I couldn’t get a clear shot. First the trees, and then Ari being too close to the target. Now that I saw her face, bruised and bloody, I cursed myself for not taking the risk.

“He killed Heath,” she croaked. “They’re going to kill Mrs. Thurman from across the street. You have to stop them.” Her wrecked voice matched her appearance. “Don’t let them hurt her!”

One of the crew peeled off and ran for the front of the house as Carlos gloated.

“You won’t take the shot, Hennessy. Too worried about harming the woman whose brother killed your father. Pathetic.”

Heath killed my father?

The information sliced into me but I didn’t let it show. Right now, all that mattered was getting Ari away from him and taking this motherfucker out.

The back door to the house burst open and shots rang out. A round punched into my shoulder but I ignored it and did the only thing that made sense. I dived at Carlos and Ari, knocking them to the ground before he could pull his weapon.

Bullets flew over our heads as Ari snapped into action, maneuvering her body and wrenching Carlos’s wrist back to get him in an arm-bar like she had the morning I saw her with Carver. I leaned up and landed a punch to his face.

“You don’t fucking hit a woman. Didn’t anyone teach you that, you piece of shit?” Blood spilled from my shoulder, and I hoped like fuck it blinded him.

“You’re going to die,” he said, his accent thickening.

“Wrong, asshole. That’s you.”

When I reached for the gun in my ankle holster, Carlos yelled, “Kill them!”

As I rolled back up, Ari’s entire body jerked and she lost her grip on Carlos. He shoved up to his knees and I didn’t hesitate. I pulled the trigger, putting a bullet right between his fucking eyes. His body fell sideways as I crawled toward Ari. Bullets still flew, but all I saw was the blood gushing from her neck.

“We need a fucking ambulance!” I roared the words as I yanked her shirt up to put pressure on the wound to slow the bleeding, but her eyes were closed.

Someone behind me unloaded on the last man standing, and the gunfire died away.

“Ari, wake up,” I pleaded. “Stay with me. I won’t fucking lose you now, goddammit!”

Rix skidded to a halt beside me. “Ambulance won’t be quick enough. We gotta get her there now.”

I ripped my shirt off and wrapped it around her neck before we lifted her and carried her to the SUV.

“Five minutes. She’ll be there in five minutes.” Rix met my eyes. “She’s gonna make it.”

---

It was the longest five minutes of my life, and then the longest two hours.

Rix, Valentina, and I sat there with Carver and the security guys, waiting for an update on Ari’s surgery.

“Any word?”

I jerked my head to the side, shaking off my stupor as Con Leahy sat down beside me.

“Where’d you come from?” I asked, shocked to see him here.

“Valentina called Vanessa. You got people who care. We’re here for you. Whatever you need.”

Ten minutes later, Lord walked into the waiting room and took a seat with a chin jerk. They waited with me for hours. Ari had never even met them, and I prayed she’d have the chance.

Our lives were a shattered mess of lies, death, and betrayal, but I didn’t care. Together, we could figure out how to pick up the pieces. Without her . . .

I didn’t even want to think about it.

Finally, a surgeon entered the waiting room and I stood. Rix got to his feet beside me and placed a hand on my shoulder. My heart stuck in my throat as I waited for the verdict.

“Ms. Sampson’s family?”

“Right here,” I said.

The surgeon nodded, and my entire body tensed until he said, “She’s going to be fine. She’s in recovery now.”

He continued with a long-winded explanation of what they’d done to repair the damage, but only one word stuck with me, echoing in my head. Fine. Fine. Fine.

“Can I see her?”

His gaze cut to me. “Give us a half hour to get her settled in and for her to hopefully wake up, and a nurse will bring you back.”

“Thank you.” My voice hoarse, I reached out to shake his hand. “Thank you for making sure she had a shot.”

“You stopped the bleeding and got her here. If you hadn’t acted so quickly, we might have lost her. Today is Ms. Sampson’s lucky day.” He released my hand and turned to walk out.

Her lucky day? The day her brother was murdered and her ex-boyfriend nearly killed her?

As soon as I decided the surgeon and I must have different definitions of the word luck, it hit me that Ari and I had survived it all and were getting our shot at picking up the pieces.

Together.