Dark Guardian (Black Hoods MC #3) - Avelyn Paige Page 0,51
the ground before the sound of another gunshot even registers in my mind.
“No!” I scream. “Please, stop!”
Lindsey wails, clutching her stomach, and Karma’s words from just a few seconds ago repeat over and over in my mind. She’s pregnant. She’s pregnant. Lindsey’s pregnant.
No, no, no! This can’t be happening.
Kevin and Natalie stare down at her, their faces frozen in shock, their eyes glistening with tears.
“Kevin?” Henry asks, his voice going from psychopath to sweet as sugar. “Natalie? Remember me? I’m your father.”
Kevin looks back down at Lindsey and Karma, both of them lying in their own puddles of blood getting bigger by the second.
“Natalie?” he asks again, this time reaching out and stroking her hair. “Baby, I’m your daddy.” Natalie sobs and shrinks away from his touch.
Whatever hold Eugene had been keeping on his temper disappears in that instant. A growl of rage ripping from his throat, he moves toward Henry once again, but Henry is fast. Inhumanly fast.
I’ve seen it before when someone’s high on meth or something similar. They become extremely fast and incredibly strong. But I’ve never seen anyone move as fast as Henry.
“Henry, no!” I scream as he brings the butt of his gun down on Eugene’s skull. Grabbing onto the children, I shove them behind me, unable to believe what I’m seeing.
My mind races for a way out of this at the same time my heart stutters in my chest as Eugene crumbles like an accordion and falls into a heap onto the floor.
“Oh my God, Eugene,” I sob. “Please, say something.” I watch helplessly as a single drop of blood falls from his temple and onto the hardwood floor.
I want to go to him. I want to make sure he’s okay, but I can’t. I can’t because I’m the only thing standing in the way of Henry Tucker and his kids. I have to keep my shit together before I end up like the others. All I can do is watch and pray. Pray for all of us. Pray that I can find a way out of this.
My body trembles uncontrollably while I stare at his chest, desperate to be sure he’s still breathing. Seconds feel like years until his chest heaves once. Twice. It’s labored, but he’s alive. Eugene is still with me.
Henry turns away from him with a sick, satisfied smile.
“It’s just me and you now, Grace,” he slurs, stepping closer to me. “You and me. You and me,” he mutters to himself. “This didn’t have to happen, you know. All you had to do was give me my kids. My kids. Not yours. Not his.” He points his handgun in Eugene’s direction. “All I want is my kids!” Rubbing the gun against the side of his face, Eugene’s blood drips from the butt of it and onto his skin. Wiping it away with his other hand, he looks down with a sickening smile.
He steps toward me, and Natalie presses tighter against my backside, while Kevin tries to push in front of me, but I shove him back. He’s been a hero for his sister long enough. He needs a hero to take care of him too. This is my fight now.
Setting his eyes on Natalie, Henry reaches out his hand, beckoning her. “You’re a pretty little thing, aren’t you? A looker like your mama.”
“Leave her alone,” Kevin snarls.
Henry’s lips pull back, baring his rotting teeth. “You shut your fucking mouth!”
He charges toward us, and I shift in response, moving us closer to the open kitchen entry. If I could just get us a little closer, I can distract him and get the kids out that way. It’s the only shot we have with him blocking the front door.
I thrust out my hands in front of us. “Take me,” I beg him.
Screeching to a halt, he tilts his head to the side. “What the hell am I going to do with an old bitch like you? My buyers want young, pretty little things like her.”
I gape at him. “You don’t mean... You’re her father!”
Sell her. Oh my God. He doesn’t want them back to take care of them. He’s a trafficker, just like their uncle.
His words from our first conversation pops into my head. I lost my business when she left. That’s what he meant. She took his cash cow when she took the kids. He’s been planning to sell Natalie since the day she was born.
“Why the fuck do you think I want her? I never wanted kids in the first