He hadn't simply surrendered to my family, and whatever plan was about to unfold, he'd just set it in motion.
My heart thumped unevenly in my chest. What if he didn't know my family had a good dozen or so of their men circling the perimeter? If his men tried to storm the warehouse, they would get taken down before they could ever get to us. And we would both be executed.
My fear must have shown on my face, because Blaine lifted his hand back up to my face and cupped my cheek.
"It'll be alright, I promise," he mumbled.
I stared into his eyes, searching for the confirmation that he knew exactly what he was doing. I found it when his mouth hitched up in a smirk.
Even in as fucked up a situation as this, Blaine Steel was still the self-assured man I'd met so many months ago.
"Boss, there's trouble coming. A fuck-ton of police is driving up. Do we shoot?"
The unexpected sound from my father's walkie made everyone inside the warehouse freeze mid-movement.
I stared at Blaine, mouth open. The police? The one rule everyone in the underworld never, ever broke was to never involve the police. You did that and your reputation was done for. For good.
There would not be a criminal in the country who didn't view him as a traitor. Him, and his entire family.
"You didn't!" my father hissed. He spun around from the briefcase to face Blaine. "You fucking snitch!"
"Yeah. I did." Blaine released his hold on me to fold both arms across his chest as he took a step forward. "Or rather, one of my brothers did. I believe he might have mentioned a big drug deal gone wrong and a pregnant hostage being caught in the middle-something like that. You know how nostalgic those coppers get as soon as you aim a gun at a pregnant woman. So go ahead, tell your men to start shooting at the police. I'm sure that'll end well for you."
"Boss?" The frantic-sounding man on the other end of the walkie said. "I need orders. They're almost on us."
"For fuck's sake, stand down, you idiot!" my father hissed into the walkie before he tossed it aside. "Fuck!"
"You should never have crossed my Family," Blaine said, his tone as cold as the ice in his eyes.
My father grabbed Devlen's gun out of his hand. Wild with rage, he pointed it right at Blaine's chest. "You should have kept your mouth shut, boy. I will not be disrespected. You think your name protects you? When it gets out what you've done here today, you're through. Your entire family will be dead before summer, including her. And you won't be there to stop it."
"You're not going to kill me," Blaine said, not so much as flinching as he stared the barrel of the gun down. "If you shoot me now, you'll go down for murder as well as everything else, and you don't have enough time to make anyone take the fall for you before the police get here. Yeah, I know how you operate, Clery. You're a coward, deep down. That's why you need to abuse those who are too weak to defend themselves. You don't have the fucking balls."
My heart dropped and adrenaline and fear roared through my veins when I saw the rage in my father's eyes snap.
Blaine was right-my father was a coward, who would only strike when he was sure to win. But he had made one fatal miscalculation-because the only thing my father truly cared about was receiving the respect he thought belonged to him.
I knew he was going to pull the trigger before Blaine had finished his insult.
"No!" I didn't have time to think-only to react. I threw myself in front of Blaine just as my father's finger pulled back, shoving him out of the way.
Pain lanced through me, emphasizing the sound of the gun being fired. I screamed and crumpled to the floor, clutching my side. It felt like my flesh had melted into pure, liquid pain. My visioned blackened and blurred. Then my head hit the concrete with a muffled thud.
"Mira! No!"
The last thing I heard was Blaine's roar of anguish. Then everything went dark.
*
Chapter 24
Mira
Slow, monotonous beeping pulled me from the depths of nothingness.
Groggily, I opened my eyes. Bright, fluorescent light and the smell of antiseptics made me grimace and shield my eyes, but when I lifted a hand to cover my face a pang of dull pain from my side made me gasp.
"Doc says it's just a nasty flesh wound. You and the wee one will both be fine."
I slowly lowered my hand from my face to peer in the direction of the speaker. He was sitting in a chair next to my bed, his flaming red hair brightening up the otherwise sterile hospital room.
"Liam?"
"Louis," he corrected me, a wicked smile curving the corner of his mouth. "Liam went home with a nurse a few hours ago, left me to the incredibly boring job of waiting for you to wake up on my own. No offense."
"Sure," I said, frowning with confusion. "But why? Where's Blaine?" My heart dropped as I remembered the gunshot. Had I not managed to push him out of the line of fire after all? Oh God, no. "Louis, where is he?"
"Calm down, he's fine. Got held up at the police station after bashing Clery's head in. Our dad's working on getting him out. Until then, Liam and I have been tasked with keeping you safe and sound." The redhead stretched lazily. "So far, it's been a supremely tedious task. How long until you think you can manage a half-arsed escape attempt?"
"What do you mean, ‘bashing Clery's head in'?" I asked, ignoring his playful dig. Waking up after getting shot and finding out the man who rescued you has been arrested doesn't lend itself to playful banter. "Did he kill someone?"
"Nah, the police got there in time. Your dad's … well, he's not fine, but I guess he's gonna live. Sadly." Louis gave me a somewhat apologetic look. "Sorry."
As if I cared if my monster of a father lived or not. The only reason I felt a stab of relief was that I didn't want Blaine to get charged with murder. I doubted even Steel connections could have gotten him out of that one.
"So what happens now?" I looked at Blaine's brother with some hesitation. He didn't seem upset that I'd run away and effectively damaged the Steel's reputation, but I doubted I was in anyone's good graces.
Louis shrugged. "Once you get discharged, you're coming home with Liam and me until Blaine gets out. Marcus offered to look after you, but lucky for you, Blaine refused. And after that-well, I guess it's up to whatever you and Blaine work out. I wouldn't expect another vacation to the Mediterranean anytime soon, though. My brother was ever so upset after you gave him the slip, and that was before he knew about the baby."
I took in a deep breath and let it seep out slowly, taking some of my leftover anxiety with it. If Blaine's brother was this relaxed about the whole thing, then perhaps the rest of the family was too.
"And the Family? Blaine ratted my- the Clerys out to the police. I know how big of a deal that is."
Louis winced, somewhat ruining my beginning sense of calm. "You really don't need to worry about that, Mira."
"It's kind of hard not to," I said, my voice more than a little dry. "Seeing as this all happened because of me."
"Nah, sweets, it happened because of the Clerys. You didn't ask to get kidnapped, did you?" He offered me an easy smile. "And no one gets to hurt a Steel and walk away. Whatever it takes, we protect our own. No matter if my idiot brother gets things ironed out with you or not, you're a Steel now."
I was discharged the next day. Though I was still sore, I was able to move around okay, as long as I took things slow.
The twins turned out to be decent hosts. They set me up in Liam's bedroom with fresh linen and my bottles of medicine and vitamins laid out on the night stand. When I asked where Liam would sleep, feeling bad about putting him out of his bedroom, I got a cheeky wink and a "Don't you worry about that, sweetheart," as response. I figured it involved the pretty nurse he'd picked up while hanging around my hospital room and didn't ask any more questions.
Marcus showed up a few hours after the twins took me home. He let himself into the flat and sat down in an armchair close by the door-and proceeded to not speak a word to me nor the twins.
When I got up the next morning, he was still there, staring straight ahead into the turned-off flat screen TV that decorated most of the near wall. The twins' flat was a bachelor pad through and through.
"Just ignore him," Louis-at least, I thought it was Louis-yawned as he came around the corner from the hallway and saw me looking at his brother. "If he doesn't want to speak, it's best to just leave him alone."
I frowned in confusion and followed Louis-still wasn't completely sure, the twins were impossible to tell apart as far as I could see-to the kitchen.
"Why is he here?"
"Dunno," he shrugged. "Possibly thinks we can't look after a pregnant lady, or he's making sure you don't escape. Or he's just in the mood for company. He's my brother and I'd die for him, but he's nuts as fuck. To tell you the truth, back when he called Blaine and said you were at his place, we were all a bit concerned he'd done something to you. Eggs?"