Page 26 of Ice Cold Christmas
He growled again. Then commanded, “Stay the fuck here.”
Why? Where was he going? And shouldn’t they both stay hidden from the shooter? “Victor!”
But instead of listening to her tell him that she thought the man may have a seriously flawed plan developing, he grabbed the gun she’d dropped and then he ran out of the study. Melody could hear voices rising and falling from other parts of the house. For a moment, she couldn’t move at all.
Her heart raced. Her breath heaved out. And his blood was on her.
He’d been shot.
He’d thrown his body on her. Protected her. And now he was—what? Going to hunt the shooter?
An alarm was beeping somewhere. Maybe it had been beeping the whole time, perhaps since the first window had shattered, and she’d just become aware of the steady buzz because her thundering heart no longer echoed in her ears?
Melody didn’t rise to her feet. She was too afraid that the shooter might fire again if she presented a big target in front of the broken windows.
But Victor hadn’t been afraid. He’d taken the gun. And he’d gone outside. Alone.
I can’t let him face the threat alone.
Staying low, she crawled for the study’s open door. Footsteps thundered on the stairs.
“What is happening?” Dario demanded. “Why the hell is the front door wide open?”
She’d finally made it out of the study. Melody rose, and she ran for the house’s front door.
Dario jumped off the stairs and into her path. “What is happening?”
Breath still shuddering, she told him, “Someone just shot Victor.”
Fury twisted and heaved inside of him. Victor barely felt the sting in his arm. The bullet had grazed him. The sonofabitch hadn’t been aiming for Victor. His instincts told him that truth. The shot had been meant for Melody. But she’d stepped back. He’d reached out for her.
And the prick had shot him.
The snow swirled around Victor. Not as thick as it had been. It still fell, but in a lighter stream for the moment. He could see footsteps in the snow. The SOB had been feet away from the study’s windows. Victor had been so locked and loaded on Melody that he hadn’t even realized someone was outside. He’d never even looked toward the windows.
Can’t be so careless. Have to always be on guard. She needs me.
His toes were fucking freezing already. His chest icy. But then again, he only wore pants. No shirt. No shoes. He gripped the gun in his hand, and he tried to follow the damn steps that the shooter had left in the snow. But with every step he took…
The snow decided it wanted to fall harder. Faster. The light stream suddenly changed on him. Wind blew and gusted, and he held the gun tighter as he surged forward. The sonofabitch was out there.
But the storm had picked up again. The footsteps were getting harder and harder to see.
His body shuddered as he fought the cold.
Dammit.
“Victor!” A scream. Her scream.
And he stopped chasing the footsteps that were already fading. In his rage, he’d left her in the house. Unprotected. He couldn’t trust anyone else there with Melody’s safety. Not even her father.
No one else.
He swung around. Lumbered through the snow, and there she was. Her faded, wool coat flapping behind her as she ran toward him. “Victor!”
She shouldn’t be out there. Dammit, she didn’t have on any shoes, either. His shirt. Her coat. Nothing else. The snow swirled around her as she struggled toward him. Light from the house poured down on her. The illumination made her a perfect target.
The shooter was still somewhere out there. In the snow. In the darkness. Armed. Waiting. “Go back!” Victor bellowed at Melody.
