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One. One finger up.Two. He steeled himself as he held two fingers up.Three. They moved.
Moving down the remaining steps, Christian rounded the stairwell, his gun aimed at Cyrus. Andi followed suit, her gun aimed at Ethan.
Cyrus dove behind Mr. Beaumont. Bound to a chair, the elderly man looked terrible. His face was bruised, and a wound on his head bled down his cheek. Cyrus held the muzzle of the gun to his temple. “Gun on the girl, Casey.”
Casey?So Ethan was still going by his old nickname—after his favorite MotorGP rider, Casey Stoner. Some things hadn’t changed, but Ethan certainly had, and not for the better.
“With pleasure,” Ethan said, fixing his gun on Andi, but his mocking smile stayed on Christian. “Took you long enough to show up, but I knew this meeting would be inevitable.”
“What are you doing, Ethan?” He gestured to the beaten Mr. Beaumont. “This isn’t you.”
“How would you know who I am?” Ethan roared.
“The Ethan I knew never harmed people or took a hostage.”
“Shut up!” Cyrus said, crouching behind Mr. Beaumont, his gun pressing hard into the man’s temple.
Mr. Beaumont winced at the pressure.
His gun still aimed at Cyrus, Christian’s chest squeezed. He still didn’t have a clean shot, and he couldn’t risk hitting Mr. Beaumont.
“Hello, Andi,” Cyrus said, his voice dropping an unsettling octave. “I’d say nice to meet you, but I already know you.”
“You don’t know me,” she said, keeping her gun aimed at Ethan as he kept his on her—pointed at center mass.
Christian’s throat squeezed shut.Please, Lord, don’t let him hurt her.
“I’ve been watching you.” His voice crawled along Christian’s skin. “I know youwell. The perfume you wear, the silk sheets on your bed, the way you shave your legs.”
Andi’s face paled, her jaw stiffening.
“We just haven’t met face-to-face until now.” He smiled.
Smiled?Christian stiffened. The violent man’s creepy affinity for Andi was beyond disturbing. Fear for her safety gripped his mind.
Ethan’s brow furrowed. Confusion and a bit of alarm awakened in his wide-eyed expression as he stared at Cyrus.
“Now, this is going to go one of two ways,” Cyrus said. “We shoot one another ... or we’re going to walk out with Mr. Beaumont here. You will not follow, or we’ll shoot him. Understood?”
Christian didn’t move, didn’t respond to his ultimatum.
“Understood?” Cyrus roared, wrapping one arm around Beaumont’s neck. “Or maybe I’ll just shoot her.” He aimed his gun at Andi’s head. “I’m a heck of a shot.”
Christian’s muscles coiled. Cyrus was not bluffing.
Andi stood her ground, her gun aimed at Ethan.
“Cyrus,” Ethan said. “This is getting extreme.”
“This is what we’re going to do, unless you want to die too.”
Ethan’s face slackened. “You’d shoot me?”
“Get in my way and I will. Just try me.”
Ethan continued to aim his gun at Andi, not saying a word.
“Smart choice,” Cyrus said.
