blazing, to his sacred grounds. I must have missed a tracker or my husband had found another way to track me down. The strong look Silvia had cast at Corvel, remained aimed at him.
“Will you get this under control with minimum loss of life?”
Corvel went towards the front door and walked out like there wasn’t gunfire going off. I knew he was high and mighty because of who he was, but he wasn’t bulletproof.
“Have a seat, please.”
Although Silvia had said please, her words were an order that she expected to be followed.
I sat, gripping my legs at the knees to keep them from jumping. Arjen was my only concern. It’s funny, I used to curse at the sight of men, now I would do anything for that fearless one outside Corvel’s compound, risking it all to come for me.
Silvia took the seat beside me which caused me to glance at HB, still gripped tight in my hand. I threw serious eyes in her direction. Why would she risk herself like this? She didn’t appear the least bit worried about me sitting there with a gun. What if I attempted to kill her?
She kept staring at me with her eyes deadlocked on my face. The longer she stared, the more the tension in her forehead pulled tighter. What the hell? Why the fuck was she staring at me like that?
“Why do you keep staring at me? I know my actions were stupid. I leap before I look sometimes. I take unnecessary risks with my life, and I’m aware that this time was one time too many.”
“You’re fearless, aren’t you?” She appeared to be fascinated by my craziness. “You…” her cell phone stopped whatever she was about to say.
Corvel’s yelling came through her phone, although it was at her ear. The rumble of gunfire had caused my nerves to blaze higher.
I prayed for a way to tell Arjen to fall back, that he couldn’t save me, not this time. In my heart, I knew that it would be useless. He wasn’t going to stop. We had nurtured a bond that had allowed our souls to connect. If it were me out there and him in here, I wouldn’t stop. I would rescue him or die trying.
“You think that’s the only way to get them to stop?” She kept her stare pinned on me, not removing it as she hung up the phone and gripped it tight in her hand.
“I need you to go out and convince your husband to stop this unwarranted attack. He is hell-bent on getting a lot of people killed.”
Unwarranted?
I shook my head.
“No. I’d rather him take his chances fighting than attempting to negotiate with you for my life. We both know I’m already dead.”
“I can assure you, Mecca, I’m not here to kill you, but if you don’t go out there and bring your husband into this house, he will die. I’m sure the syndicate doesn’t know he’s here, so if he dies here, we will make sure they never find out what happened. All I need to do is make one call and give a few orders.”
She lifted her phone, her face set in stone.
With tightly pinched lips, I rolled my eyes at her phone and lifted my chin. I had more faith in my husband than in her phone calls.
“Mecca. Please.” A hint of stress marred her forehead. “I’m giving you my word. I’m not here to kill you. I didn’t come here for any bloodshed.”
She pointed at my gun. “Why do you think you’re still armed? Do you see a gun anywhere on me?” She stood to her feet before spinning around to show me she wasn’t carrying.
I stared into the depths of her daring eyes. She may not have been carrying a gun, but she looked like she could kill me with one flick of her eyebrow.
How could such a beautiful woman be so deadly? She appeared to be in her late thirties, but television and magazine interviews often published her age of fifty-three.
Done with our stare-off, I turned away and headed for the door, waiting for the moment the impact of the bullet would punch through and enter my body. When I made it to the door, I shoved HB down the back of my waistband and glanced back at Silvia before shoving it open. She stared after me, her expression an unreadable one.
When I stepped onto the porch, all firing ceased. Thanks to the magical eyes of high-powered lenses, Arjen’s men must