Page 92 of Fall Before Her Throne

I wanted her in my arms.

The taste I had of her was burning me up from the inside out. I couldn’t stop thinking about her mouth on mine. Her body under my hands. Her fingers in my hair. The feel of her racing heart against mine.

And then all of it…gone.

Leaving me cavernous. Aching from the inside out. More than ever before.

I was dead, but she brought me back to life.

And now I was burning.

Obi put his phone to his ear, and we all froze. His breath gusted from his chest. “They’re on their way out.”

I stiffened, my eyes locked on the building. Quickly, the six of us jogged across the street and dashed through the courtyard to the entrance on Worth St. Obi said Samuel and Leona would exit from the main doors.

Even though it was well into the night, the building seemed relatively busy. Small groups of people walked through the courtyard, entered and exited the building, or walked down the sidewalks. Some gave us a dark side eye, likely able to tell that we weren’t good people. Others ignored us completely, like standard New Yorkers. Most knew to mind their own business.

I caught sight of her just before Samuel Achebe pushed the doors open and held them for her. Her hair, no longer in its ponytail, cascaded over her shoulders like a beacon of flame, illuminated by the building’s fluorescent lights behind her. She smiled when she caught sight of her men and raised a hand to wave.

We were a dozen footsteps away when a car peeled down the street, tires screeching, mounting the curb. Time slowed. I saw it before they did. Three men inside the car held automatic weapons out of the windows.

I pulled my weapon, but it wasn’t fast enough. I was going to be too late.

“Leona!” I yelled.

The lawyer’s head snapped to the side, and his eyes widened as he realized what was happening.

The men in the car began shooting. The sound was deafening, shaking through my ribcage like an earthquake. The bullets whizzed around us on all sides. The lawyer pushed Leona to the ground. Cas lunged, covering her body with his. Ciel and Wynn returned fire. Ryuji stood defiantly. I pushed him to the ground just before the wave of gunfire crossed over us.

In two more breaths, it was quiet.

Everything happened so fucking fast.

Screams erupted throughout the entire square. People were running and hiding. The car disappeared around the corner.

But all I could see was the blood splattering the ground.

27

LEONA

“Leona!”

A screech of car tires drew my attention to the street. I saw the flashes of light at the end of the barrels a heartbeat before I heard the gunfire.

The world tilted.

Pain laced through my arm.

My vision darkened as Cas’s body lay over mine. I curled into a ball, reaching for my weapons, but I didn’t have them. The FBI kept them, and now I was cursing Jack Greer all over again.

Then, silence. Like the world was taking a breath, deciding whether to scream.

My men, my men, they had to be okay.

The thoughts in my brain were white static, except for the irresistible urge to make sure everyone was alive. My vision narrowed to a stain of red drenching the shirt. It only took a second for my brain to catch up, and pain exploded down my arm.

I flinched when hands reached for me.