Page 79 of Hart of Redemption
Rosario was mumbling, but I couldn’t comprehend anything she was saying.
I thought back, trying to pinpoint signs I should’ve noticed, but there were none. Joy and I had met at the cemetery. Had she followed me there? No, I had no tail that day. I shouldn’t berate myself. Brian had been none the wiser with an undercover in his ranks for more than a year, but I wasn’t Brian. I usually pegged a Fed a mile away.
Yeah, a male undercover agent. Not a beautiful female.
The pulse in my ears grew louder, catapulting me out of my haze.
Joy could pop both Mateo and me, one after the other. Rosario didn’t seem to care as she blocked her daughter, her hands shoved in her coat pockets where her weapon was stored.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Rosario shot Mateo before Joy could.
Joy set those ball-squeezing hazel eyes on me for the briefest of moments. “Lower your weapon, Duke. You don’t want to kill a federal agent.”
Then everything clicked—or maybe it didn’t. She wanted me then didn’t. That day in the penthouse bathroom, she’d said, “Once we walk out of here, we can’t kiss like that again or do anything else, for that matter.” She’d tried to keep her distance, push me away. But like me, she’d failed.
This wasn’t the time to analyze shit, and I hadn’t come here to kill anyone, least of all her.
“I’m putting my gun down. Mateo, I suggest you do as well.”
I quickly checked on Rosario, who was watching things unfold while Alexa was shaking beside her mom.
Once my 9mm was on the floor, I raised my hands, studying Joy then Mateo.
He lowered his arm, fixating on Joy.
“That’s it,” she said to him. “Put the gun on the floor.”
That arrogant look he sent Joy’s way sent chills down my spine. He wasn’t about to give up so easily.
My reflexes kicked in as Mateo raised the gun, and I threw myself between him and Joy.
Gunshots rang out through the room.
One bullet hit my chest, the other my arm.
Alexa screamed.
Suddenly, I was falling as a burning pain careened through my body. I landed hard on my left shoulder, hearing a bone snap before my head bounced once off the concrete floor.
My vision began to blur as I thought of Grace. Where was my sister? She was all I could think of besides Ted’s words about how Grace would feel if I landed in a morgue.
Then another gunshot blasted in the room.
I managed to stand, swaying in the process as blood seeped through my T-shirt, my left arm immovable.
Mateo was on the floor with blood pooling around him.
“Grace,” I whispered, staggering to the door. “I have to find Grace.”
Joy was calling my name, but she sounded far away.
I pulled open the door with my good arm, but it felt like the damn thing weighed a ton. I opened it just the same. “Grace!” I shouted.
I could barely hear what the grunts at the door were saying.
The cacophony of sirens and tires crunching over the gravel sounded distant yet loud.
I squinted as if the fog was the sun shining in my eyes. “Grace,” I shouted again.
