Page 84 of Fall Before Her Throne

Ryu kneeled next to me and started working on the second injured man beside us.

“Where are the rest of the men who were supposed to be here?” I asked the bouncer while I prepped the wound irrigation syringe.

“A couple of guys ran for help with the crowd,” he said before he shouted in pain when I flushed his injury. “Fuck!”

“Sorry,” I murmured once it was clean. I unraveled a gauze pack and started bandaging the wound. “We’ll get you stable, but you’ll need to go to the hospital.”

His bleary eyes locked onto me. “You’re Leona Vero, right?”

I nodded. “We’re the Shadows. Max is with us. We got here as soon as we could.”

“This was supposed to be our slow night,” he said, gritting his teeth while I made the bandages tight, “but it all happened so fast. I blacked out. When I came to, everything was quiet. Those fuckers must have thought we were dead when they left us.”

“You did well,” I said. I put the finishing touches on the bandage and then looked over at Ryu. His patient had a gunshot wound to the shoulder, but it wasn’t bleeding terribly. “We’ll get you to a hospital. You should both be fine with treatment.”

“There’s a clinic not far from here,” Ryu said. “Might be faster.”

The bouncer let out a wobbly breath. He grabbed my hand. “Thank you, Miss Vero.”

I squeezed his fingers. “You’re welcome.”

“Bathroom is empty,” Cas announced through our ear comms. I chewed my lip. Hopefully, the women were okay. “The rest of the casino is clear. Only room left is the office with the vault.”

“Back of the building is clear, too,” Wynn added. “We’ll head inside.”

I let out a sigh of relief and gripped Ryu’s shoulder. Besides these two guys, everyone else seemed to have gotten out of here without getting hurt.

But we lost the money.

“Be careful of any booby traps they left behind,” Max said.

My finger pressed to my ear comms. “Has anyone seen the waitresses yet?”

“Checking now,” Obi said. I stood, trying to get an eye on the three of them in the back of the casino. Handgun raised, Obi slowly opened the door to the back office. We all braced for what we found inside, but no booby traps blew us to pieces. Instead, five women clustered within it. I quickly jogged over.

I kept my voice low and calm. “Is everyone okay in here?”

They lifted their heads. Trails of tears tracked through their makeup. “Who are you?” one asked.

“I’m Leona,” I said. “I’m a friend of Max. He’s right outside, and we came to help. Do you want to see?”

Slowly, they stood up one by one. They followed me out of the tiny break room, and a few rushed over to him as soon as they saw Max. One gave him a huge hug, thanking him for coming. She must have been the one who contacted him.

Once they were free of the office, Obi and Cas entered so they could inspect the vault. It only took a few moments before they exited, shaking their heads.

“The money is gone,” Cas confirmed.

“Fuck.” Max’s jaw was tight before he let out a sigh and turned to the waitresses. “I’m glad you’re all safe. Is anyone hurt?”

The one who hugged him shook her head. “No, we hid in there once they took the money.” She put her hand on his arm. “I’m sorry, Max. We should have fought harder.”

He rubbed his eyes. “No, it’s my fault. I should have had more men here. I could have prevented this.”

I bit the inside of my cheek while I exchanged a look with Cas. Something inside my chest twisted at Max’s look of guilt and shame, but I had nothing to say.

Another waitress shuffled forward. Her fingers trembled where they wrapped around her middle and clutched her elbows. “I want to go. Can we leave?”

Max nodded tightly. “Yeah, get out of here while you can. I’m sorry.”