Page 61 of Lacey's Fight

The halls were quiet as they made their way to Amelia’s room. News of the attack mustn’t have reached her yet.

At least that was what Lacey thought until they reached the corridor that led to Amelia’s room.

A corridor that was currently filled with at least a dozen armed men.

And all they had to work with were a couple of measly knives.

Knives were fine for one-on-one combat, even for taking down an opponent at a distance if thrown correctly with enough strength and accuracy. But they weren’t going to do them much good against a dozen men with AK-47s.

Knowing Ben trusted her enough to follow her lead, she tucked the knife into the waistband of her jeans at the small of her back and took Ben’s hand.

Walking around the corner as though she had every right to be there, she ignored the weapons that spun in her direction. “I thought this was a reputable enterprise,” she snapped as she stalked toward Amelia’s room.

The guards moved to block her and Ben but didn’t shoot them. “You can’t come down here, ma’am.”

“You think I’m stupid? I know what’s going on, we saw armed men out our window. You’re under attack and if you think my husband and I are waiting around to be arrested you are crazy. Where is Amelia?”

“She’s in the safe room,” a guard answered.

Lacey scoffed. “Of course she is. First, I get tased and abducted, tied up and assaulted, and now she leaves her customers to take the fall for her. Uh, uh. Not going to happen. We want in on the safe room or we’re telling whoever is raiding your place everything.”

“We could just shoot you here and now,” a guard challenged.

She shrugged. “You could. But I don’t think you will. If Amelia manages not to get caught, how do you think she’s going to rebuild her business after this? Simple. She won’t. She’ll be an outcast, maybe even a liability to be taken out. But my husband and I would be willing to tell everyone how she kept us safe and did everything she could to hold off the raid.”

Glances were exchanged and she knew the second her spiel had worked.

With a quick nod, the guard ushered her and Ben into Amelia’s room and over to a panel on the wall that he touched. It swung open to reveal a reinforced door with a keypad. A moment later that swung open too.

“What are you doing?” Amelia growled.

“They want in. Made a compelling case,” the guard replied.

Amelia huffed, but made no objection as she and Ben stepped into the safe room and it was closed behind them.

“Great business you’re running here,” Lacey snapped as Ben moved so that Amelia was between them.

“I’ve never had anything like this happen before.” The woman looked flustered to the point of almost being in tears. “I don’t know what went wrong this time.”

Lacey grinned. “I do.”

“Down on the ground, Amelia, hands behind your back,” Ben ordered.

Amelia’s eyes grew round, then narrowed in anger as she realized she had been played by them and they were the ones responsible.

If looks could kill both she and Ben would be dead.

But then Amelia did the unexpected.

As the woman pulled out a weapon, Lacey was already moving. Ignoring the pain in her back she reached for her weapon and dodged sideways as Amelia fired at her, missing the bullet by mere millimeters.

The sound was loud in the small room and her ears rang.

When Amelia turned to fire at Ben Lacey threw her knife.

While she didn’t have the same love of knives that Pearl did, she knew how to hit what she aimed at and her blade sunk into Amelia’s neck, severing her carotid artery. A fatal injury.

Grinning, she turned her gaze to Ben, but the smile died on her face when she saw him and the blood staining the front of his shirt.

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