Page 40 of Broken

"I've been waiting for this you stupid bitch," the man said, but I didn't recognize his voice.

"Who are you..."

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

Shots began to ring out, and I squeezed my eyes shut. After a moment there was nothing. I eased my eyes open and looked around, only to see the man in the ski mask had run off.

"Nova, are you okay?"

Liam was there, his gun still aimed. I had never been so happy to see this man in my life. He'd literally just saved me.

I checked my person and found everything intact. Des was sitting beside me, out of breath, and Yara had calmed down.

"I'm good," I said. "Y'all okay?"

They nodded their headsyes, staring at Liam.

"Good, we need to go. You can't go back to your apartment," he said, lowering the gun.

Finally, I got to my feet. "What?"

"You heard me, Nova. It is out of the question, you will stay with me for now. It's not safe."

The taste of copper still lingered on my pallet. Liam calculated things too much. Had he planned this? I didn't even have a chance to think over too much of it because he was putting his suit jacket around Yara's shoulders and ushering both her and Des to his car that was waiting for us.

I looked over my shoulder, searching for the shooter, but no one was there. They were long gone, whoever it'd been. Shaking my head, I thought about how bad that could have been. All three of us could have been dead had Liam not shown up.

Picking up my pace, I caught up to them. Liam shot me a sympathetic look before we got into his waiting Mercedes. Home was out of the question, according to Killer Boy. I wanted to throw a tantrum; Thanksgiving was going to be completely off the table, I thought.

We drove in a silence, but I kept checking the kids out in the backseat. Yara had fallen asleep shivering and Des was looking between Liam and I. They had never known this type of violence; they had never seen a gun up close and personal.

Turning around in my seat, I looked at my hands that had a few scratches on them and they were shaking like a leaf. Adrenaline was running its course through my body, not to mention my ankle was still throbbing a little bit.

When we finally pulled into the mansion's circular driveway, Valentin stepped out onto the porch almost immediately. Glancing over at Liam, I saw that he was staring ahead. "I took the liberty of having two guest rooms made up for the children."

He exited before I could ask about my own room. Des was already in shock and awe, gently shaking Yara awake.

"Man, Nova we done made it?" he said from the back seat.

I had to bust out laughing at him and his wide-eyed wonder, "Desmond Hemmens you are too much I told him. Yara, let’s go inside okay, baby."

Yara now awake just weakly nodded her head, her eyes wide. We had so much we needed to talk about now, all three of us. It would have to wait until later. My hand brushed over the door handle, the metal cool to my touch as I pulled it open and stepped from the car. Liam and Val were talking but hushed when we neared.

The only thing I caught was… "She has a right to know."

I'd demand to know what they were talking about in detail once I got the kids settled. My stomach was still churning and I was limping. This Saturday night had taken a crazy turn.