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He huffs out a frustrated breath. “You can’t control everything, Arsen.”
“That’s never stopped me from trying.”
Hissing in wordless disgust, Dom flops the briefcase on the table and leans back to pout in his chair. “If Bones doesn’t show up in five minutes, we’re outta here.”
I shrug. “I was only going to give him three.”
My phone buzzes. Laila texted me a picture of Nina, and my heart clenches like it’s been days since I’ve seen her instead of just a couple hours.
My daughter is wrapped in a fluffy towel, wearing a goofy, toothless smile on her face as she reaches for the camera.
LAILA:Nina missed her Papa today.
ARSEN:I’m sorry I wasn’t there for bedtime. I had some business to take care of.
There are voices in the hallway. Dominik stands to go answer the door, but the three dots appear as Laila texts me back, so I decide to let him handle it.
LAILA:Does this business have anything to do with why you were holed up all day with Gedeon and Dom?
ARSEN:I’m handling it.
Dominik mutters something to me, but I miss it as Laila’s next text comes in.
LAILA:Did it have anything to do with Charles?
I don’t exactly want to tell her I haven’t even thought about Charles since Jasper scaled the fence last night—or that Jasper scaled the fence last night, if we’re keeping track of my omissions.
ARSEN:I don’t want you to worry about it. I’ve got it all under control. Just go to bed. I’ll be home in an hour.
I barely get my phone in my pocket and look up before there’s a deafening crack and Dominik is hurled backwards.
“Arsen!” He turns towards me like he wants to shield me from fuck-only-knows-what, but blood is blooming across his chest.
He falls to the floor, and I follow him, ducking under the table as more shots explode through the wooden door.
“Blyat’.”
Dominik is lying several feet away from me, the pool of blood around him growing fast. I want to go to him, but shots are still ringing out.
I pull out my gun and position myself behind the tables, waiting for the moment the door opens.
And it does. The Skulldraggers charge in like a horde of rats, mindless and with no cover. I send bullets raining down on them. One after the other, they fold like cheap paper until there’s a heap of bodies lying in the threshold.
Gunsmoke is thick in the air. I cough as I grab my phone and punch in Gedeon’s number.
My ears are ringing, so I don’t even hear him answer; I just start shouting, “Dominik is down! Get here now! Dominik is down.”
I toss my phone to the side and rip off my shirt. I press it to Dominik’s chest, trying to ignore the way he looks like he’s already halfway gone—pale white and barely breathing.
I’ve managed to staunch the blood flow as well as I can when I notice one of the bodies in the doorway stir.
Satisfied that my makeshift bandage will hold until the ambulance gets here, I grab the still-breathing, soon-to-be-dead body and press him face-down into the pool of Dominik’s blood.
“Please…!” he splutters. “D-don’t kill me.”
I wrench his head out of the sopping crimson liquid. “Tell me why and I won’t.”
His own blood bursts from between his lips as he tries to speak. “The bounty! Ten million dollars is a lot of money.”
