Page 23 of Stolen Temptation

Our footsteps alerted them, and when they turn back and see us, recognition stiffens their posture.

My muscles seize.

They know who I am.

On instinct, I jerk my body to the right and prepare to bolt, but doing that only causes me to knock my head against the barrel of Rory’s gun.

Something inside me shatters.

Gun. Rory has a gun. And he’s pressing the barrel to my temple.

Hysteria erupts inside me. I could collapse from the stress if not for him still holding my arms.

“Not another step,” Rory calls to the guards stalking toward us.

They stop short. Face Tattoo touches a hand to his earpiece like he’s about to speak, and in the same nanosecond, Rory shifts the gun and fires.

A second after a small black hole appears between the guy’s glazed eyes, his body collapses onto the grass. A horrified scream sticks in my throat.

The other security guard charges us, but Rory fires again. Another perfect headshot. The bullet pierces Nicked Hairline’s forehead, causing the colossal guy to flop backward. He’s dead before he hits the ground.

The danger began and ended so quickly, my brain’s reeling from whiplash.

Rory just…he just…

He just murdered two men like it was nothing. He didn’t even let go of me to do it.

My blood runs cold, and my entire body starts to shake. When Rory’s grip on me finally loosens, my knees buckle. I slide to the ground, squeezing my arms around my torso.

Slowly, Rory crouches down so that we’re eye to eye.

I can’t tear my gaze from the gun in his hand.

Did he bring me out here to kill me?

“Kiara, I’m only going to ask this one more time.” His eyes glow with a dark, murderous apathy. “Whyis Leonardo De Luca after you?”

He gestures at me with the handgun, sending my already fragile anxiety through the roof. I’m babbling in seconds.

“Leo’s after me because I…I’ve stolen something precious from him.”

Rory grins a little, like it amuses him to know I’ve betrayed Leo in some way. “How precious?” One of Rory’s eyebrows quirks up, daring me not to answer.

I release a tiny, terrified breath, my mind slipping back in time to how Leo acted when he burst into my studio the other day.What did he say?I reach back through my memory to grab his words.

Fear rushes the answer right off my tongue. “The single greatest financial opportunity for this family in a decade. That’s what I took from him.”

“There.” Rory flashes me a radiant killer smile before jamming something into my forearm. “Was that so hard?”

My gaze drops to my arm. Some sort of tube sticks out of it. I think…EpiPens look like this. Terror quakes through me as the foreign sensation begins to grow and spread and change. In a matter of seconds, I’m tingling all over.

I’m woozy and weak and feel like I might fall over.

“What…is…this?” Why can’t I feel my face?

“Just a tranquilizer.” Rory’s voice sounds like it’s coming from another state.

No,I want to say, but I’ve lost control of my lips. I’m going to be drooling in a second.