Reclaim - Aly Martinez Page 0,105

round of gasps punctuated by a shrill scream tearing from Nora’s throat.

“Cam!”

“Back up!” Jonathan yelled, wrapping an arm around my neck and dragging my back to his front. The barrel of his weapon dug into my head. “All of you. Back the fuck up.”

“Easy. Easy,” Ramsey said, stepping in front of Thea, one hand in the air and the other reaching for his sister. “We don’t want any problems.”

“Get them in the house!” I barked.

“One fucking move, I will put a bullet between your eyes.”

Ramsey gave the illusion of stilling, but he continued inching closer to Nora—my beautiful, terrified Nora, her brown eyes wide, tears already streaking her cheeks. Jesus, she’d been through enough.

We’d all been through enough.

A ball of fire grew in my chest as I held her panicked stare. “Put the gun down,” I snarled over my shoulder.

Jonathan’s voice was cold and cruel. “If your guy doesn’t lay off, I’m as good as dead. I have no problem taking you down with me.”

“I have no idea what the fuck you are talking about, okay? Whoever is following you isn’t working for me.”

“Liar!” he yelled, his unsteady hand shaking so violently that the gun rattled against my head. “You’ve always had it out for me. You like the idea of putting me in the ground next to my brother, huh? I don’t know why I’m surprised you’re fucking your way into the family who did it. You think if I’m out of the way all the Caskey money will be yours? Is that what you’re after?” He laughed, loud and maniacal. “Well, bad news, Cole. It’s gone. All of it. Fucking gone.”

Shit.

There it was. Whatever was happening. Whatever Jonathan had gotten himself into. It all boiled down to my archnemesis: money.

I had not one clue how it was even possible for his family to have burned through a fortune like the Caskeys were believed to have. But, then again, maybe believe was the operative word in that statement.

I glanced back at Nora—my strong, beautiful girl. Ramsey had managed to get his hand around her wrist, but she refused to budge. Funny, I’d spent my whole life trying to keep her and the one time I wished she’d leave, her feet were rooted in the ground.

I should've been terrified. I should have taken a deep breath and offered him the entire contents of my bank account. But not twenty-four hours earlier, I’d finally gotten the girl. We were planning a life together, a future, and a forever. For an instant, I was the kid carrying a bowl of banana pudding again, desperate to get back to Nora at the creek. There was no fucking way I was going to let Jonathan Caskey steal her from me again.

Shifting back, I got low, ready to duck out of his grip, and seethed, “I’m going to fucking bury you.”

In one fluid movement, he swung the gun from my temple and trained the barrel on my entire world. “Not if I bury her first.”

“No!” I yelled just as a bullet exploded from his gun. A crippling pain erupted in my ear, but it was nothing compared to the agony slashing through my chest. “Nora!” I screamed as she fell backward, Thea and Ramsey diving after her.

Panic slayed me, a visceral fury flooded my veins, and a crash of adrenaline ignited my system.

I needed to get to her. I needed to gather her in my arms and tell her it was all going to be okay.

But, first, I had to end this once and for all.

Spinning out of his hold, I slammed a fist into his face. Bones crunching and blood spraying, I showed him no mercy. He fell back and I followed him down, raining punch after violent punch. As long as his heart was beating, I would never feel an ounce of satisfaction.

I sat up, straddling his motionless body, my fist reared back, ready to land another devastating blow, when suddenly a mountain of a man tackled me from behind.

Immediately lurching to my feet, I was stopped by a tattooed hand landing square in the center of my chest.

“Relax, Cole. I got this.” After roughly rolling Jonathan’s unconscious body to his stomach, he gathered his wrists in one hand and planted a knee into his back. With his free hand, he grabbed the gun off the grass and shoved it into the back of his jeans.

Confusion snapped me from my frenzy as I stared down at a man with dark hair, a thick