Divided (Unguarded #2) - Ivy Stone Page 0,91

anymore.”

Lucio’s maniacal laugh sends a chill down my spine. Ali recoils into my arms at the sound of his voice. “Oh, my dear sister. You’ve got no idea. Do you?”

“You’re the only one leaving this church in a body bag, Marino,” Mason’s voice explodes through the church. He holds himself back, gritting his teeth.

Something on Adriana’s face changes. Her eyes drop to us. To Ali. The color drops. Her face turns ashen.

“You never planned on leaving here alive,” her voice comes out just above a whisper. It’s directed at Lucio, but the whole time she stares at Ali. Face contorted with agony.

“Correct, dear sister. Now get out of my way before I shoot you.”

He shoots again. Enzo grabs Adriana around the waist and narrowly misses Lucio’s death threat. They drop with a thud beside us.

Adriana lifts her head. Her pained expression tells me everything I don’t want to hear.

“You need to get her out of here. He doesn’t want to leave alive. But he won’t leave without taking her with him.”

A sob ribs from Ali, but it doesn’t overpower the sound of the bullets flying through the church. I squeeze her tight, close my eyes and kiss her hair. Giuseppe Marino stole my mother from me. Lucio Marino was not about to do the same with Ali.

I breathe in courage and fear. I breathe it all in and let it surge me forward. Standing I shoot, and a roar rips from me. I keep shooting but Lucio’s gaining on us. He runs up the aisle getting closer Cass, Trey, and the others. I break away from Ali. Her cries filter somewhere behind the anger ruling me. I have to kill him. I won’t let him take her. My feet pound the floor.

“No. Roamyn!” Ali yells.

It pierces my ears I turn back to her.

She runs.

She runs after me.

Lucio stops. He smiles. He aims.

My eyes widen. My heart stammers. My lungs constrict. The world stops spinning. Everything becomes slow. I hurl myself back at Ali.

A shot rings out.

We land on the floor in a heap. Our breathing is the only sound in my ear. Our breathing. Our breathing. She’s alive. She didn’t get shot. I lift myself up from Ali and touch every part of her.

She nods through heavy breaths. “I’m okay. I’m okay.”

I place a kiss on her stomach and spiral around to see who got shot. Lucio Marino lies in a growing pool of his own blood. It soaks beneath him from the bullet wound in his chest. He’s dead.

He’ll never hurt Ali again.

He’ll never hurt anyone again.

Relief forces air into my lungs without a moment to prepare. It hurts. But it’s nothing compared to the five seconds in time where I might have lost Ali. My eyes drift from Lucio to the gun. The gun in Lindsey’s hands. Her arms are still up. Not shaky. Steady. There are no tears. No aftermath of emotion from killing a man. She stares down the gun at where Marino stood a second ago. Shock renders us all silent. Everyone stares between her and Lucio. Mason rubs her back and whispers something in her ear. She hands him the gun and peers behind him. Her shoulders fall with relief. She lifts her dress and runs over dropping to her knees and curls Ali into her arms. The flood gates open and Ali cries into her neck.

Lindsey soothes her. “It’s okay, sweetie. It’s over. It’s finally over.”

The moment—it tears my heart apart and everyone else’s in the room. There’s never any preparing for the moment when you witness two survivors find solace. We couldn’t begin to imagine what these two women had been through at the hand of monsters. We didn’t need to. Not now. Their relief was enough to twist our stomachs. It was sufficient to send our minds wandering to dark places with the kind of nightmares we’ve witnessed over the years in our job. Goosebumps scatter over my skin. After a life of terror, they’re finally free.

I give the girls time alone and wander over to Elias. We stand around the priest, somberness falling on our shoulders.

Elias murmurs, “He’s gone.”

Trey and Cassidy come up behind us along with Mason, who’s walking back from checking on Charlotte, Oliver and also his parents.

He stands with his hands on hips and tries to catch his breath. “Oliver and Charlotte are okay. I asked him to keep her outside. I don’t want her to see this.”

He glances to the priest.

I flick back to the girls.