The Wrong Mr. Darcy - Evelyn Lozada Page 0,92

back. If O’Donnell was admitting to all this, then he wasn’t worried they’d get away.

A car pulled up behind them. Hara turned to see Madeline, her white face a big O of surprise and fear, staring through the windshield at the now-awake Derek holding the pipe, while Charles was down on his hands and knees and O’Donnell held everyone at bay with a pistol.

The assistant threw it into first, stepped on the gas, and screeched past them.

“You cunt!” O’Donnell howled.

They watched as Madeline skidded around a corner and shot out of sight. The bitch isn’t stupid, anyway. What are the chances she’ll send help? But Hara knew it was absurd to hope the assistant had suddenly grown a moral compass.

O’Donnell waved the gun at them, refocusing quickly on Hara. “Now, I could shoot you all right here, but I’d rather not. Dragging bodies around is hard work. Charles, I’m assuming you’ll play and keep quiet. You have the right attitude. But you two…” He took a step toward Hara.

Derek jumped in front of her.

Everything happening here was her fault. Hara didn’t want this. She didn’t want Derek to get hurt because she’d been stupid enough to leave the basketball court with Madeline, and stupid enough to believe she’d be safe even while knowing the owner had her father badly beaten. Hara started to edge around him, hoping to maybe draw O’Donnell’s attention back to her.

Derek moved with her, used to shadowing other’s movements. But then he broke contact and moved a step closer to the old man. “Give me the gun,” she heard him growl.

O’Donnell seemed unfazed, pointing the gun at Derek now. “Dead bodies may be inevitable.”

This is not happening. She started again to dart out from behind the brave basketball player when there was a blur of motion in her periphery.

Charles landed in front of O’Donnell, grabbing for the gun.

The gun went off. Charles took a few stutter steps and then fell.

Hara froze, confused, terrified. Before she knew how to react, Derek moved, quick as a lion, this time grabbing O’Donnell by the hair and yanking him off his feet. At the same time, he knocked the gun out of his hand.

“Charles! Charles, are you okay?” Derek yelled, though not turning his attention from O’Donnell. He threw the team’s owner roughly to the ground and put a knee in the middle of his back. “Stop squirming or I’m going to smash your fucking head into the concrete.” He tapped the pipe next to his head, making the owner flinch.

Hara ran to get the pistol and came to a stop a few feet from them, just out of reach, while training the gun on O’Donnell’s head. Her hands were steady, though slightly sweaty. “It’s okay, Derek, I got this.” A grin stretched tightly across her face, which was weird because she felt only terror and despair. “I grew up on a farm, shooting rodents. Hear that, O’Donnell? I fucking love shooting rats.”

Just behind them, Charles groaned. He lay on the ground, holding his chest, in the same fetal position Hara had found Naomi in yesterday. The blood pooling around him was just as dark and disturbing, as was the cloying smell of iron.

Derek removed his knee from O’Donnell and slowly stood. “I’d listen to her, jackass. Though I wouldn’t mind seeing you get shot.”

“Derek! You don’t have to do this,” gasped O’Donnell, one cheek pressed to the concrete, a smear of dirt across his forehead. “You’ve got a lot to lose if you let this go down. Instead, we clean up the mess and we all come out winners. Even this little cunt, if she can keep her mouth shut.”

The air around Hara blurred as she moved, fast. In a split second, the bloated old man was writhing on the ground, spitting out blood and howling, a rabid animal. It took a second for her mind to catch up with her actions. She’d kicked O’Donnell in the teeth.

Breathing hard, she moved back to a safe distance, the gun still on him. “I’d like to say I feel bad about kicking a man while he’s down, but I don’t. My karma will probably survive.”

* * *

Derek thought he might suffocate, his lungs refusing to take in a full breath of air. His body felt stuffed with mud and his mind was sluggish. The stadium security, police, and emergency medical personnel did a delicate dance around him and around Hara. She sat next to him; they were not far from the