“She’s secure and alive, but she won’t be for long if you kill me.” Her smug smile was misplaced. She thought she had me until I pointed the gun in her direction and shot the floor next to her knee.

“The next one takes out your knee.”

“Okay!” She held up her hands as if it could stop me and slid away. “She’s in the car. I tied her up and left her there.” I could have killed her right then, but my ringing phone saved her life.

“What?” I snapped without checking the ID.

“You need to get out of there,” Di warned. I was ready to hang up on her when she added, “I called the cops.”

“Why the fuck would you do that?” I growled into the phone. The next moment, I heard the melodic—yet frantic—sound of Lake’s voice.

“Keiran, get down here now,” she ordered. I smiled into the phone, despite the nefarious situation, because she thought she could command me.

“Are you safe?”

“Yes.” Her voice had softened, and silence then filled the empty space between us. “Is she dead?”

“No.”

She sighed into the phone, and I wondered if it was relief or disappointment that caused the sound. “Good. Don’t kill her.”

“I can’t leave her alive.”

“And if you kill her now, you’ll go to prison.” She fell silent again, probably to let me work it out on my own. Esmerelda watched me—her smugness had returned full force.

“Very well,” I finally answered and aimed the gun at Esmerelda. I had the pleasure of seeing her smugness wiped from her face just as she collapsed.

* * *

I heard the sirens and made my way down the hall and three flights of stairs to the parking garage. I opened the door to find Lake pacing angrily and Di crouched against the wall staring at the ground. Lake spotted me first and turned on me.

“What did you do?” she hissed.

I ignored her and closed in on her space until I had her face in my hands. “Shut the fuck up. If it’s not to tell me you’re okay, I don’t want to hear it.” She glared and then her body jerked. I looked down confused and realized she had been trying to knee my dick. “What are you doing?”

“Don’t talk to me like that. Don’t ever talk to me like that again,” she repeated with force.

“You could have died, but you’re worried about how I’m speaking to you? I was scared shitless thinking about what could happen to you.”

She blinked once and then her shoulders relaxed and she sighed.

“I’m fine.”

She didn’t elaborate so I nodded and kissed her lips. “I didn’t kill her,” I admitted. I didn’t have the chance to say more because it sounded as if the entire Los Angeles’ police department flooded the outside streets with sirens and lights. “We should go handle that,” I directed to Di, who was now staring at the closed door as if it were a foreign object.

“Di, are you okay?”

“I never even got to see her,” she croaked. “I wonder what she looks like.”

I couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. She was mourning a woman who would sell her daughter’s soul for her own personal gain. Her mother was no better than her father, but she’d never know for sure. Maybe it was better that way.

“She’s not dead,” Lake offered when I only continued to frown. “He didn’t kill her.”

She finally turned around, appearing hopeful. “No?”

“I shot her in the leg.”

She looked surprised but recovered quickly. “Thank you.”

I couldn’t acknowledge her gratitude because I wanted to kill Esmerelda and would have if it weren’t for Lake—police be damned.

“Let’s go.”

Everyone in the building had already evacuated and huddled in the street leading to the front entrance. I thought it was a little dramatic for one shot fired but shrugged it off and found the nearest police officer.

“Sir, you can’t cross the line.”

Just then, a screaming Esmerelda was brought out of the building on a stretcher and put inside an ambulance. She was then hauled away with two police cars leading and trailing it. “Check your database. She’s a wanted woman, and I’m the one who shot her.”

The officer, who I quickly figured out was a rookie, pulled his gun with shaky hands, and ordered me to put my hands up. I briefly saw my entire life as I lifted my hands slowly. It wasn’t the possibility of prison or the gun that made me afraid, but the terrified man behind the gun. I fell completely still once my hands were up and prayed Lake stayed back. If the wind blew, he’d panic and blow me away.