Page 112 of Cruel Betrayal

It doesn’t matter. I’ll murder the bastard who just threatened my baby.

A few feet from us, there’s a sharp stick. If Ezra holds Noah down and I ram that through Noah’s eye, I should be able to kill him.

My stomach turns at the thought, suddenly queasy about all the blood.

And then the gunfire stops.

It’s silent, except for the sound of Noah choking.

Two men come running and haul Ezra off Noah, throwing him to the side.

I rush toward them, but it’s too late.

They lift Noah to his feet and take off running. One of the men pulls out a gun, and I take off behind another tree.

Ezra runs after me, pressing his body against mine.

The man never fires a shot, though. If he did, Ezra would’ve been wounded before he got to me.

Ezra looks down at me as the men disappear into the woods. “Are you okay?”

I look around as the rest of my family appears, the children safe, though Royce is sporting a new bullet wound.

Sean and Joshua both have guns out, and people who work for Aiden are starting to swarm the orchard.

My sisters are all huddled together, pulling out weapons from wherever the hell they hid them on their bodies.

I look up at him, letting out a deep breath. “Yes, I’m fine. And I’ll marry you, but I want something small and peaceful. I’m so tired of all the excitement.”

He laughs and pulls me into a hug, kissing the top of my head. “I’m sure we can manage that.”

“Take me home?”

“Hell, yes.” He keeps an arm looped around me, nodding to Aiden. “We’re going to get out of here.”

Aiden looks like he’s ready to go hunting. “Meeting tomorrow. We’re going to find that bastard, and this shit is going to end. For good.”

Ezra nods. “Understood.”

As we leave, I continue to hope for the day where there isn’t some psycho trying to take out my family. Where we’re back to running New York and there’s nobody who challenges us.

One way or another, my family is going to make sure it’s safe for the generations to come.

This war is going to end in a bloodshed unlike any other.