The moment Julian sees me though, I can almost guess what he’s thinking as he takes my face in, the rest of me hidden by the shelves in the warehouse and old, rusty machinery.
In that moment, Shane looks up and sees me standing there. I see the beginnings of an evil smirk forming on his ugly mug just before he mercilessly starts kicking Julian, laughing loud about it.
I thought Liam was with Julian, but he’s alone. Liam is nowhere to be seen and maybe that’s a good thing.
I see Julian brace himself, trying his hardest to compose the anger I see so clearly in his eyes that have hardened to a glacial coldness that makes breathing painful for me. he but all that goes to shit when Sean starts talking about how I taste and the how tight I am.
“You see her! She belongs to us now!” Shane says, laughing. Then he turns and starts coming my way. I’m pretty sure this is what they wanted, to torture me and out up all the dramatics while Julian watched, but that’s the wrong thing to do.
An animalistic growl erupts from him and I see him getting up like a gladiator, stunning me and I’m pretty sure both the assholes who thought they had him pinned down. In a blur, Julian quickly grabs the metal rod they were using to beat him—the same one I assume they used to bash me across the head—and turns around to use it on them.
I hear Sean start to yell and scream like a little bitch and then Julian turns on Shane and hits him just as hard, just as brutal but at the back of his knees, and he goes down with a cry.
Julian throws the rod away and then he quickly turns to Sean with a look of pure rage I’ve never seen on his face before and starts pummeling Sean’s face in with his bare fists.
Watching it all, I should be horrified as I see blood dripping on Sean’s face. I should be sickened and disturbed seeing Julian be this violent, this angry and seemingly unreachable in his quest for justice but I’m not.
The truth is this is justice. Our justice.
I want Julian to break them as they broke me and return their treatment of me tenfold with change.
Julian is not my avenging angel, he’s far from it. He’s a dark, dark knight in a chipped armor but he’s here.
Oh my God, Julian is here! For me!
My knees weaken, watching his powerful muscles bunch in the form fitting black long-sleeved shirt he has on. He’s wearing black from head to toe, beating the shit out of Sean, that is until I see Shane crawling now, groaning on the floor, in the direction of the black bag he bought in with him.
The same one that has a gun in it.
No, no, no.
My head starts throbbing anew. I’m covered in blood but Julian needs help.
“Mia!”
Behind me, I hear whimpering.
Kristine!
“That was foolish of you, we don’t have much time,” Cole chides.
I quickly rush back to her and drop down and do my best to wrap her in the sheet. She’s holding her baby tightly to her chest, but I can see she’s quickly losing consciousness, her face dangerously pale and hair drenched with sweat.
“No,” Kristine mumbles weakly, but her protest drowns with the devastating sound of flesh being pounded, beaten hard, I’m sure the splatters I hear are the sound of blood spraying on the floor. “I won’t make it.”
“Kristine—”
“You go. Take the baby and go with Cole.”
“Kristine, come on stay awake, damn it!” I snap, my hands covered in so much blood, it’s all over me. I ignore it all, spurred on by the urgency to get to Julian and help however I can. “You have to get up.”
“No. They’ll never let me go,” she says and then whimpers in pain. “Leave me here. Take the baby and run.”
Cole’s tense silence is loud, but I think he agrees with Kristine. He looks sharp and alert, ready for anything.
“No,” I shake my head, and the pain starts all over again. First like a pinprick behind the eyes and then in a breath, I feel dizzy as the room spins about me. “There’s no fucking way, this baby needs her mother.”
Holding the little bundle in my arms as tightly as I can. I look down at the baby covered in blood and all sorts of body fluids that I don’t want to examine too closely.
“Take her,” I whisper to Cole in a rush, listening intently to what’s happening on the other side of the old machinery and shelves where I last saw Julian winning and Shane attempt to get to the bag that’s almost all the way across the warehouse. If we rush, I can get to it before he can, seeing as he’s in agony right now.
Kristine’s baby is mewling softly, too tiny and looking sickly. A preemie baby, born in a warzone like beauty in all this glaring ugliness. No one deserves such a rough start to life. They need to go. “Take them both now.”
He’s shaking his head before I can finish, but still helps me to wrap Kristine in the sheets. “I’m not leaving without you.”
He means it, but I can’t leave Julian alone. There’s just no way. I need a plan.
“Where is Liam? Is he safe?” I question, looking around the warehouse as if he’ll magically pop out of somewhere.
“He’s fine, Mia, now let’s go.”
Relief washes over me. Now, for Cole to get out of here…
“You need to get them to a hospital, maybe a clinic, whichever is closest. I have no idea where we are.”
“No, Mia, let’s go together,” Kristine says, her voice is weak. She grabs my arm with a surprisingly firm grip, pulling me closer. “You can’t stay here.”
“And you can’t just lie there, bleeding to death holding a baby who needs immediate medical attention. Now shut up and let this hunk of a hero carry you to the car.”
“But you—”
Fuck, this is going to be a fight. I don’t have time for this.
“I’m right behind you,” I whisper, feeling dizzy all over again. “I need medical attention too. I’m pretty sure I’ve lost a lot of blood, and I’m going to pass out at any moment. And not to forget my head. I might have a fractured skull and I have internal bleeding.”
“Mia,” Cole grits out, his eyes glinting with repressed anger, but still, I catch the warning.
“You’re wasting time, Cole. Let’s go.” I grab the tiny bundle that looks sicker now than she did a few seconds ago. “We need to go. Now!” Cole picks Kristine up bridal style. “How did you get in?”
“This way.”
He leads the way, stealthily moving past the shelves toward the very back where I think Kristine hadn’t checked. Looking over my shoulder, I can see Julian fighting them both, but his right arm now hangs almost uselessly to his side, like he just dislocated his shoulder, but even with that, he looks like he’s holding his own.
But still, there’s no way I’m leaving him here.
Just then, I hear a faint siren call. The cops have been called. Cole hears it too. He looks at me, eyes narrowed.
“We have to go before they get here.”
Yes, you are getting out of here.
As soon as I see the open rusty door, I rush to the front and hold it open. As Cole passes through, effortlessly holding Kristine, I press a quick chase kiss to the baby’s tiny head, looking down at her one last time, then just as quickly, I shove her into her mother’s arms.