Page 86 of Disavowed

“No!” she cried. “Dom!”

For a second, neither man moved. She stared at Dom’s back, willing him to take a breath. But he didn’t. He lay on top of Jack, not moving.

“No, no, no!” Daisy tried to stand, straining and tugging at the rope binding her wrists, trying to get to him. Her pulse raced, and she screamed again. “Help! Somebody help!” It was no use. Not with that damned music still blasting from downstairs.

She stared at Dom, tears streaming down her face. Suddenly, he took a breath. “Oh, thank God.”

Groaning, he pushed off Jack and pried the gun from his fingers, tossing it onto the bed next to the rifle.

A dark spot the size of a quarter stained Jack’s shirt. He didn’t move, and she couldn’t tell if he was breathing.

Dom got unsteadily to his feet. He staggered for a moment, then came around to the back of Daisy’s chair to untie her. When she was free, he held out his hand, and she flew into his arms, barely registering the grunt he muttered as she wrapped her arms around him, holding on tightly. His warmth and strength seeped into her, imbuing her with more love than she thought possible. If they could get through this, they could get through anything.

He kissed her hard on the mouth. “Baby, are you okay?” She nodded. “We have to hurry,” he said, releasing her, then picking up the rifle from the bed. He folded the stock in half, making the weapon half the length it originally was.

“Daisy.” Jack’s voice was barely a whisper. “I’m sorry.”

His eyes had a glassy, dull look, and she knew he was dying. She took no joy in his pain or in his death and couldn’t stop the jolt of unexpected compassion she felt for the dying killer.

He looked directly up at Dom, his breath shallow now, almost undetectable. “Take care of our girl.” Then his head fell to the side, his eyes open but lifeless. Blood still oozed from the single hole in his chest but seemed to slow.

Single hole?

When Jack and Dom had been struggling she’d heard three shots. One went into the wall and the other into Jack’s chest. Where did the third round go?

She turned back to Dom. Deep lines creased his forehead, and from the tight set of his mouth, she knew he was in pain. Her gaze traveled his body and stopped at his chest. There was a hole in the vest he wore. She hadn’t noticed it before because the garment was black. She pulled the side of the vest from his chest and gasped. Like the vest, the black knit shirt also contained an unmistakable hole just above his pectoral muscle. Through the hole she saw blood.

“You’ve been shot!” She reached up to touch him, but he took her hand in his.

“It’s a through and through. I’ll be okay.” But he didn’t look okay. Not to her.

She understood through and through meant the bullet had passed completely through his body, which she guessed from his response was a good thing. But sweat glistened on his brow, and his breathing had suddenly become shallower.

“We have to go.” He tugged on her hand and led her to the outer room.

“Yeah, to a hospital.” From behind him she glimpsed the other hole in the back of his vest, only this one was bigger, and she could see clear through the vest and shirt to the bloodied, ravaged flesh where the bullet had left his body.

“No time.” He let go of her hand and opened the door. With the rifle in his hands, he glanced in both directions along the balcony, then nodded to her. “Let’s go.”

The firmness in his voice broached no argument. She followed him out the door, frightened that after everything that had just happened, he might die after all.

From where they stood overlooking the packed lobby below, voices could barely be distinguished over the band’s loud rendition of “New York, New York.” Guests were steadily making their way into the ballroom for the commencement of the grand reopening.

Wincing slightly, Dom tucked the rifle under his vest and scanned the lobby. “There,” he said, pointing to the hotel’s main doors. Daisy followed the direction of his outstretched arm to see Gray arguing with hotel security. Behind him were half a dozen other men in suits and several uniformed officers. He clasped her upper arm. “Get to Gray. Tell him Marsden is inside and he’s rigged the hotel to blow. Gray will take it from there. As soon as you tell him, get out of the hotel and get as far away from here as you can. Got it?”

“No. No way.” She shook her head. “You’re hurt, and I want to help.”

Some of the color had drained from his face, and his jaw tightened. “Please.” Their gazes locked, and what she saw terrified her. His eyes were hard and unyielding, his expression fierce and deadly. This was the face of a warrior going into battle. His voice was low and eerily controlled, scaring her even more. “I love you, but I can’t do this if I have to worry about you, too. Get out of here. Now!”

It killed her to admit it, but he was right. As much as she wanted to remain at his side, the last thing she wanted was for him to be distracted by worry. She swallowed, nodding. “Okay, but what are you going to do?”

“I have to stop Marsden.” He rubbed her arm gently. “You know I have to try.”

“What if you can’t stop him before the hotel blows up?” She couldn’t imagine living her life without him. She pressed her lips together to keep them from trembling. “Don’t you dare leave me. I love you too much to lose you now.”

His brows furrowed, then he leaned down and pressed a hard kiss on her mouth. Abruptly, he released her and pulled her behind him down the stairs. At the bottom of the staircase he turned to her, and again she glimpsed the steely determination in his eyes. “Go.” He tipped his head to the doors, then disappeared into the crowd.

She took a deep breath and began wending her way through the throng of people heading to the ballroom. She was like a salmon swimming upstream, and she kept knocking into people. No matter how hard she tried getting to the exit door, she was being herded into the ballroom with everyone else.