Page 40 of Unlocking Hope

Cole followed Bryson as he kicked down the door and shot the man who rounded the corner. His brother was in a hurry, and Cole wanted Zoey alive, so he didn’t care. Bryson gripped the panel to the room and ripped it off the wall. He reached his hand in and pulled out a couple of wires. Next, he grabbed the knife out of his pocket and cut the wires. Nothing happened. Then when he crossed them, the lock mechanism engaged and the door opened. Cole pushed his way into the room.

Zoey sat on the floor, clutching her arm, but it was the bomb strapped to her body that stopped him in his tracks. Ian ran pastand squatted down next to her. Nathan sat on the other side, his back resting against the couch. Cole didn’t know how he was still awake. Bryson growled.

“Get him to a hospital. I will stay with Zoey and Ian.” Cole nodded toward his brother.

Zoey looked up at him with tears in her eyes. It was enough to crush his heart. He sat down behind her and ran his hand over her shoulder. He was working on getting out of Ian’s way so he could work on the bomb.

“Everyone needs to leave. We only have ten minutes left,” Zoey said between sobs.

Nobody moved. “I’m not leaving,” Nathan said before passing out on the ground.

“Please, Cole, I don’t want you to die,” Zoey said, trying to move her arm out of Ian’s way.

Cole called Brock. “We got here. Ian’s trying to disarm the bomb, but we are going to need a couple ambulances.”

“They are half an hour out, but I was trying to tell you before you hung up. Your parents are on their way back to the house, and they have a woman and child with them.”

“ETA?”

“They’re pulling down the driveway now.”

Cole didn’t need to ask Bryson if he’d heard, because his brother’s jaw flexed. “Thank you for everything, Brock. We got this.” He ended the call.

“Not trying to put pressure on you, but how much longer, Ian?”

Ian raised his head and narrowed his eyes for a second before going back to the bomb. A minute later, Ian was taking the vest off Zoey. It was disarmed, but the fight wasn’t over.

Cole pulled Zoey into his arms and cradled her for a second, wiping the tears away from her face. “Here.” He pushed a guninto her free hand. “Stay with Nathan and shoot anyone who walks through that door.”

Zoey rested her head against his chest. “She has Nathan’s kid.”

Bryson growled. “Protect him for us, Zoey.”

She nodded, and Cole captured her lips. He tried to pour all of his emotion into the kiss before releasing and whispering, “I love you,” across her lips.

“Ian, stay with her please,” Cole said.

He nodded. “End this.”

“I love you, Cole,” Zoey said before he left the room.

Bryson and Cole exited the house as their parents pulled up. Two men got out of the back. One was holding a small girl no older than three, and the other was holding a woman.

“You didn’t think I would find out about the helicopter landing on my land?” Cindy Walker spit out. “I raised a bunch of idiots. Your precious brother couldn’t even hide his whore and her kid.”

The little girl was sobbing in the man’s arms, and she looked just like a Walker, but not Nathan. She was the spitting image of Bryson. He glanced over at his brother to see his jaw tic.

Bryson walked slowly down the steps, and Cole followed, watching every move his mother made. She was waving her hands everywhere, still holding the gun. When she finally noticed Bryson and Cole were getting close, she turned the gun on Bryson. “Stop.”

“What are you going to do? Shoot me, Mom?” Bryson asked as he took another step forward. “I don’t think you have it in you to be the one to pull the trigger.”

She smirked. “Try me. Take another step forward.”

He did, and his mother squeezed the trigger twice, shooting Bryson in the chest. The force of the bullet pushed himbackward, and he dropped to the ground. The woman in the bodyguard’s arms let out a blood-curdling scream.

Cole raised his gun and shot twice—once to the head and once to the heart. He turned his gun on the guards, and they dropped their hands from the woman and child and stepped away.

The woman grabbed her child and ran to Bryson. She dropped to her knees and clawed at his shirt. Over to the side, their father watched, not moving. The little girl was crying and sobbing as hard as her mom.

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