Page 93 of Fall Before Her Throne

My ears rang.

A face swam into my vision. I blinked, and the face cleared.

“Cas,” I croaked.

His hands cupped my cheeks. “Baby, talk to me. You’re bleeding. Where does it hurt?”

“Someone fucking shot me,” I breathed in disbelief. White static filled my ears, except for the nearby screams. Adrenaline and terror coursed through my body in equal measure, a fucking nightmare of a combination. I felt like I was about to crumble and explode at the same time. “Is everyone okay? Cas, tell me. Are we alive?”

“We’re alive, darling,” Wynn said, crouching down to my other side. He gripped my hand. “We have to get out of here before the shooters come back. It was a drive-by. Darling, talk to us. Can you move?”

I nodded. They pulled me to my feet, and I hissed in pain, glancing down to see a laceration on my upper arm. The bullet just grazed me, but the jacket was ripped. Damn. I loved this jacket.

“Everyone’s okay?”

All my men crowded around. Obi looked murderous. Cas and Wynn looked like they were trying to hold it together. Ryuji looked like he was going insane, with his hair fraying out of its bun and a crazed look in his eyes. Ciel helped Samuel to his feet and double-checked that he was unharmed before he pushed through them all to wrap his arms around me.

I sank against his chest. His palm cradled the back of my head. He whispered in Spanish, his words catching in his throat until he gave up and went silent.

“It’s—it’s okay,” I stammered. “It’s just my arm.”

Behind my men, Max stared. He looked completely devastated. White as a sheet. Like he’d just seen a ghost.

Give us Max Volpe, and you can walk out of here.

The world devolved into chaos around us. People were running and hiding. Bullet holes peppered the ground. Glass from the FBI building’s entrance lay shattered on the ground.

“We have to go,” Wynn said. “They could make a loop around.”

“Someone tried to assassinate me.” My voice came out airy and light, like that was just not possible, and someone was going to laugh and say it was all a joke.

“I’ll fucking kill him!” Ryuji snarled. He pulled out two more knives, one in each hand, before he started down the sidewalk in the direction where the car had disappeared. “I’ll hunt him down and slit his motherfucking throat! Who the fucking fuck does he think he is! Come back here, fuckers!”

Cas grabbed his arm and pulled him back. They jostled while Cas gripped the back of his neck and whispered in ear. After a few moments, Ryu quieted, but he still fumed.

“God, this fucking stings.” Blood dripped down my arm. I grimaced as I let go of Ciel and turned to Samuel. “You saved my life.”

He had pushed me out of the way, shielding my body with his own.

He nodded at me first, then to Obi. “As your lawyer, I’d advise you to stay and give statements to law enforcement, but as your friend, I’d say you all need to get out of here as soon as possible. Move, now. Before you can’t anymore.”

Agents started pushing through the doors behind us. Security closed in. Our only saving grace was the chaos in the square. Everyone here had just been shot at. There were dozens of casings littering the street.

“Come on,” I said. Our window of escape was rapidly closing. “I don’t want to be here anymore.”

Obi picked me up with one hand, bridal style, and turned on his heel. Ryuji and Cas darted forward to push a wedge through the growing crowd so we could run. I closed my eyes and rested my head on his shoulder. What a long fucking day.

Before I knew it, we were gone.

“Obi, you have to let me go,” I said patiently. His arms tightened around my middle. We were sitting in the living room, with all the guys crowded around. They’d helped Obi clean the wound on my arm and stitch it. It was wrapped now, and it would heal fine, but it stung like a motherfucker. The over-the-counter pain relievers hadn’t kicked in yet.

Earlier, Wynn and Ryuji had started a fire in the fireplace. All of my men sat around it in silence, alternating between staring at me, touching me, or looking into the fire with a devastated look in their eyes.

You’d think I had died.

“Obi,” I said again. “I’m all right.”

He pressed a kiss to my hair and shh’d me. Cas held one of my hands while he sat on the floor, and he squeezed tightly. Wynn was on my other side, leaning his back against the chair. His eyes were closed, and the firelight reflected off his pale skin.