Page 171 of Bad Bishop
I never missed.
But I needed to missnow.
The tiny figure ducked behind the broken window of the piece of junk car, the sound of my shot ricocheting through the air, the scent of sulfur in my nose, on my tongue.
The entire world hung, suspended on a string, and I knew I wouldn’t give myself time to mourn the loss of my wife if I killed her. I’d kill myself on impact.
I shot so fast in her direction I nearly outran the bullet, my heart in my fucking throat.
Lila.
Lila.
Lila.
My wife sidestepped the rusty car, and I saw she was unscathed. All the air left my lungs. My knees buckled. I fell down on all fours, fucking heaving from terror.
She could’ve died.
I could’vekilledher.
A few seconds later, I felt her dainty fingers on my shoulders. She kneeled down in front of me, gathering me into her arms. I pushed her away, standing up swiftly, livid.
“What in the ever-lovingfuck?” My roar reverberated through the air. Snatching her shoulders, I shook her roughly. “What are you doing here? How did you get here?”
I was losing my shit, mind, and control. The thought that someone could’ve hurt her, thatIcould’ve been that someone…
Her big blue eyes clung to my face wildly. My grip on her tightened, becoming more punishing.
“I’m going to disembowel every gobshite who’s been assigned to watch you.”
“I threatened one of your soldiers at gunpoint.”
Of course she did.
Falling in love with a normal girl was too big an ask.
I had to go for the deranged Camorra principessa who looked like an angel and recreationally licked blood and shot people.
“I told you to never go anywhere where you’re unsafe.”
She pushed up to her feet, patting down her dusty knees.
“You could’ve died!”
“It was a chance I was willing to take. You dying wasn’t.”
“Well, as it happens, you dying is a chance I wasn’t willing to take.” Her expression was thunderous. “By the way, this is a very weird way to say thank you for saving your life.”
What Lila didn’t understand was that I’d choose to be mutilated to death and resurrected twice a day until the planet exploded before seeing her endure a minor paper cut. Did she save my life? No. I saw the dipshit on the roof and had my gun aimed at him. I’d been hoping to extract information from him before killing him.
That wasn’t the point, though.
The point was that she cared.
Cared enough to risk her life.
Cared enough to go to the trouble.
