He’d used the last one on me.
What a waste.
“Fuck this!”
For the first time since I’d been chasing him, Sean ran. He ran like the fucking pussy I knew he was. He ran outside, leaving me, the women, and…
And…
Oh, fuck.
“Where’s Charlotte?” Kelly screamed.
“In the truck,” I grunted, standing up. “Come on, let’s—”
“You were shot, Liam!”
“Yeah, like I didn’t come prepared for that possibility,” I said, pulling back part of my clothing to reveal a well-placed bulletproof vest. “Let’s fucking go!”
I ignored Kelly’s surprised look and hurried outside. But we’d stalled too fucking long. Sean was in my truck, Charlotte in the back, making his escape.
“Charlotte!” Kelly cried out, her voice as pained as I’d ever heard it.
“Come on!” I said.
Sean was making a getaway as fast as he could. But once he’d gotten about fifty feet between us, he slowed down, stuck his head outside the window, and flipped us off while laughing.
It would be the last fucking thing he ever did.
From the confines of the forest, a single bullet fired. It ripped through Sean’s skull; he slumped over where he was. The truck, thank fucking heavens, slowed down; though Sean was not applying a brake, the snow would slow down the truck enough that even if it hit a tree, it wouldn’t be damaged badly.
And, far, far, far more importantly, Charlotte wouldn’t be hurt badly.
“What…” Kelly said.
I ignored her. I sprinted to the truck, ignoring the pain in my shoulder. I wouldn’t catch it in time to prevent it from continuing to roll, but I got to it before it hit the tree. I tossed that asshole’s body out of my truck, hit the brakes, and breathed a sigh of relief.
It was over.
And I looked up, into the trees, and saw the faint outline of Burke. Calling the bastard had fucking paid off. I gave a short nod, Burke returned the favor, and just like that, it was fucking over.
“Charlotte!”
I reached into the backseat. Charlotte had rolled around some, and she looked on the verge of tears, but she was alive and only had a few scratches.
“Come to Daddy,” I said softly.
It was a small moment, one punctuated by Kelly’s cries for her daughter. But as I reached back and grabbed her, even though Charlotte wasn’t near speaking, I could see complete trust in her eyes. When I put my hands under her armpits to lift, she didn’t scream; she didn’t even look like she was about to cry.
She looked like she felt safe in her father’s arms.
It was…
Well, fuck, I was a DOM; I didn’t cry. But damn if that moment didn’t come closer than anything else, ever.
“Charlotte! Charlotte! Oh my God, Charlotte!”
I stepped out of the truck just as Kelly arrived. I handed Charlotte over, and the two embraced. I looked back into the forest; Burke had vanished. I wasn’t surprised; he probably didn’t want to be seen at all by the girls.
“How the hell…” Emily said, looking shaken to her core.
“An old friend named Burke,” I said, “and that’s probably as much as he’d like you to know of him.”
“Burke,” Emily said, as if I’d just told her the secret name of Jesus.
Kelly and Charlotte continued to cry into each other’s shoulders. I used the chance to grab Sean’s body—now that it was dead, its light weight was a fucking gift—and drag him into the woods. I couldn’t dispose of him quite yet, but I’d take care of that. I knew ways to ensure that to anyone who gave a shit about him, likely no one, he’d “just disappeared one day and never came back.”
When I returned to the scene, I stopped at the edge of the woods. It was a beautiful scene, looking at Kelly and Charlotte together, this time with no further danger.
But the no further danger was conditional on one critical aspect—that I stay the hell away.
I’d come into her life once two years ago, and I’d left her with a child. That might have proved a gift, but it had certainly rocked her world far more than expected. I’d come into her life just a couple of days ago, and I’d brought with me Sean and a gun pointed at her and her daughter multiple times. Sean wasn’t the only person in this world who would want me dead.
Who else would come after me? Who else would have the fucking audacity to hold an infant in their arms and point a gun at her to get what they wanted?
Unfortunately, the list was far more extensive than it should have been.
I got to my truck, put it in reverse, and started to back out.
“Wait!” Kelly said.
I should have just gunned the fucker and never looked back. For whatever reason, I didn’t.
“You’re leaving? After everything you just did?”
I sighed.
“Yes,” I said, surprised to find my voice wavering a bit. “You almost died. Charlotte almost died. You really want to fear death whenever—”
“It’s the exact opposite, Liam,” Kelly said softly. “I don’t fear anything when I’m with you. There’s no one I’d feel safer around.”
And that was exactly what my first wife had said before she died.
That was what most people who tended to get hurt being near me said.
No, I wasn’t continuing this cycle. For the sake of those two beautiful girls—and Emily, I suppose—I needed to stay the fuck away.
I put the car in drive and headed forward.
“Liam!”
I looked in the rearview mirror. Charlotte’s hand was extended, as if asking me to come back.
“Liam!”
I stopped looking. Doing so only made me emotional. I had to stick to what I knew was the right decision.
“Liam!”
Right?
Chapter 23: Kelly
One Month Later
I’d gained my freedom, but the
