Page 13 of Unmasked

No response.

“Shit!” one of the men growls.

“Shut up and make sure the back is locked!”

The other man rushes toward the door of the truck, but before he can reach it, it slides open and I see Ethan standing there, a gun in his hand.

My heart almost explodes.

“Close your eyes, Bailey!”

His voice rings out and I obey immediately. My eyes snap shut just as the gunshots ring out all around me. I scream into my gag as the smell of gunpowder fills my nose. My body betrays me, beginning to shake and quiver like I’m suffering from hypothermia.

The gunfire stops and I don’t know if it’s silent or if I’m simply temporarily deaf, but I just can’t open my eyes.

Ethan…

What if they got him?

What if he’s gone?

The truck shakes. Someone’s moving. Even though I can’t hear them, I can feel the footsteps coming over to me. They stop in front of me, and I suffer through the longest pause of my life. It’s like the entire world is balanced on a razor’s edge, and whatever happens next will decide my fate forever.

If Gina wasn’t tied up next to me I’d be furious at her.

But then again, if not for her, I never would have reunited with Ethan. But what good is being reunited if we’re simply going to be torn apart again?

I feel hands on my shoulde

rs. Someone says something, but I can’t hear. My ears are ringing, and I’m in a daze.

Do I open my eyes?

I can’t. If I see Ethan lying there in the dirt…

But then I feel the delicate touch, and as the scent of gunpowder fades, I smell it.

The scent of pine. The scent of him.

Ethan…

Heart blooming, I open my eyes.

Epilogue

Ethan

Four years later…

“Amazing, isn’t it? Hard to believe that this was where so many terrible things took place.”

I pull my wife to my side as we stare together at our new home. It’s not small by any means, but compared to the estate that was once in its place, it’s modest.

“Replace the bad with the good.” Bailey smiles.

“Aint’ that the truth.”

Our new home stands on the site of my family’s old estate. I had it torn down and crushed into rubble, just like their old empire.

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