Not today. Not fucking today.
Lifting the barrel, I squeeze off another round of shots, keeping the edge of the road above us clear.
We have the low ground.
We have limited ammo.
We have fewer people.
We have—
I turn my head back to Valentine to tell her we’re going to sprint the thirty-foot distance, hoping that the other end of the culvert is sealed off from the explosion. But it’s not Valentine I see. It’s the man rounding the back of the vehicle behind us.
My arm darts around her, and I spin us.
Val’s eyes widen up at me, but she’s out of the way.
And it’s my body that takes the bullet.
I feel it rip through my back. Feel what has to be my rib cracking as it comes to a stop against my bone. At the exact height of Val.
This motherfucker just tried to take my wife out with a head shot.
I push Val to the ground and spin again, unleashing on the man who shot me.
Another bullet hits me. Somewhere in the chest. I feel the instant effect it has on my strength. And it hurts.
But not as much as it should.
I keep the trigger depressed until my clip clicks empty and the man’s chest is nothing but mist.
I stagger.
I’m standing too high.
I try to crouch back down, lowering my head out of view from the road. But my muscles don’t respond correctly, and my body collapses. First down to my knees, then down onto my hip.
There’s a scream.
Val?
I try to turn to see her but just end up slumped, sitting against the roof of the vehicle at my back.
“No, no, no, no.” Val is in front of me.
She’s crying.
I need to focus.
She’s trying to press her hands against me, trying to stop the bleeding.
I grab her wrists. “Valentine.” My voice is fucked up, sounds off, but I keep going. “Look at me.”
Her eyes are so pretty.
So damn full of life.
“Angel. You need to live.”
She shakes her head. “You can’t give up.”
I hold her hands against the center of my chest.
My vision is starting to blur.
This isn’t good.
“I’m sorry.”
Val lets out a sob. “You never apologize.”
She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
A coldness starts to creep up my spine, the burning bullet wound in my back going numb.
I knew my time would come.
But not this soon.
I didn’t want it to be this soon.
“I’m sorry, Angel. Not for taking you. Never for that.” My blink is slow. “For leaving you.”
She’s against me now. On my lap. Getting as close as she can. “You can’t leave me! You promised!”
“I know, Mama.” My eyes start to close. I don’t want them to. But I can’t hold them open anymore. “I know. I’m sorry.”
CHAPTER 79
Val
“Dominic!” His hands let go of mine, dropping to his sides. “You can’t be sorry,” I cry. “You can’t go!” I sob. “You need to stay with me.” I press one hand to his bleeding chest and one hand to my stomach. “You need to stay with us!”
Dom’s head lolls to the side as more blood seeps from his chest, between my fingers.
And the loss rips through my mind.
He’s not gone.
He can’t be gone.
Not today.
He can’t die today, of all days.
A fresh round of gunfire blasts from up the road, where I last saw the cars.
I reach into my front pocket and pull out the black handkerchief with blue lettering and put it between my palm and his body. I don’t know why I grabbed this today. I just wanted to have it with me.
Another sob breaks free.
We’ve come so far.
I press the handkerchief harder against him.
And he’s not going to make it.
Without a miracle, he won’t make it.
None of us will.
My pocket vibrates.
I’m still practically in Dom’s lap, but I reach down and pull it out. King’s name on the screen.
He must’ve hung up and called back.
I answer the call, but I can’t stop crying.
“Nine minutes,” King tells me. “Val, my men will be there in nine minutes.”
The gunfire up the road slows, one side having overwhelmed the other.
And I know what that means.
I know it’s not my side that won.
“W-we won’t last nine minutes.” I admit the awful truth.
“Can you run?”
I focus on King’s steady voice and look over my shoulder at the deserted airfield. “No. There’s nowhere to go.”