the main compound, we’ll set off the bombs.”

“Looking forward to that, boss,” Mark said.

Fuckwit.

Like she was going to allow that to happen. As they reached the dock where the boat was, she caught sight of something by the water. Was someone there?

Well, now was as good a time as ever.

She reared up and wrapped her arm around the front of Mark’s neck, holding onto it with her other hand and started to choke him. He bent over, moving around, and trying to dislodge her but she held on as hard as she could.

Fuck, why didn’t he go down?

Her father turned and drew his gun. Shit! She was going to die. They were all going to die.

And then someone appeared out of nowhere behind him. They started wrestling for control of the gun just as Mark finally collapsed to the ground. She slid off Mark and jumped onto her feet.

She could end him. Her tormentor. Her torturer. Her father.

Or she could go after them. Make certain they got away safe.

There was no real choice, was there?

She had to get to them. Turning, she took off toward the hut.

“Wait! Tamsyn!”

“Stop!”

She ignored the cries from behind her. She didn’t know how many people were there, but surely, they could handle her father while she rescued her men?

Then she saw them. They were running toward her, and she collapsed onto her knees.

Thank God.

There was a low rumble then the ground shook as the hut and building went on fire. The explosives! Oh God, was anyone hurt?

She managed to get to her feet, stumbling toward her men once more. Then she heard people yelling from behind her and she turned to see Pinky running toward the greenery.

Her father.

He disappeared into the bush.

Turning, she saw her guys were all getting up. They were all right.

But there was no way her father was going to get off scot-free.

Tamsyn was aware of others taking off after him, but she was closer. And only she knew where he would be headed.

He always had other escape routes and there was a helicopter hidden deep in the island.

So she took off after him. Despite her injuries, she somehow found the energy to move.

“Tamsyn!”

“Baby, wait!”

“Bunny!”

She couldn’t fall apart and she couldn’t stop. But her body wasn’t going to let her keep going. She fell to her knees in a small clearing. Looking back, she saw them there.

“I . . . need . . . get to . . . him.”

Salem crouched in front of her. “Let him go. The others will find him.”

“No. It has to be me.”

Roman moved closer, his face pale. “You need looking after right now, darling girl.”

“You don’t understand. I know where he’s going. We have to get to him. He could hurt them otherwise.”

Realization filled Salem and Roman’s faces, but it was Alexei who picked her up.

“Tell me where to go.”

They took off at a fast pace with Alexei carrying her the entire way.

When they reached the spot where she knew he’d be, they found him frantically pulling the branches and camouflage off the helicopter.

She tapped Alexei’s shoulder as he gazed back at them. She’d never seen him look anything but calm and in control.

“Put me down,” she commanded.

“No,” he said stubbornly.

“Put me down. I need to do this.”

The three of them shared a look.

“Fine. But you don’t go near him, and you don’t do anything stupid or Alexei will pick you up and take you back to the others,” Salem told her.

“This isn’t over,” her father told her as he turned to her. It was then that she realized he was injured. There was blood dripping down his face and he held his arm against his chest. Was it broken?

He gasped, his face red.

“I won’t be taken down. I am a God!”

“No,” she said quietly. “You’re just a man. You might be a monster, but monsters can die. They can have their power stripped from them. They can become nothing.”

“I will never be nothing!” he cried, stepping toward her. “This is all your mother’s fault.”

She gave him a shocked look. What was he talking about? He never spoke of her mother.

Tamsyn became aware of others joining them, hidden in the shrubbery, but they stayed back.

“How is this my mother’s fault?”

“I told her to get rid of you,” he snarled. “I told her that you would be nothing but trouble. And that’s all you’ve been. A headache for me to deal with. But she insisted on keeping you. She loved you.”

“And you let her?”

He gave a sharp bark of laughter. “My father always said that all women were good for were fucking and having children. My mother couldn’t handle him . . . she threw herself from a balcony. I saw it happen. Found the body. It was good riddance.”

That was awful. Horrific.

“My father sent me away to school. It wasn’t a good place. I was only six. Then when I was ten, he met Mary. Riordan’s mother. And I was brought back to live at home.”

“So he’s my uncle,” she said.

“No. He’s a fucking waste of space. Should have killed him years ago. His mother snuck away with Riordan when he was five, but did she take me? No! She left me with my father.”

God.

She felt ill. What had his father done to him?

“But I learned that if you pretended to be a good guy, people were more likely to do what you wanted. I had charisma and good looks and money. Especially after I got rid of the old man.”

He’d killed his father?

Dear Lord.

“Married a good girl. Someone with lots of political ties and money. She was the perfect wife. Only problem was that I didn’t love her. No, I loved your mother. A nobody. A waitress I met at a hotel I was staying at.”

“You loved her?” she whispered, shocked.

“Only person I’ve ever loved in my life. But I couldn’t have her, she’d have ruined my career. My plans. I wasn’t who I am now back then. No, that happened after she died. After she was taken from me!”

“And you blame me?” she asked.

“Always there. A snivelling little brat. She might have moved closer to me, let me take care of her, but she wanted a normal life for you. And then she was taken from me. She’d told me about her father, how much she hated him. So I decided to have you sent there and I kept tabs on you. Once I learned the bastard was dead, well, then I decided to make good use of you.”

“By torturing and threatening me? By making me do things I didn’t want to do? Spy on people? Help you?”

“Exactly.” He coughed.

“You’re not in a good way. You should surrender and then we’ll get you medical help.”

“Not happening! I’m going to survive and you’ll all pay!” He suddenly drew out another gun, aiming it right at her.

“Nooo!” someone yelled. She couldn’t tell who. Suddenly, she was pushed to the ground as she felt a burning pain in her arm.

Other guns were fired, but she could only lie there, staring at the dirt.

Suddenly, she was turned over and she screamed. Around her, people were talking frantically. Roman’s concerned face appeared above her.

“Is she all right?” Salem said frantically.

“Where is she shot?” Alexei demanded.

She’d been shot? Oh, that explained the burning pain in her arm.

“Is he dead?” she asked.

Roman winced and Alexei took his place.

“He’s dead, Bunny.”

She closed her eyes. Good. That was all she needed to know.