AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She did. Calling her bluff, Esme took a bold step forward.
Lexie shifted her arm slightly to the left, fired a warning shot—the first and last one she would get—into the wall behind her. “Stay away!”
“You don’t want to shoot me,” she said, and it was true. But she would if she had to.
A crash sounded, and the most beautiful noise Lexie had ever heard penetrated the walls.
“Police! Everyone on the ground! Drop the weapon!”
As the unmistakable bellows of gun-wielding officers reached them, Esme’s eyes became saucers.
“Lexie!” Nico’s voice hit her ears.
“Nico!” she shrieked.
“No!” Esme’s howl tore right through Lexie’s relief as she lunged.
Lexie squeezed the trigger.
Nico’s heart lurched at the first shot, then stopped beating altogether when he heard the second. He had not prayed in a long time, but he did now. He prayed he had not failed again. Prayed he was not too late. Please, he begged, spotting the back end of her Camry as they poured into the barn. Not again. Not this time. “Talk to me, Lexie! Where are you?!”
“Back there.” Seth pointed to an adjoining structure made of old stone bricks, with a big door connecting it to the main part of the barn.
“Lexie!” The ensuing silence killed him as he raced past her car and cleared the second entrance. He heard an anguished mewl emanating from the other side. And then there she was, cowering against a wall, her mouth wide, her body shaking, her eyes haunted with tales of untold horror.
Nico, trusting the others who had followed close behind to cover him as he ran to her, skidded to his knees. “Lexie. Baby, look at me. Are you hurt?”
Fighting the urge to crush her against him and never let go, Nico flipped open his pocketknife and cut through the duct tape that bound one of her wrists to an upturned chair. Her shirt was stained red. He checked her over for injuries. Aside from a nasty gash on the back of her head and some bruises, she appeared alright. Then he found it, a deep knife wound in her back, just above the hip bone. Shock was setting in fast and hard. Her skin was ice cold, and she did not respond with so much as an eye flutter to his touch or his words. The sight of Lexie like this carved at his soul like a cheese grater.
“Where is she, Frank?” Nico threw the tense question over his shoulder as he stroked Lexie’s cheek, gently tilted her chin up, willing her to look at him. Instead, she looked through him. Her skin had paled so much it was almost translucent. He couldn’t see the gun anywhere.
“Oh my god, it’s Kyle Garrett,” Zoe said from behind him, drawing Nico’s sharp gaze. She wasn’t wrong. Kyle’s lifeless body lay in the corner.
“Shit,” Frank shouted before he came stalking back through toward the door. “She’s not here. There’s blood though. And a broken window leading out into the woods. She must have squeezed herself through.”
Torn between leaving Lexie in such a state and going after the woman responsible, Nico took a few labored breaths. Her whole body was trembling, but small flickers of awareness had come into her eyes since he’d started coaxing her back to reality. “I can’t, man. I can’t leave her like this.” He pushed the hair back from her sweaty forehead. Her pupils were dilated.
Frank had already reached the door. “Alright, you stay. Call it in. I’m going after her.”
He left before Nico could say anything else.
Christ, what was he doing? He couldn’t let Frank go out there alone. At the very least, he should send Seth or Zoe with him. A glance back at the pair of them—inexperienced and rattled—halted that plan before it began. He knew neither of them would hesitate to follow Frank if he ordered them to, but the fact was, they were little more than teenagers. Nico couldn’t have another young death on his conscience. It had to be him.
“Lexie, look at me.”
He pushed command into his voice. He needed to know she would be okay. Her eyes met his. She focused on his face. Even now, in this place, under these circumstances, he saw love there. Warmth spread through Nico’s chest. He took her mouth, pouring everything he felt for her into his kiss, before shifting back to look at her again. For a moment, she seemed dazed, then her entire expression became panicked. She gripped his arms. “Where is she? Nico, where is she?!”
“Shh. It’s okay, you’re safe. She took off. We’ll get her.”
“You have to go.” She pushed weakly at his chest. “You can’t let her get away. She’ll come back. She’ll—” Her words choked on a sob.
Nico gathered her up in his arms and carried her from the floor to the hood of her car, placing her down with care. He found a roll of duct tape and used it to wrap pressure around her waist and stem the bleeding. “Are you still with me?”
“Yes. Go,” she urged. “Please.” The words sounded like they were being ripped from her throat, a plea from some dark place inside her that burned with fear and misery. She didn’t want him to babysit her or hold her hand. She wanted him to leave, to hunt down the person who did this to her and make her pay.
Nico peeled off his jacket, draped it around her shoulders, and pressed a fierce kiss to her forehead. “I’m sorry.”
“Call for backup,” he ordered as he ran outside. “Do not leave her side!”
