Sweet Seduction Shield(108)

I sank to my knees in the sand, salt from the sea mixed with salt from my tears on my trembling lips. Daisy appeared in my blurred vision, I automatically reached out with the blanket and wrapped her up, cuddling her to my chest. I rocked back and forth, holding my baby girl in my arms, thankful for her return, but dying a little inside at the cost.

This could not be happening. Not again. And this time, I was sure, I would not survive the loss. I loved Ryan, more than I'd loved any man in my life before. More than Rick. Rick's murder had damn near broken me. Ryan's sacrifice already had.

How would we survive this? How would we go on in a world where he didn't exist? He was my shield. He was the one person who kept me steady, gave me a rudder to sail straight through the storms. I couldn't do this without him. I just couldn't. No. This was a million times worse than that night. This was the end of my world.

"Marie, babe," Ryan said, making me blink my eyes and strain to see him. He was kneeling beside Andrews. I must have missed several seconds, because blood trickled down the side of his head, onto a pale white cheek. He was panting slightly, gritting his teeth as though in pain. Andrews had clocked him on the head, no doubt with the butt of the gun sitting in his hand. In the other hand the bastard held the ledger.

My hope and my salvation in the grip of this vile, evil man.

"Get in the car and drive away," Ryan said.

I shook my head.

"You can do it, Tiger," he encouraged. "For Daisy."

I sucked in a breath, held onto my daughter tighter, and found myself nodding my head.

"That's my brave girl," Ryan murmured.

"Ah, this is sweet," Andrews interrupted. "But you've got it all wrong."

My chin jerked up as a chill swept down my spine.

"Get behind me, Daisy," I whispered urgently, straightening my spine, holding the gaze of the devil before me.

I'd faced off against the devil before. That time he'd been in the body of Roan McLaren. This man here was no better or no worse. I stood to my feet, sheltering my daughter.

"When I say run, you run," I said under my breath. "And you don't look back. Understand, Daisy-girl."

"Wokay," came the shaky reply.

My eyes flicked to Ryan's, pride and love stared back at me.

"First the man you love," Andrews said, turning his gun on Ryan, muzzle to the back of his head. "Then your daughter. Then maybe you."

"Bastard," Ryan spat, receiving a whack on his head with the gun instead of a bullet. I cried out, Daisy started running, and a gunshot sounded out on the air.

Blood. So much blood. I'd seen blood spray like this before. I'd seen the world slow down to just a single heartbeat. Droplets of crimson suspended in the air. In amongst them... globules of redish-yellow, sharp shards of white coated in red.

Blood, brain and skull fragments spread out in a mesmerizing arc, but they didn't land on my chest, slip down the neck of my blouse. They didn't belong to my dead husband, like they had all those years ago.

And they didn't belong to the man who held my heart.

My shield. My rudder in the storm.

Ryan staggered to his feet, as Andrews flew backwards through the air, following the trajectory of the bullet that had just connected with his forehead. His gun arm swung wide, the pistol flying off towards the sea and landing with a soft whumpf! As his larger body shuddered the ground beneath it when it finally came to rest in the sand.

Ryan glanced at me, then glanced over my shoulder.

"Fuck me," he whispered, as I swung around to see.

Standing there, pale as Ryan had been, was Detective Harvey Stone holding a smoking gun in his right hand. He let it go, I watched as it tumbled to the ground, and then he sank to his knees and started crying. Big heaving, silent sobs from deep inside his chest.

"Hey," Ryan murmured. "It's OK, my man."

"I'm sorry," Harvey cried, the sobs somehow coming harder.

"I know," Ryan whispered. "I know."

His beautiful brown eyes lifted to look at me. There was no long conversation hidden in their melted depths. No back and forth to be had in just one look.

It was simple.

I loved him and he loved me. And we were free.

And there were no sweeter words unsaid in anyone's eyes ever before.