Page 263 of Like Grim Death: Part One
Atlas turns then, stepping in front of Cain, his back to Ella. He lifts his gun, aiming at Ophelia’s head, his arm muscles flexed beneath his pink T-shirt.
Mikhail laughs. “Would you like to tell Maverick about your secret rendezvous with Ella Christian, Atlas? Would you like to confess why you defend her now?”
I think of Sevryn even as I stare at the back of Atlas’s head.
Hurry the fuck up.
“No? Pity.” Mikhail sighs. “I have things to do. Ella,get the fuck up.”
I glance down at my girl.
She doesn’t move.
She isn’t conscious.
I tighten my fingers around the gun and turn to face Mikhail once more.
Lucifer is looking at him too. At his son.
“She can’t get up,” I whisper, hating the way the words are weak. I swallow the knot in my throat. “She isn’t a threat to you. She isn’t—”
Mikhail tightens his fingers around Rain’s throat.
Rain makes a little cooing sound, his eyes widening, as if he is perturbed by the events going on around him.
Sid doesn’t breathe, but she is still shaking, tremoring all over.
“Thendrag her to me,orI will break his fucking neck.”
“Maverick.” Lucifer hisses my name.
I fucking hate you.
Sevryn comes closer, but he’s still several feet away, and there’s only one of him and two guards to eliminate before he can get to Rain.
“Now, or I’ll shoot her.” It’s Ophelia’s shaky voice. She has something on the line, more than a vendetta, but I don’t know what it is.I’m going to kill you, bitch.
“Mayhem.”Sid’s strained voice.
She is staring at her son.
She turns to look at me, her gray eyes wide. Imploring. I could count the lashes on her lids, the way she’s so close to me.“Please.”It’s barely a word at all. “We’ll get her back. I promise.”
Mikhail squeezes tighter.
Rain’s brow furrows, his skin turning from pale olive to pink. He starts to jerk his fists, kicking his feet in the sleep sack, like he’s going to start crying.
“Goddammit, Maverick,now!” Lucifer explodes, whirling on me.
But before I can move, before I canthink,someone shifts behind me.
I turn to see Cain with Ella in his arms, like she’s a child. He cradles her to his chest. His dark eyes lock on mine. I take a step toward him, brandishing the gun, but he shakes his head once.
“Mav,” he whispers, like he’s trying to say so much more in that one word.Maverick, we’ll get her back. She will live. I promise. I’ll help you.
But he doesn’t say that, and I need to hear it. I can’t let him step by me with my girl limp in his arms. I can’t.
I can’t.
