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So many bullets and only two are down?
I spot movement in the oven’s reflection. A man is padding our way stealthily, his reflection perfectly visible at the angle I’m sitting at. He is going to come around the island and shoot us both. Matteo is looking the other way and doesn’t notice him.
My heart hammers in my throat, my body suddenly weak with the realization that this could be it.
A surge of adrenaline spikes just as he puts a leg within range. I lean around the corner of the island with all my weight and jam the knife into his thigh, right at the spot where I’ll sever his femoral artery. I twist and slice away as he stumbles with a growl. His gun goes off, peppering the fridge as his leg caves, blood fountaining out of the wound.
Minutes. He has minutes.
He stares at me with a snarl as he turns his gun towards me. I scream as I press against the island, waiting for the worst, but watch instead how a bullet hits him right in the forehead. He slumps forward, his body heavy on top of mine.
Sounds zone out. Time stands still. My blood pulses in my head while I can hear every heartbeat stressing that I’m still alive.
I’m alive.
I need to get him off me. The blood from his leg is pooling at my feet, drenching me. If it weren’t for that bullet, this would have killed him. I would have killed him. The rest of the shootout happens but I’m zoned out. I battle to push his weight off me, feeling sick with the rush of adrenaline. Once I’m free, I lean back and breathe, disconnected. It’s only when Matteo’s hand on my shoulder jerks me out of my haze that I look at him, stunned. The knife drops from my hand and clatters to the floor.
“We need to get to the car,” Matteo says as he picks up the knife. “Don’t leave evidence.”
I’m numb, but he has me. He helps me up but instead of rushing off he picks me up and carries me out of the room, which is scattered with broken glass, bodies, and blood.
Matteo puts me down as soon as we’re out of the fray and pushes me in the direction of the front door. He turns around and I do the same. Burley is coming, but it’s clear he is wounded.
“Fuck it,” Matteo hisses. He heads back into the room, where a wounded lone ranger is still wielding a gun. Matteo shoots him point blank, then has Burley hitched up under his shoulder.
“You should get out, boss,” he huffs. “While you can.”
“Fuck if I leave you here. I’ll have to kill you first and I’m out of bullets.”
I’m at the front door rattling the handle, but it doesn’t move. Matteo waves me to the side and rips though the bolt with bullets he told Burley a second ago he didn’t have. The door inches open and I freeze as I stare out into the blinding sunlight. Two new guards are pointing weapons at us, ready for the final blow.
“Go, Tasha, they’re ours.”
The getaway car is right there, and I clamber in. Matteo helps Burley in and then doors slam as we skid off.
It’s only when we drive through the open gate and into the public road that I exhale.
I nearly killed someone. If it weren’t for Matteo wrapping up what I’d started…
I intended to kill that man. In cold blood. I can’t process that now. I just can’t.
Focus.
You’re actually alive.
You were becoming a doctor. The line between life and death is thin.
I reach out to Burley. “Where’re you shot?”
37
TASHA
“Right here, luv.” Burley groans as he touches his biceps, where a pool of red is spreading on his white shirt. “And here.” His hand goes to the side of his butt, where his pants shine with blood.
“Put pressure on his arm,” I say to Matteo, who is sitting on that side, as I look down to put pressure on Burley’s butt. “I’ll hold on to you here. At least it wasn’t your chest or abdomen. How far do we have to go?”
I glance up to meet Matteo’s gaze. He looks at me with something in his eyes I’ve never seen before. I can’t even pinpoint what it is, too conscious of the sticky wet patch under my palm. His gaze travels my face, taking in my puffed-up cheek, the bruise I must be popping on my chin, then drops to the cuts on my wrists where the cable tie sliced into my flesh. I have to look away, but I feel his gaze burning on me. Fury. That’s what it is. Pure blazing fury.
