Chapter 16 - THE BRIDE WHO CAME BACK WRONG
Maeve moved slowly toward the dresser.
Sienna noticed.
“Don’t.”
Maeve stopped.
Sienna held a small pistol.
Her hand trembled.
That frightened Maeve more than steadiness would have.
“You brought a gun?”
“I borrowed one.”
“From whom?”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“It matters if you don’t know how to use it.”
Sienna’s jaw tightened.
“Shut up.”
Maeve looked toward the adjoining door.
“You cut the security?”
“Someone helped.”
“Victor Sanz.”
Sienna’s expression gave her away.
Maeve felt sick.
“You made a deal with him?”
“He said no one had to get hurt.”
Maeve stared at the gun.
“You’re holding a weapon in Elias’s bedroom.”
“I said no one has to get hurt.”
“What does Victor want?”
Sienna’s eyes flashed.
“Elias.”
Maeve understood.
Sienna was bait.
Or Maeve was.
Possibly both.
“You idiot.”
Sienna stepped forward.
“Do not call me that.”
“He used you to get inside.”
“No.”
“He promised to restore your life?”
Sienna said nothing.
Maeve laughed without humor.
“Margaret taught you better than this.”
“Do not talk about my mother.”
“Why?”
“Because she started this.”
“And you finished it.”
Sienna’s face twisted.
“You stole him.”
Maeve stared.
“That is what this is about?”
“He was mine.”
“You left him.”
“I made a mistake.”
“You called him a cripple.”
Sienna raised the pistol.
“I said shut up.”
Maeve went still.
Footsteps sounded downstairs.
Several.
Sienna looked toward the door.
Fear crossed her face.
Maeve saw it.
“You don’t know who came in with you.”
Sienna whispered, “Victor said his men would only secure the house.”
Maeve’s voice became urgent.
“Sienna, lower the gun.”
“No.”
“They are going to kill Elias.”
“No.”
“You are not getting your fiancé back.”
Maeve stepped closer.
“You are helping people remove him.”
Sienna’s hands began shaking harder.
A gunshot cracked downstairs.
Both women froze.
Then another.
Sienna went white.
Maeve grabbed her wrist.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Sienna screamed.
Maeve twisted the weapon away.
They crashed against the bed.
Sienna pulled Maeve’s hair.
Maeve shoved her back.
Another shot downstairs.
Then Elias’s voice.
“Maeve!”
She turned toward the door.
Sienna saw her chance.
She snatched the pistol from the carpet and pointed it toward the doorway.
The door burst open.
Elias entered holding a handgun.
Behind him, Gabriel covered the corridor.
Elias saw Sienna.
Saw the weapon.
Saw Maeve between them.
Everything stopped.
Sienna whispered, “You lied to me.”
Elias’s gun remained steady.
“So did you.”
“You can walk.”
“Yes.”
“You humiliated me.”
“You abandoned me.”
“I was afraid.”
Elias’s voice remained cold.
“So was she.”
His eyes moved to Maeve.
“She stayed.”
Sienna’s face collapsed.
“You love her.”
No one spoke.
Maeve looked at Elias.
Elias did not look away.
“Yes.”
The answer shattered the room.
Sienna’s hand jerked.
Gabriel shouted.
Maeve moved before thought.
She stepped in front of Elias.
The gun fired.
Pain ripped across her shoulder.
Elias caught her as she fell.
Gabriel fired once.
Sienna dropped the weapon.
She collapsed against the wall, clutching her arm.
Maeve barely heard anything.
Elias was on his knees beside her.
“Maeve.”
Blood spread across her sleeve.
His face changed.
The controlled man disappeared.
“Stay with me.”
Maeve tried to speak.
“You can walk.”
It was absurd.
Elias almost laughed.
Almost broke.
“Yes.”
“You’re still a liar.”
“Yes.”
Her eyes fluttered.
Elias pressed his hand against the wound.
“Maeve.”
May you like
The hallway blurred.
The last thing she heard before darkness took her was Elias Marchetti shouting her real name like it was the only word he had left.
