The zipper seems so loud as I close the makeup bag, as does the click of the light switch. There’s hardly any light from the early morning sunrise as I make my way out and down the stairs to the side entrance of the apartment.
Each step feels heavier than the last and my heart won’t stop breaking.
It’s a slow break, straight down the center. My heart hates me, but yet again, it’s something that seems so fitting.
There’s a large window on the side entrance door and I’m staring out of it, looking for Daniel’s car when I push it open. He isn’t here yet. Not that I can see.
I want more time before I have to say goodbye and it makes it painfully obvious that I don’t want to speak the words. But I can’t be weak and I don’t know that I can forgive him.
The cool air hits my face as the wind whips by and I walk slowly down the stairs. I take my time, not wanting this to end but knowing it’s so close and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.
The second I hit the bottom step and see Daniel’s car pull up to the curb, a large hand covers my face at the same time that I’m pulled back into a heavy wall—no, a man’s chest.
A man. Someone’s grabbed me. The realization hits me in a wave. I didn’t see him coming. I still can’t see him.
A scream rips up my throat as I try to swing back and hit him. Daniel! I try to scream, but I can’t. The man whirls around and my vision is blurred as I hit a brick wall, my arm scraping against it.
I don’t stop screaming; I don’t stop fighting with everything I have. My knee thumps against the brick wall as the man sneers at me to be quiet, the black leather glove on his hand making my face feel hot. I kick off the wall with the fear, the anger, and the knowledge that if I don’t scream for Daniel, he won’t know. He won’t be able to save me.
My knee burns with pain as I shove my weight into the man and push at the same time, falling to the asphalt and breaking free for only a split second.
I scream out for Daniel, although I don’t know if he heard me. I can’t breathe as a man in a black hoodie with bloodshot eyes shoves his hand down on my face so hard that I think he broke my nose for a moment. The pain radiates and tears stream from my eyes.
I always thought the worst thing you could see when you die was the face of someone who loved you, but couldn’t help you.
Staring into the black eyes of this man, I question that.
But relief comes quickly.
Through my blurred vision, I see a boot slam into his head, knocking him off of me although I struggle to get myself free and scramble away.
Bang! Bang!
I hear gunshots and I scream out again out of instinct, falling onto my side and huddling into a ball. Bang!
One last shot.
One heartbeat.
Another.
Silence.
And then I look up to see the man lying still, but Daniel clutching at his chest. He breathes heavily and then stumbles.
“No!” I cry out as blood soaks through his white cotton t-shirt and into the open button-up layered over it.
“Daniel,” I cry out with fear gripping my heart.
He screams at me, even though the strength is gone. “Get inside!”
My body refuses to obey as he pulls his hand away from his chest. There’s blood. So much blood.
Daniel’s expression only changes from worried for me to angered as he stares at his hand. His focus moves to the man lying motionless on the asphalt and he points the gun at his head, firing.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Each shot makes my body tremble. The man’s body doesn’t react. His face is one I don’t recognize as he stares lifelessly at nothing.
My gaze shifts from his dead eyes back to Daniel as he hunches over and grips his chest, falling to his knees on the ground.
That’s the moment I can finally move again. And I run to him as fast as I can with one thought running through my mind.
Everyone I love dies.
Every.
Single.
One.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Daniel
Fuck.
Hot blood pours from my wound and soaks into my shirt as I lean against the brick wall, feeling sharp, shooting pains run up and down my spine. I apply pressure to the gunshot to try to stop the flow.
I can barely breathe through my clenched teeth at the pain.
“Go inside,” I try to yell at Addison as she hovers over me. “Now,” I grit out and my words come out weak.
“Daniel, get up. Get up!” she yells at me. And it actually makes me smile.
As I try to stand, with her pulling on me and attempting to aid me, I look back down at my hand. It’s bright red, not black. That’s the first good sign. But when I look down to my chest and see how much it’s still bleeding, the lightheadedness nearly makes me collapse.
“Come with me,” she begs. “We have to go to the hospital.”
“No, no hospital. No cops.” I’m still okay enough to know better than that. “You can’t stay here; the cops will be coming. You have to go.”
“I’m not leaving you,” she yells at me with disbelief. “Just stay with me. Hide in my apartment. Let me help you, please,” she begs me and that’s the only reason I let her wrap an arm around me and guide me back to her apartment.
Thank fuck it’s so early in the morning and everything went down in the back alley.
Dark alley.
A man who knew where to be and when.
Someone with information.
Not Marcus…but it’s someone who must know Marcus. My gaze moves to Addison’s pale face as she opens the door to her apartment. Someone who wanted her. Someone who wanted to hurt me. And Marcus had to have told them. He’s the only one who knew I was with her and what she meant to me.
“Come on.” She tries to push me into her apartment and for a moment I hesitate, but if Marcus or someone else is after Addison, I have to be beside her.
It’s too late for me to say goodbye.
I feel breathless as my gaze darts from the door behind us to the counter, then to the window. I have to tell Carter. At the thought a pain shoots up my back and down my shoulder, making me grit my teeth.
Fuck! Holding my breath, I put more pressure on the wound.
My steps are wide as I walk in and head for the kitchen. To the tile floor where it will be easy to clean up.
“Was there blood in the alley?” I ask Addison in a pained voice that I can’t control and look behind me as I walk. Nothing’s spilling onto the floor. Not a drop. My shirt is soaked with blood, but hopefully there’s nothing that will lead the cops up to Addison.
“A lot of it,” she answers me as she rips open the cabinet door and pulls out a roll of paper towels.
“Did it lead up the stairs?” I ask her breathlessly and then wince from the pain. Fuck! Make it stop. Please.
She looks at me wide-eyed before realizing I was talking about my blood. Not the asshole who dared to put his hands on her. She visibly swallows while shaking her head frantically. “No, nothing.” She winds the paper towels around her hand before giving me the bundle of them. Her hands are still trembling. My poor Addison.
I take a quick look, as quickly as I can. Looks like the bullet exited cleanly. The wound isn’t the problem. It’ll bleed, but it’ll heal. It’s the infection that’ll kill me if I don’t have one of the guys take a look at it.