Headhunter (With Me in Seattle Mafia #2) - Kristen Proby Page 0,20
are heavy from all of the crying.
Finally, I fall asleep.
No! Don’t you dare do that!
“Shut up.” Father slaps me aside and turns to Shane, who’s kneeling on the floor. My father fists Shane’s hair and pulls his head back, ready to slice his throat with a knife.
“No!” I try to run at him again, but my feet won’t move. I can’t get to him. Oh my God, I can’t move! “Don’t kill him! Please, don’t. No.”
“Shh.” Shane cradles me to him. “Just a dream, baby.”
“He was going to kill you.” I grip onto him tightly and bury my face against his chest. “Oh, God, he was going to kill you. Just like he did my mama.”
“I’m right here, and he’s long-dead, Ivie. He can’t hurt me.”
I can’t stop the tears. They just keep coming. For my poor mama and the thought of losing Shane in the same way.
“He can’t hurt me,” he says again and kisses the top of my head.
“But he keeps hurting me,” I whisper and shake my head in despair. “He keeps hurting me.”
Chapter 7
~Shane~
“You have a shooting range.”
It’s the following morning, and I’m pleased to see that the shadows have cleared from Ivie’s eyes this morning. After a quick breakfast, I brought the sexiest woman alive to my own private little playground, out here in the middle of nowhere.
It’s a bit overkill, as Carmine would say. But it keeps me in top form. I have to practice and work on my skills so I don’t get killed on the job.
“Yes, I do.” I press my palm to a plate to unlock the door with my print, and the door slides open. I flip a switch, and lights illuminate the massive area that I carved into the side of the mountain.
“Holy shit, Shane, this is some crazy high-tech stuff,” she says. “I thought this only existed in movies.”
“If you have the money and know the right people, it’s out there.”
“And you know the right people. You’re a little scary. Also, this was just a door in the side of a hill,” she reminds me.
“Actually, once upon a time, this was a gold mine. Gold is huge up here in the mountains, and just about five miles that way,”—I point to the west—“is a mine that yields several million dollars in gold every day. This particular shaft has been abandoned for a hundred years at least. When I bought the property, I knew it would be the perfect place to hollow out and put in my shooting range.”
“Of course.” She nods, then glances around with her hands on her hips. “That’s what I would think when I see an abandoned mine. Let’s make it into a super-secret, high-tech shooting range.”
“Precisely.” I laugh at her sarcasm and pull her to me for a quick kiss, then lead her to another door before I decide to press her against the wall and take her right there in the side of a mountain. “Lay your hand right here.”
She frowns but does as I ask. I tap on the screen of my phone, recording her palm print into the security system. When the light blinks green, another door slides open.
“You have access to this door now,” I say as more lights flip on and we step inside.
“Holy. Shit.” She stops and turns in a circle, taking in the weapons lining the walls around us. I’m fully equipped with everything a person could ever need—especially if they’re going to war. “It’s an arsenal.”
“Yes.” I take a deep breath as she turns back to me and stares up at me with confused blue eyes.
“Who the hell are you, Shane?”
“It’s better if you don’t know the answer to that.” I take her hand and walk her to the back of the vault where the bulk of my handguns are stored behind glass in a case mounted to the wall. The ammunition is kept beneath the case in a stainless-steel cabinet. “We’re starting out small and easy. This is a .22 pistol. It won’t have much kickback, and it will fit easily in your hands.”
I take the weapon from behind the glass and offer it to her.
“Shane—”
“It’s not loaded yet. I want you to hold it. Get a feel for the weight of it, how it feels in your palm. A weapon should be an extension of your hand. It’s a tool.”
She does as I ask, careful not to point the barrel at herself or me.
“This isn’t your first rodeo.” My voice is full of surprise