Divided (Unguarded #2) (28 page)

“Adriana.” Ali goes to stand but I hold her back. Her eyes round and sad. But as she winces and stays put I know she understands.

Adriana yells out, “It’s over Lucio. I’m not letting you hurt them. Not anymore.”

Lucio’s
mani
acal laugh sends a chill down my spine. Ali recoils into my arms at the sound of his voice. “Oh, my dear sister. You’ve got no idea. Do you?”

“You’re the only one leaving this church in a body bag, Marino,” Mason’s voice explodes through the church. He holds himself back, gritting his teeth.

Something on Adriana’s face changes. Her eyes drop to us. To Ali. The color drops. Her face turns ashen.

“You never planned on leaving here alive,” her voice comes out just above a whisper. It’s directed at Lucio, but the whole time she stares at Ali. Face contorted with agony.

“Correct, dear sister. Now get out of my way before I shoot you.”

He shoots again. Enzo grabs Adriana around the waist and narrowly misses Lucio’s death threat. They drop with a thud beside us.

Adriana lifts her head. Her pained expression tells me everything I don’t want to hear.

“You need to get her out of here. He doesn’t want to leave alive. But he won’t leave without taking her with him.”

A sob ribs from Ali, but it doesn’t overpower the sound of the bullets flying through the church. I squeeze her tight, close my eyes and kiss her hair. Giuseppe Marino stole my mother from me. Lucio Marino was not about to do the same with Ali.

I breathe in courage and fear. I breathe it all in and let it surge me forward. Standing I shoot, and a roar rips from me. I keep shooting but Lucio’s gaining on us. He runs up the aisle getting closer Cass, Trey, and the others. I break away from Ali. Her cries filter somewhere behind the anger ruling me. I have to kill him. I won’t let him take her. My feet pound the floor.

“No. Roamyn!” Ali yells.

It pierces my ears I turn back to her.

She runs.

She runs after me.

Lucio stops. He smiles. He aims.

My eyes widen. My heart stammers. My lungs constrict. The world stops spinning. Everything becomes slow. I hurl myself back at Ali.

A shot rings out.

We land on the floor in a heap. Our breathing is the only sound in my ear. Our breathing.
Our
breathing. She’s alive. She didn’t get shot. I lift myself up from Ali and touch every part of her.

She nods through heavy breaths. “I’m okay. I’m okay.”

I place a kiss on her stomach and spiral around to see who got shot. Lucio Marino lies in a growing pool of his own blood. It soaks beneath him from the bullet wound in his chest.
He’s dead.

He’ll never hurt Ali again.

He’ll never hurt anyone again.

Relief forces air into my lungs without a moment to prepare. It hurts. But it’s nothing compared to the five seconds in time where I might have lost Ali. My eyes drift from Lucio to the gun. The gun in Lindsey’s hands. Her arms are still up. Not shaky. Steady. There are no tears. No aftermath of emotion from killing a man. She stares down the gun at where Marino stood a second ago. Shock renders us all silent. Everyone stares between her and Lucio. Mason rubs her back and whispers something in her ear. She hands him the gun and peers behind him. Her shoulders fall with relief. She lifts her dress and runs over dropping to her knees and curls Ali into her arms. The flood gates open and Ali cries into her neck.

Lindsey soothes her. “It’s okay, sweetie. It’s over. It’s finally over.”

The moment—it tears my heart apart and everyone else’s in the room. There’s never any preparing for the moment when you witness two survivors find solace. We couldn’t begin to imagine what these two women had been through at the hand of monsters. We didn’t need to. Not now. Their relief was enough to twist our stomachs. It was sufficient to send our minds wandering to dark places with the kind of nightmares we’ve witnessed over the years in our job. Goosebumps scatter over my skin. After a life of terror, they’re finally free.

I give the girls time alone and wander over to Elias. We stand around the priest, somberness falling on our shoulders.

Elias murmurs, “He’s gone.”

Trey and Cassidy come up behind us along with Mason, who’s walking back from checking on Charlotte, Oliver and also his parents.

He stands with his hands on hips and tries to catch his breath. “Oliver and Charlotte are okay. I asked him to keep her outside. I don’t want her to see this.”

He glances to the priest.

I flick back to the girls. Then to Mason who—while he’s still in shock at it all—

He’s not surprised that his fiancé just made a perfect kill shot.

I point at Lindsey while looking at Mason, confusion in my tone. “Do I even wanna know how Lindsey knew how to make that shot?”

He smirks at her over my shoulder. “Nope.”

The sea of tears calm. The waves crash me with relief. Roamyn’s arms are tight around my neck, right where I need him to be. He’s my beacon of light in this hurricane I call life. My safety. My hope. My path to home.

Lucio is dead. It’s all over. The fear of waiting for him to appear dissipates. At least now, he can only haunt me in my sleep.

Mason interrupts us, phone in his hand. “I called it in.”

He turns to Adriana and Enzo, who are beside us. “I don’t know how the hell Lucio Marino knew we would be here. I also don’t know how you two knew he’d be here. But you’ve got three, maybe four minutes until the cavalry arrives.”

I let go of Roam and Adriana’s gaze catches mine. I walk over to her and she smiles. Her lips flatten and I follow her eyes to Enzo. The air carries our conversation. Understanding passes between us. She loves him. And she can’t come back. She’s in love with a killer. She’d become one herself the day she saved my life. They’re two wanted fugitives. I nod and hold back tears. And then I embrace my very first friend for the last time.

I could still see the blue and red lights flashing behind my eyes. Except now they aren’t police sirens, they are strobe lights illuminating the dance floor of the private area of a club we’re celebrating the last hour of Mason and Lindsey’s wedding. The day hadn’t gone to plan, but in our world it never does. The police had come and gone. Lucio’s body was taken away. Mason and Lindsey finally got to exchange their vows and become husband and wife. I’d spent a few hours in the hospital having myself and the baby checked over. We’re okay. And amongst the crazy, Enzo and Adriana got away unnoticed. As the night got darker and time got later Charlotte’s grandparents decided to take her home to Mason and Lindsey’s apartment. Now, it’s just us. Talking. Laughing. Just being. Living in one of the moments we’ll spend forever remembering. Because through the bad, the good and the downright crazy, we accept each other without judgment. We love each other, including our flaws. And we’ll always fight for one another, even if we fall. Our stories are still unfolding onto unwritten pages. I don’t know what the next chapter holds. But wherever life leads us, we’re in it together until the very end.

Mason and Lindsey sit tucked into one another on the opposite side of the booth. Mason whispers sweet nothings in Lindsey’s ear, she steals another quick kiss. Oliver and Elias yell out to them to get a room, and Trey and Cassidy egg them on. Trey’s arm is hanging loosely over Cass’s shoulder and it’s not yet been amputated because she’s too busy staring longingly at Mason and Lindsey. I relax back and Cass sidles up to me.

“Hey I have to tell you something,” she tries to whisper in my ear, but it’s more a yell over the music. She eyes Roamyn off beside us, but he’s not paying us any attention because he’s ordering us another round of drinks. Strictly apple juice for me. She leans in close just as Elias and Trey yell out to two long, leggy women passing by. They spin around and one’s eyes widen in shock and her hand lands on her chest.

Trey’s on his feet, pale as if he’s seen a ghost. “Layla?”

I try to concentrate on Cass but the tension thickens within the group almost straight away. Everyone’s flicking between Trey and the mystery woman. His face turns into a scowl.

Elias pipes up, breaking the awkward silence. “Trey, who’s this?”

His eyes find Cassidy’s, he winces before turning back around. “Guys, this is Layla,” he grits out. “My wife.”

I hear a gasp from beside me, everyone is quiet for a moment and Trey storms off with Layla. Everyone sits, not knowing what to say and I turn to Cass. “What were you going to say?”

Her face falls. “I slept with Trey in Vegas.”

My mouth widens and I slip an arm around her. “Oh, Cass.”

She stops me from comforting her and shakes her head. “It’s okay. I’m fine. I’m just going to slip outside for some fresh air.”

I nod. “Okay.”

Snuggling into Roamyn beside me, I worry for Cassidy. But the moment I sink into him and he sweeps an arm around me, everything calms. I sneak a glance up at him. He grins, dimples and all.

I swoon. I smile. Not a pretend one. Not a half one. Not a forced one. But a real one. Our lives are far from perfect. They’ll never be easy, but they’re raw and they’re real. And after a life of hidden truths and addiction, I can finally say, real feels fucking amazing.

Roamyn’s hazel eyes dip down and he curls a hand around the back of my neck. He pulls me in and seals our night with a tongue tangling, heart shuddering, reassuring kiss. The moment his lips disappear, I miss him. But he stays close, leaning his forehead into mine.

“Finally.”

I pull in a sharp breath. My heart soars.

“Finally,” I whisper back.

I’m flying high.

“You’re doing so well, Alison. Just a few more big pushes.”

Stretching. Tearing. Ripping. Motherfucking ripping in motherfucking places that should not be stretched. I’m being torn open from the inside out. Sweat drips from my sticky forehead. I blow out a big breath just as another contraction comes on. Pain grips me around back. My stomach tightens and I push. I roar. My throat scratches with the scream. I squeeze Roamyn’s hand probably hard enough to crack a few bones but he doesn’t complain. I squint through the contraction but I can still hear his calming words that are doing absolutely nothing.

“That’s it, baby. Shit, Ali. Her head’s there. Fuck. It’s a head. Ali. The baby’s coming.”

The contraction stops and I relax back into the hospital bed. Thankful for what will be a whole ten-second reprieve. I reopen my eyes to find the two nurses delivering my baby at my feet, and Roamyn, one hand tight in his hair while his eyes bulge almost out of his head as he focuses on what’s happening below.

My chest heaves. I try to catch my breath. “Roamyn. I think it’s safe to say that I know the baby’s coming.”

One of the nurses pipes up. “All right, Alison. Next push and we might be welcoming your baby into the world. Are you ready?”

I don’t get to answer her before my body tightens up. The pain comes on stronger. I push. I push harder. Longer and I don’t give up. And just when I think I can’t hear anything through my own scream, the sound of my baby’s cry breaks through.

The truth is I thought I wasn’t ready. Not a day goes by where I don’t struggle. Whether it’s self-worth, the thought of failure or relapsing, but I chose recovery. And every day I have to keep choosing it, again and again. Turns out, all I had to do was fall into the eyes of the baby boy I’d just given birth to and realize it doesn’t matter if I’m ready or not. Phoenix Tate brought a strength out in me I never knew I had. A strength I’ll use to fight for this life until my very last breath.

I’ll fight for him.

I’ll fight for Roamyn.

I’ll fight for
me.

COMING SOON

Undefined (Unguarded Series #3)

Trey & Cassidy’s Story

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