Page 68 of Legacy (The Sovereigns #2)
Her lip trembles, her eyes glinting with tears she refuses to let fall. “I told you not to come,” she whispers, voice cracking. “I told you—”
My throat knots. “I had to.”
Her chin lifts, defiance slicing through her fear, and she spits at Karekin’s feet. “I’m not going to shoot him,” she snarls, eyes burning. “You’ll have to kill me.”
Karekin laughs, low and venomous. “Oh, I will. But not before I taste you first, little bitch.”
Adriana jerks, fury flashing across her face.
The gun twitches in her grip.
She shifts, her feet steadying, shoulders squaring, eyes cutting toward him like blades.
Damn it.
Don’t make me beg you to end me, Tesoro. Don’t make this the last thing you ever have to live with.
“Scarlet.” My voice cuts through the air, sharp, desperate .
Her eyes snap back to mine, glassy, wild, angry.
“Look at me,” I rasp, stepping forward, ignoring the guns that immediately train on my chest. “Focus on me.”
Her breath hitches, lips parting. “Angelo—”
“You need to survive this,” I say, my voice breaking, ragged. “You hear me? I need you to survive.”
Tears spill down her cheeks, her shoulders shaking, the gun trembling in her grip.
“They’ll kill you,” she sobs. “That’s what they want —”
“I know,” I say softly, stepping closer, “but I can’t lose you.”
Her brows knit, a broken sound tearing from her throat. “No… I can’t… I can’t do this.”
“You can.” My eyes lock onto hers, holding her there, willing her to see nothing but me. “You’re the strongest person I know. You can.”
She swallows, tears dripping off her chin, mixing with the blood on her lip.
Her gaze flicks to Karekin, then back to me.
But she doesn’t really see me.
Her eyes sharpen, going past me, through me, like she’s already somewhere else—somewhere cold, final.
And I know that look.
It’s the look of a woman who’s decided.
The wrong choice.
“No,” I whisper, shaking my head, stepping forward, my hand reaching out, trembling. “Don’t—”
Her chin lifts, tears glinting on her lashes, her mouth a trembling line of iron.
“Failsafe.”
Her fingers twitch.
The gun rises.
Not toward me.
Toward herself .
“Scarlet!” I roar, lunging forward, the word tearing from my throat like a wound. “No—don’t!”
Everything inside me rips apart.
No.
Not her.
Not this way.
She’s all I’ve got.
The world erupts before I reach her.
The air splits open, a thunderous crack echoing as the first shot fires.
Then another.
Then all of them.
A symphony of suppressed gunfire rains down from the rafters, from between crates, from every dark corner of the warehouse. Flashes of light strobe in the fog and smoke, muzzle flashes sparking like lightning.
Karekin’s men don’t even have time to scream.
Bodies drop in perfect synchronicity—headshots, throat shots, chest shots. Red sprays across concrete, glinting under the swinging floodlights.
I don’t stop.
I can’t stop.
I’m running, eyes locked on her.
Karekin fumbles in to his jacket for his weapon, his eyes wide for the first time, fear breaking through that smug veneer—
But I’m already there.
I wrap around her, pulling her into my chest, turning so I take the line of fire, shielding her body with mine.
I hear the final shot.
See the red mist.
Karekin’s skull explodes, fragments scattering across the floor.
He drops.
Dead .
The gun slips from her fingers, clattering to the ground, the sound swallowed by the ringing in my ears.
Her hands grab at my shirt, clutching, twisting, like it’s the only thing anchoring her to this world.
And maybe it is.
Maybe we’re both falling, and she’s the only thing I’ll ever hold onto.
“I’ve got you,” I whisper, pressing my face into her hair, breathing her in like I’m drowning and she’s the only air left in the world. “It’s over. You’re safe. I’ve got you.”
She’s shaking so hard I can feel it in my bones, and for the first time in my life I’m shaking, too, because I almost lost her.
I almost fucking lost her.
My hands won’t stop trembling as I hold her tighter, tighter, until I feel her heartbeat against mine.
The warehouse quiets.
The smoke settles.
Gunpowder and blood hang thick in the cold air.
A bootstep crunches on glass behind me.
I grab the gun from the ground, spin, my arm coming up fast—
Luciano.
Standing there, calm, adjusting the cuffs of his blood-splattered suit jacket, a silenced pistol still in his gloved hand, his eyes flicking between me and Adriana.
He looks down at her in my arms, eyes unreadable. “Excellent job, hermanita. Perfect distraction.”
Adriana lifts her head, her stare miles away, voice raw. “I saw you.”
A slow nod. His gaze sweeps over the bodies cooling on the concrete. “Good.”
I rise, keeping my arm locked around her as I help her stand, her legs shaking under her .
Behind us, boots crunch shell casings. Men start emerging from between the crates and dropping down from the rafters; one by one, weapons lowered, movements efficient.
Some I recognize immediately.
Maksim’s men.
Scarred faces, tattoos peeking under tactical gear, cold eyes sweeping the room with quiet precision.
I glance at Luciano, tension pulling tight in my shoulders. “How did you know?”
He holsters his gun. “Nowak’s men have been embedded here for weeks. One of them called me when Karekin’s men moved in.”
He lifts his gaze toward the catwalks as more boots hit the floor, Maksim’s men and Luciano’s blending together in the fog. “Maksim let me borrow a few of his soldiers. Happy alliance.”
I look at the soldiers silently fanning out, clearing weapons, checking pulses, stripping guns from the dead.
Damn.
Now I owe this asshole.
“Where’s Nico?” I ask, scanning for him, the need to secure Adriana clawing under my skin.
Luciano’s mouth twitches. “Perimeter. Making sure we don’t have company.”
A flicker of relief cuts through the adrenaline boiling in my veins.
Luciano’s smirk fades, his eyes sharpening. “Get her out of here, Angelo, we’ll talk shop later,” he says, voice low, firm. “This place isn’t for her.”
He’s right.
I tighten my arm around her, pressing my lips to her temple, grounding her, grounding me.
And together, we step around the blood, the bodies, and the smoke, heading for the cold night outside.