“Daniel, please,” Gwen said. “We have to get in there. This has to end.”
Daniel licked his lips. “It’s not safe. I-I heard him talking. He…he’s not right.” He eased toward them. “Take her and go.”
Chance’s body tensed. “What did you hear?”
“I was driving him…and Sophie. He was so careful with Sophie, but...” Again, he inched closer to them. The guy’s hands were shaking. “After he left her, he lost it.” His voice was a low whisper. “He came back here, and he’s been wrecking the place.”
Chance heard a crash from inside the building.
Gwen gasped.
“He’s dangerous…” Daniel’s eyes were wide. “I think…I think he wants to kill Gwen. You have to get her out of here.”
***
Sophie wasn’t answering her door. No sound at all was coming from inside her place. That shit couldn’t be good.
Lex hurried down the steps and stalked around the side of the brownstone. He hadn’t gone far when he saw the footprints. The tracks were so clear in the snow—leading to the window, then leading away. More snow was expected to hit at any time, so soon those footprints would be covered, but for the moment…
Someone went into Sophie’s house.
He rushed to that window, leaving his own trail in the snow. The footprints he passed were big—heavy treads left from boots. The latch on the window was broken, and Lex shoved it up. “Sophie!” As soon as he opened that window, the scent of gas hit him. Bitter, like rotten eggs. “Fuck, Sophie!’ He leapt through that window and rushed into the house. A chair was overturned in her den. A lamp smashed. And Sophie was there, crumpled on the floor like a broken doll. The shattered lamp was near her shoulder and blood from a deep gash on her head had dripped onto the carpet.
“Sophie!” He checked for her pulse. Weak, but still there. “I’m getting you out of here. You’re going to be okay.” He hoped.
Lex lifted her into his arms, held her carefully, and moved as fast as he could for the door. That smell was overwhelming now, and he knew that whoever had knocked her out…the bastard had deliberately left a gas leak at her house.
She could have asphyxiated in there. Or maybe the killer had planned to leave her in the house for a while, trapped, helpless, and then…he could have come back and with the flick of a match—
Boom.
He rushed through the front door and took her out of that house. Lex didn’t want to take any chances—if that brownstone blew, they needed to be far away from it. He rushed across the street, with Sophie still in his arms. She started to stir when they reached the other side. Her eyelashes flickered, then lifted.
“E-Ethan…?”
“It’s Lex.” He wanted to beat the hell out of Ethan. “It’s all right. Ethan isn’t going to hurt you again. I won’t let him.” She was so delicate. Felt so fragile in his arms.
Sophie began to struggle in his arms. Tremors shook her and she said, “E-Ethan…Ethan…E-Ethan…” She was chanting his name again and again, and Lex lowered her to the ground. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her as tightly as he could, and he called nine-one-one. When the dispatcher came on the line, he told her to get an ambulance and cops to Sophie’s address, as fast as they damn well could. And he asked for Detective Faith Chestang. Because she needed to know what was happening.
The next call he made was to Chance. Still holding tightly to Sophie, he had the phone at his ear. Sophie was whispering Ethan’s name as the phone rang. Once. Twice—
***
When his phone rang, Chance yanked it out of his pocket and glanced at the screen. Lex. He answered immediately even as he turned to face Gwen. “Lex, look, we’ve got a problem with Ethan—”
“He just tried to kill Sophie!” Lex’s voice snarled. “I had to carry her out of her home. He knocked her out, turned on her gas…shit, she’s bad.”
Gwen’s eyes were full of worry as she stared at Chance.
“All she’ll say,” Lex continued grimly, “is the bastard’s name. Over and over and—”
The worry in Gwen’s gaze gave way to stark terror. Only she wasn’t staring straight at Chance. She was looking over his shoulder.
“Chance, behind you!” Gwen screamed. She shoved against him, trying to knock him out of the way.
And that was when the gunshot rang out.
Chapter Twelve
Gwen tried to push Chance out of the way, but he twisted his body, protecting her—damn him!—and the bullet slammed into him.
Chance didn’t go down, though. “Run,” he told Gwen and he pushed her away. “Go!”
He spun toward the attacker—Daniel—and she saw Chance pulling out his own weapon. He’d grabbed it from his vehicle when they’d first approached Wicked, but he’d holstered the weapon beneath his jacket. Now it was taking too long for him to get that weapon out and—
Daniel fired again. The bullet drove into Chance’s stomach.
“No!” Gwen screamed. She lunged forward when Chance slumped to the ground. She grabbed for him and his blood covered her hands. “Chance, no!”
“Move away from him.” Daniel’s voice was too high, cracking with…excitement?
Gwen put her hand over Chance’s wound. The gun had fallen from his hand when he’d slumped down. His eyes were closed but…
He’s alive.
“I’m not moving,” Gwen said. Dev was close by. He would’ve heard the shot. He’d be coming to help them any moment.
“Then I’ll shoot you right here.”
She glared up at Daniel. He had his gun aimed right at her head.
“And after you’re dead, I’ll put a bullet in Chance Valentine’s heart. He might be able to survive the injuries he has so far…but a bullet to the heart?” He laughed. “Dead fucking man.”
Gwen pressed down harder, trying to stop that blood flow.
“Come inside with me, and I’ll leave him. Give him a fifty-fifty shot of survival.” Daniel’s lips twisted in a cold grin. “I never cared about him. He doesn’t matter. You matter. Ethan matters.”
Her body was numb with cold.
“Move now, or I will kill him.”
Her fingers slid away from Chance. I love you. He knew that, didn’t he? He had to know, he had to—
Chance’s eyes opened. “Gwen, no.” He reached for her.