Page 135 of Kneeling to Candy

Someone roars my name behind us, penetrating through the howl of the wind. “CANDY!”

Hope floods my system hearing that guttural, hard, raspy voice I find comfort in. Butch has come for me.

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

BUTCH

Sprinting like my life depends on it, I follow the red dot on my phone marking Candy’s location. When I hear the sounds of a woman screaming curses and what sounds like Punk shouting, I pocket my cell and run towards their voices.

“Hold on, Candy! I’m coming!”

Definitely Punk’s tenor voice. It makes my stomach plummet to my feet. If he’s telling my goddess to “Hold on,” it means she’s in trouble.

Following the troubled voices of my family members, I dodge the other bidders with their security details rushing for the exits. The heavy gunfire and wails of pain make it hard to hear Candy and Punk over the noise. There’s only two ways out on the main level—the front exit where I see Atlas, Gauge, and a group of Piero’s men gunning down all who try to flee, and the back exit.

A female cry of pain has me turning on my heels for the back exit. I know my woman’s voice from all others.

My arms pump, keeping pace with my sprinting feet pounding against the hard marble beneath me. My shoulder screams in protest at how much I work it. I don’t care. I would rather live in pain than have my goddess in danger.

Fighting my way through the crowd to the back of the estate, I witness multiple things happening at once. Chase has Jolie tucked behind him as he guns down anyone trying to escape down the hallway to the back exit. Punk is dodging bullets behind a pillar. And I glimpse public enemy number one jumping through a broken window, with Candy slung over the shoulder.

Seeing my woman in danger cuts me the fuck up worse than any knife could.

“CANDY!”

Charging head-on into danger, I don’t notice the armed guard until he raises his gun and shoots me square in the chest. The bullet impact has me staggering back, falling to the ground. An animalist roar rips from my chest, a mixture of pain, terror, and rage.

Lying on my side, I raise my gun with my good arm to take out the fucker who failed to do the same to me.

Shots fire behind me before my finger has time to pull the trigger. The guard who shot me, his head knocks back where a bullet hit him in the center of his forehead. He goes down like a brick wall, never to move again.

I whip my head around to the shooter. Ziggy still has the gun up, smoke billowing from the barrel.

The team rushes toward me. Punk is first at my side, flipping me on my back. He tears at my suit and dress shirt, ripping them open to see what damage the bullet has done to me. Ziggy hovers over me, asking if I’m okay while Chase stands lookout for any other threats.

“I’m fine,” I grit, rolling to my side before getting on my knees. “The vest stopped it.”

I’m safe. My woman is not.

Staggering to my feet, I ignore the pain in my chest. I’ll deal with it later, when Candy is safely back in my arms.

My brothers help to steady me on my feet. I’m about to tell them to let me go when Punk lets go of me quickly.

“No fucking way.” Punk swings his gun up, aiming at someone behind me and Ziggy.

We whip our heads in the direction he’s aiming, seeing a man in a fine suit running for his life toward the back exit with his entourage of guards. He shields his face with his suit coat over his head, hiding most of his features from our view.

But by Punk’s response, he got a good look at him and knows exactly who he is.

“Go, Punk,” Chase tells his best friend, keeping Jolie right at his back. “Whoever the fucker is, finish him. I can handle the back exit by myself.”

Punk gives us one parting look before racing off in the direction the man in question ran.

“Come on,” I order my partner to follow me.

Racing to the broken window, the one O’Conall jumped out with my woman, I hop over the windowsill onto the hard snow below. Ziggy lands beside me, gun at the ready.

My eyes take a moment to adjust to the darkness outside. The light from the estate window gives me enough visual to spot Candy and O’Conall.

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