Page 31 of Inheritance

I didn’t look at him.

“You shouldn’t be surprised by that.”

“I’m not shocked, just impressed. Not many girls in her position would’ve lasted this long without falling apart.”

“Now’s not the time.”

He smirked faintly.

Buildings blurred past as we moved deeper into the old part of the city.

“You could learn a thing or two from her.” I said.

He chuckled under his breath.

My driver took a slow right turn, easing us into the quieter part of the district.

A few people wandered the sidewalk, hunched against the cold. The museum appeared up ahead, stately and still.

My driver glanced at me then back to the road. “Almost there. Want me to pull right up to the front?”

“Yeah,” I said. “And stay close.”

We rolled to a stop at a red light, boxed in by cars on all sides. Damien exhaled sharply, drumming his fingers against his knee, his patience thinning by the second.

The car jolted, a sharp, unnatural crack splitting the air. A bullet was caught by the reinforced windshield, flattened and warped, right in front of the driver’s face. Fractures spiderwebbed outward, jagged and hungry for death.

The driver jerked upright, then hunched low, looking left and right for an opening. No way out. Boxed in. Traffic frozen. Bystanders gaping through their windows, too slow to understand.

“Fucking drive!” I snapped.

The windshield exploded. The driver’s skull went with it. A wet, hollow crunch. His head snapped back, blood and bone sprayed the dash. His hands spasmed once on the wheel, then he folded forward.

I moved. Fast.

Ripping his seatbelt free, I yanked him sideways. Slid over the console, into the warm, blood-slick driver’s seat. Gripped the slippery wheel.

Tires screamed. Metal shrieked as I slammed the car into the one beside us.

It skidded, bounced up onto the sidewalk.

A gap. Small, but enough.

I punched the gas.

Another shot hit the driver’s side window. Glass fractured, but held. Barely.

“I see him!” Damien shouted.

“Where?” I growled.

Another round sparked off the hood. The engine roared as I gunned it through the red light, tires howling.

“Straight ahead, parking garage, one block away.”

I looked up, through the jagged gap where the windshield had been.

I hit the brakes, wheel slipping under my grip as I wrenched us into a sharp turn to leave his line of sight.