Page 41 of Midnight Salvation

“See you later, Harold. Good luck with all the carving.” A lot of those details would need to be done by hand, but after viewing how the last round was scored, the judges loved that sort of craftsmanship.

“I’ll get your designs sorted in the morning and text you when they’re ready.” Harold hadn’t once let me down and had saved me several times with deadlines. He waved absently as he continued to fiddle with the original sketch on the computer.

It was late afternoon when we emerged, the air cool after being inside for so long under the hot lights he used to show off his creations. I turned to talk to Catarina when the first shot rang out. Francis dived forward to push both of us to the ground.

More shots echoed around us and all my muscles froze. Catarina gripped me and her scream nearly deafened me. I closed my eyes as pain erupted in my shoulder. I must have twisted it when I fell down.

Francis slowly stood up, his weapon drawn. I stared across the street at four men dressed in black standing over the still form of another man. One of the men approached me and held his hand out. His dark brown gaze travelled over me before his jaw tightened. He put his finger to his ear.

“Asset injured and we are en route to a med unit immediately,” the man said and Francis turned toward Catarina and me, his eyes filled with horror. “Roger that. Suspect has been neutralised.”

A black Range Rover sped up the street and stopped beside us.

“Lucy,” Catarina said in a low, scared voice. Her gaze was fixed on my shoulder and I finally followed it.

A pool of red was spreading across my cream silk blouse. Burning nausea crept up the back of my throat and the world started to spin around me.

“Hold on, Lucrezia,” Francis said, grasping me by the waist and helping me into the back of the car. “Catarina and I are right behind you.”

The guy in charge nodded once, got into the car beside me, and we sped off. He lifted his phone and started talking into it.

“Boss, she’s been shot and we’re heading to the hospital. Looks like a flesh wound on her shoulder.” He held his phone out to me. “He wants to speak to you.”

“Hello?”

“Angel, I’ll be right there. Don’t worry, Karl is one of my best men.” A tear escaped at the sound of his voice.

“No. You said we needed to stay away from each other until this is over.” I swiped the errant tear away. “If this is a test, then you need to be completely unconcerned.”

“I don’t give a fuck—”

“Well, I do. I messed up the last time and Poppy paid the price. Please, Ash, I’ll phone you when I get patched up.”

His growl sent shivers down my spine. It promised a world of pain to whoever Ash got his hands on. “I hate this life,” he said in a low tone meant only for me to hear.

“I know, but we made a plan and we need to stick to it.”

“Don’t leave Karl’s side,” he said in a low rumble. “I’ll sort this out and see you later.”

“Ash—”

“No arguments, Angel. I’ll play my part, but there is no fucking way you’ll go to sleep anywhere but my arms tonight.”

I sniffed even though I was trying to be strong against the pain.

“I’ll phone Lucas now. He’ll be with you shortly. Love you, stay strong.” He hung up before I could reply.

I handed Karl his phone and he pressed a pad to my shoulder.

“Two minutes out,” the driver called out.

I bit the inside of my mouth against the pain. A few inches to the right and I would have been dead.

***

Chapter Thirteen

Ash

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