Obsession (A Bad Boy's Secret Baby)(95)

She buried her face into my chest and struggled to take in air. “I missed you so much. I didn't think I'd see you again, not after everything. How is this happening?”

The uncaring chaos of reality set in abruptly. In the distance, past Flora and the doorway I'd smashed through, more of Tully's guys stormed in after us.

I grabbed Flora and spun us both out of the doorway, right as a hail of incoming gunfire whistled by. Our backs against the wall, I ran a hand over her cheek. I just wanted to keep touching her. “What do you say we get out of here?”

Flora still couldn't find any words, so she just smiled and nodded.

“It's Claudine, right?” I called to the woman who was trapped on the other side of the doorway. She nodded.

Dulled, emaciated, hauntingly pale... It was amazing how hard of a toll the drugs had taken on her. She only faintly resembled the picture that Flora carried around.

“On the count of three I want you to run over here, okay?”

Again, Claudine nodded.

I held up one finger, then two. On three I dropped to the floor, leaning into the doorway to lay down cover fire as Claudine quickly shuffled across the opening to the other side.

I didn't think I hit anyone, at least not enough to stop them from coming after us, but I did buy us a few seconds. “Bus is leaving, ladies. Follow me.”

“Wait!” Flora grabbed my arm, stopping me. “I can't leave the other girls. We have to get them out, too.”

I regarded her with amazement. In the face of a life-threatening situation, Flora still managed to muster up a staggering amount of selflessness. She never ceased to impress me.

Renewed sounds of the fighting and gunfire came from the room that held Tully's men. Using the black mirror face of my phone, I peered into the room.

Tully's guys were down, the men who'd done it were already leaving the way they'd come in. They all wore the same patch—two downward crossed fists with black wings behind them—and it brought a smile to my face.

The Steel Veins had finally made it inside.

We were winning.

My smile broadened when I turned to face Flora again. Finally, some good news. “Don't worry about them, Saint Flora. Those girls are in good hands.”

“How can you be so sure?” It wasn't Flora, but Claudine who'd asked.

“That was the Steel Veins just then.” I cocked my head towards the room. “Pres said he wouldn't drag our sorry asses out of here until the girls were safe.”

“You came inside alone?” Flora asked. “You could've been killed!”

I popped out the magazine to check that I still had ammo. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. “And let you party with the Knights alone?” I slid the clip back in and smiled at Flora.

I watched as the worry set in, she'd just remembered something. “The other women, the locals!”

“I locked them in that room. The Veins will get them out when the fighting's over. They'll be fine.”

She slumped, a relief that hadn't been allowed to breathe finally spreading wide. “Okay, thank goodness.”

I took her hand and began leading her away. The time for thanks would have to wait.

We weren't out of the woods yet.

Bodies littered almost every room. There was seemingly indiscriminate carnage everywhere. The muted slapping of our combined foot falls through the lush, blood-soaked carpets, would follow each of us in our moments of reflection for years to come.

Every direction I took us in was blocked by brutality. I was pissed at myself for having such a singular focus that I didn't look for any alternate routes out of here while searching for Flora. “Anyone know of an exit that won't get us killed?”

“I might,” Claudine said. “There's a servant’s entrance that rarely gets used. Maybe we can get out that way.”

Nodding, I let her guide us. A few turns later we passed what was left of the mansion's main entrance. It wasn't much, but at least the fire was put out completely. The whole area was destroyed. It looked like it was struck by a bomb, then drowned by the rain.

“That's really there, right?” Claudine's hand drifted up to point at the massive dump truck that laid on its side, slowly oozing smoke.

“That explains the explosion we heard earlier,” Flora said, turning to me in renewed awe. “That was you, wasn't it?”

“I do love to make an entrance.” If the situation wasn't so damned dire, I'd have reveled in the satisfaction of driving a construction vehicle through a posh mansion.

Claudine led us through a game room, then around a kitchen and down another hallway. She was right, each step brought us further away from the fighting. The decor had gradually become more and more plain. Gold trim, marble sculptures and elaborate wooden and metal fixtures became nonexistent.