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32 Nathan

I felt the bullet plow into my skin. I felt the first fiery pain cut into my flesh. And then I shut it down.

No bullet was going to stop me handing this bastard his ass.

I stumbled backward when he plowed into my middle, jamming his fingers in the bullet hole. I bit back a cry and knocked away his hands as I slammed into the wall. He took off through the office door and I pushed up and went after him.

I heard Honor calling my name, but I kept running.

I wanted this guy out of our lives.

Seeing blood rush out of her leg like that almost sent me over the edge. Like a time machine, it transported me back… back to that night when men I loved died. When I was forced to shoot and kill to protect myself. I tried to protect Prior that night.

I failed.

I wasn’t going to fail again.

I rushed over the glass, feeling it cut into the bare soles of my feet, but I kept running. It was dark out in the yard, but my eyes adjusted quickly and I saw Lex leaping over the fence, and I leveled my gun at him and shot off a couple rounds.

Weapons were my job. I didn’t miss my target.

He let out a stark cry and toppled off the fence and hit the ground with a hard thud. With my weapon still drawn, I made my way over to his side, where he was squirming around like a damned pansy.

I kicked him.

I never said I was a nice guy.

He coughed and wheezed; blood spurted out of his mouth and spotted his chin.

There was something about that chin that didn’t seem right…

I kicked the gun out of his hands, and he reached for it, but I stepped on his fingers and bent down. He was still writhing. My bullet hit him in the chest, and I could tell from the sound of his breathing that his lungs were filling with blood.

I should have felt some remorse.

I didn’t.

I would likely be haunted with more nightmares, more sleepless nights, but in that moment, I didn’t care. I didn’t feel a thing. The bullet in my side didn’t register. The glass in my feet didn’t hurt. I didn’t think about the cuts on my arms as I reached down and yanked away the hat pulled low over his face.

It wasn’t Lex. It was someone I’d never seen before.

I stared down at the man, who began to laugh.

“Sucker,” he wheezed.

I slammed the butt of the pistol into his temple and cut off his laugh. My heart hammered as I spun around, fear and worry for Honor filling my veins with ice.

I listened through the darkness for the sound of the Jeep’s engine. For proof that she listened and made it to the car.

There was no sound of a rumbling engine.

There was no sound at all.

The night was unnaturally quiet.

“Honor!” I roared, increasing my speed and pressing a hand to the wound in my side. Fuck, bullet wounds hurt.

From somewhere in the house, I heard the sound of Lucy’s bark.

And then a gun went off.