dark purple marks—finger marks, I realise—but she’s alive and breathing. Right now, I’ll take it.
I want to touch her, keep her close, but I don’t want to push her either. Isaac hurt her, I can see that, but I have no idea if he did worse to her than just beating the shit out of her. The thought makes my fury simmer to the surface, threatening to bubble over, but whatever happened to her, we’ll deal with it once we’re safe.
I move over to the bed and peer down at Isaac’s body, my lip curling into a snarl. Motherfucking cunt. I want to throttle him, pick up the knife my girl dropped and shove it through his dead heart, but instead, I reach out and feel the column of his throat, searching for a pulse. There’s nothing. No fluttering heartbeat, no slow pulsing, nothing. I watch his chest for a moment and see no air being drawn into his lungs either.
I smirk.
He’s gone.
Judging from the amount of blood on his chest, there’s no way he could have survived what looks like a frenzied attack from Lucy. I feel pride that she took control. She took on her devil and won. I know it was a fight for survival, and I’m so fucking glad it was Luce who survived.
With that thought, I step back to her.
“We need to get out of here,” I tell her, keeping my voice as soft as I can manage, scared my raised voice might push her over the edge she’s teetering on.
She nibbles at her bottom lip, her eyes wide like a frightened rabbit as they slide towards the massacre on the bed. “Isaac… the body…”
I bring her attention back to me. “Won’t be anything left of the house, or him, by the time we’re done, baby. Ain’t nothing going to blow back on you.”
Her brow draws down and I can see the cogs working in her brain, trying to figure out what we’re going to do. We’re experts at clean up, but I’m not about to offload that shit on her, not when she’s barely keeping it together.
I hold my left hand out to her, ignoring the pain that flares through my shoulder, and she slips hers in mine. She feels so small, so delicate, but I can see my woman is neither of these things. She took on a monster and survived. It took courage to do what she did. Killing a man with a knife is not easy. There are better ways, cleaner ways, to take a life. I know it will fuck with her head, but I’ll be right beside her to chase the demons away. No one is getting near my woman again.
I pull my gun free of its holster and open the bedroom door slowly, peering around the edge. The landing is clear, so I give her a little tug to get her moving. She stumbles after me and I can tell she’s in pain by how slowly she’s trailing after me. I notice she’s favouring her right side. I’ve had enough broken ribs over the years to know that’s what has her stiff. I turn, scooping my hands under her legs, ignoring her protests and the pain in my own shoulder.
All arguments die on her lips as gunfire sounds close to where we are, and I turn to the side, protecting her with my body as I inch up the hallway.
“Bury your head in my neck, baby, and close your eyes,” I whisper.
I’d cleared the house as I’d moved from room to room, looking for her, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still threats. She doesn’t need to see any of the bloodshed.
We encounter brothers as we hit the stairs and I nearly blow the Cardiff’s RC’s head off before I realise he’s a friendly.
I hear a whimper from Lucy. Her eyes are wide as she takes in the blood from the bodies riddled with holes, slumped against the walls or lying on the floor where they fell.
“Luce.”
“I’m okay.” She kisses my neck.
I have no choice but to walk through this massacre, and we have massacred Blackwood’s men. Those fuckers won’t come back at us now. There will be no retribution.
As I hit the last step, Rav appears in the hallway with Fury and Daimon on his heels. He peers up at me and then his eyes shift to Lucy. I watch as they all take a deep breath.
“House and grounds are cleared,” Rav says. “Take her back to