Page 42 of Prettiest Little Thief (Band of Thieves #1)

“There were no jewels. Lucas wouldn’t come all this way just to give you something you didn’t want.” My voice was remarkably smooth even though my insides were a twisted mess and I wanted to puke.

“I wasn’t talking to you, whore.” Those dark eyes locked onto me.

Jericho and Evan both pulled their guns from the holster, waiting for Lucas’s signal. Joseph pulled his own weapon, and his stare darted around the room.

“Watch how you speak to my wife and sister, or I’ll cut your tongue from your mouth and send it to your mother.” Lucas placed his hand behind his back, his fingers grasping the pistol grip.

“Oh, did I touch a nerve, Knight? You must really like this one.” Christian’s gaze raked over me, and I withheld the disgusted shiver from being noticeable .

My pounding heart bottomed out, and I released Sarah’s hand as my palms began to sweat and I wiped them on my jeans.

“I’m going to ask again, and I better get an actual answer from you.” Christian drew his hand piece and scratched his head. “Where the FUCK is the rest!”

Sarah flinched at the heightening anger of her husband, scooting closer to me.

“There was nothing fucking else in the damn box, Christian.” Lucas grew more agitated by the second.

“Sarah!” Christian barked. She jumped. “Get over here.”

“No,” I gripped her forearm, hoping she wouldn’t go back to her abuser.

“I’ll shoot your brother if you aren’t next to me in the next ten seconds.”

Sarah glanced at me and patted my hand in reassurance, her fingers icy. It did nothing but send my nervous system into a frenzy. The true fear behind her cerulean eyes, the slight shaking I could feel in her hand.

“No, Sarah,” my husband said, his desperation hidden under his rough exterior.

Christian took hold of Sarah’s upper arm in a brutal grip. She winced at the rough handling. “You dissolved the deal with this play, Knight. You must think I’m stupid, don’t you?”

“I don’t think you want me to answer that,” my husband responded. “I’m not leaving without my sister.”

Christian laughed humorlessly. “You both will be leaving in a body bag. I tried to give you the opportunity to make this right.”

“Make what right?” I asked. The words tumbled from me before I could think it through .

Joey’s gun swung in my direction. I flinched and put my hands in front of my face. Like that would stop a bullet. There was no response.

“We’re broke,” Sarah said. “Christian gambled away all of it. Our inheritances. Our savings. Everything.”

“Shut up.” Christian pushed Sarah, and her frail form crashed into the coffee table, toppling to the floor.

Jericho and Lucas both looked like they were about to run to assist Sarah but stopped in their tracks when the Christian and Joseph redirected the Glocks toward them.

Sarah trembled as she pushed to a sitting position. “Christian doesn’t have anyone else but his brother as a guard anymore.” She nodded toward Joey. “He couldn’t afford to pay the staff.”

“Why didn’t you just ask for help?” Lucas asked.

“I don’t want your fucking money,” Christian seethed. “I could have made millions with those jewels, but you screwed me.” His dark eyes were consumed by fury.

“He’s too prideful to ask for a loan or hand out,” Sarah said.

“I said shut the fuck up, Sarah!” Christian discharged the gun.

I ducked down, my hands coming up to protect my head. Dust and pieces of the ceiling fell, scattering across the furniture and floor. Jericho and Evan were no longer against the wall. With their firearms aimed, they circled Joseph.

Lucas pulled his weapon from his pants, aiming at Christian, his finger poised over the trigger.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I wanted to rush to Sarah’s side and help her to her feet, but my legs were like lead as trepidation trickled in.

Sarah didn’t seem to be injured by being shoved, and there was no surprise on her face. What a terrifying way to live. A frown slammed down on my face, anger boiling in my veins. The longer we stayed in the hell house, the more irate I became.

For Sarah.

For Lucas.

“Next time, I won’t miss, Knight,” Christian chuckled.

“Fuck. You,” Lucas replied.

“Did you really think we wouldn’t find out?” Joseph asked.

“Shut up, Joey,” Christian seethed. His gaze was still locked on the two of us. Sarah, forgotten. “You have the chest and the key, you fuckheads. The jewels were inside the chest.”

“We don’t have it. It wasn’t in the keepsake,” I said, shaking my head.

“Liars!” The barrel of Christian’s pistol now pointed at me.

“She’s telling the truth. There wasn’t anything else in the box.” Lucas shifted closer, trying to position himself between me and the loaded gun.

“Don’t move, Knight,” Christian snapped.

Joseph cocked his gun, but Evan kicked him in the back of the knee, effectively making him fall forward. Jericho forced Joseph to his belly and stepped on his hand. He groaned in pain as his grip loosened beneath the shoe.

Lucas stopped his slow side steps in my direction. His own gun still raised and at the ready.

I swallowed hard, my heart thudding heavily in my chest, and air was hard to get in, my ribcage a vice around my lungs.

“Since you took something that belongs to me, I’m going to take something that belongs to you.” The evil glint in Christian’s eyes was that of a madman. A man so consumed by greed and rage, there would be no bargaining with him. “Get over here.” Christian motioned for me to move forward.

“No,” I said .

“I don’t think you have a choice,” Joseph sneered from his position.

“Says the guy pinned to the floor.” I arched an eyebrow at him.

“It really doesn’t matter if I have you next to me or across the room. I can shoot you just the same.” His finger squeezed the trigger.

I shut my eyes, brought my hands up, and stepped back. A loud bang sounded. Then another. And another.

The sound of a grunt and thump followed.

My lids snapped open to find Christian lay on the floor across the room. Blood pooled beneath his still form. Joey still struggled beneath Jericho. Sarah had ducked behind the sofa, with her hands over her ears, shaking and crying.

Lucas… oh god. Lucas was on the floor at my feet. His chest rose and fell steadily. I fell to my knees and searched his body for evidence of a wound. When my touch grazed his shoulder, my hand felt wet. My husband’s blood covered my palm, and a gasp of dismay left my mouth.

Lucas moaned, and his eyes cracked open, the gaze causing my panic-stricken mind to halt.

I pulled my cell phone out and called Evie. “What’s the word, mija?”

“Get here now. Lucas is down.” I hung up before she could even respond. “Did you jump in front of me?” I asked Lucas, tucking my phone back into my pocket.

“Maybe.”

“I could kill you myself for doing that.” My hands pressed down onto his bullet hole, trying to staunch the blood flow.

Lucas chuckled as I gripped his face in my hands. “But you won’t. ”

“Won’t I?” I arched an eyebrow.

“No.”

“And why not?”

“Because you love me. Even if you can’t admit it.” A sly grin tipped the corner of his lips.

“Shut up.” I kissed him. “We need to get out of here.” I helped Lucas to sit up. He was shot through the shoulder and needed a doctor.

Sarah crawled across the floor to help me bring Lucas to his feet, even though she was a shivering mess. Bleeding mascara ran down her pale cheeks, her eyes downcast. “I’m so sorry.” Her chin wobbled.

“Sarah, you have nothing to be sorry for. Let’s just get out of here as quickly as possible.” I tried to smile to reassure her.

She nodded and threw one of her brother’s arms over her shoulder. Lucas let out a grunt of pain at the movement. I picked up his gun from the floor and then grabbed the keepsake off the coffee table, the box tucked under one arm and the weapon in my free hand.

“Knight, what do you want us to do with this asshole?” Evan asked, kicking Joseph in the leg.

He struggled. “You fucking shot my brother. I’ll kill you all.” His face was beet red with rage.

“Tie him up but leave him alive,” Lucas ordered. “I don’t want to be responsible for two deaths today.”

“See you later, Joey ,” I said as we made our way toward the front of the house.

Evie and Fox stormed into the house, the front door slamming into the wall. Fox came to assist Sarah with Lucas, and they slid my husband into the backseat as I slipped into the front to drive .

“Are you okay, Roe?” Evie asked as she grabbed the chest from me.

“I’ll let you know when we get out of this,” I replied and shut the door.

“You don’t want to be in the back with Lucas? I can drive if you want,” Sarah said.

I glanced back and shook my head.

Lucas just chuckled and held out the car key to me. “She’s a professional. I’ll tell you all about it when we get home.”

The engine roared to life, and Evan hopped into the passenger side just before I took off. Jericho could catch a ride with Evie and Fox.

My mind was a jumbled mess of emotions, and the crashing thoughts jumped from one thing to another. My grip on the steering wheel tightened as I realized how much blood coated my fingers. My husband’s blood.

“Let me check your wound,” Sarah said to her brother.

“I’m fine.” His words were slow and slurred.

“The bleeding hasn’t stopped, Lucas. We have to get you to the hospital.”

“I’m headed there now,” I said as I peeked in the rearview mirror. It didn’t look good.

“Fuck, man, you’re bleeding pretty bad.” Evan stared at Lucas.

“No hospital. Too many questions. Questions bring the cops, and we don’t know the ones this far from home.” Lucas’s deep timbre was low.

“Does anyone have a belt?” I asked. “We might be able to tourniquet it right above where the bullet went through.”

Evan started to undo his belt and passed it off to Sarah in the back seat.

The roads were winding left and right, the switchbacks nauseating. Or maybe that was just because my nerves were shot.

“Pull it as tightly as you can, even if it hurts.” Tourniquets were one thing I’d learned in nursing school. My gaze kept going between the road and my injured husband in the back.

Lucas grunted in pain as his sister tugged on the belt as tightly as she could to slow the flow of his bullet wound.

“I still don’t see Fox or Evie behind us. Can you get ahold of one of them?” I asked Evan.

He didn’t hesitate as he dialed Fox’s number and it connected to the speakers.

“Where are you guys?” Fox asked.

“I’m headed toward the direction we came from. I saw a hospital on the way here,” I answered.

“Fuck. I got turned around.” The sound of tires screeching through the speakers came through.

“Just meet us there as soon as you can.” I ended the call and pressed my foot down on the accelerator as much as I could as we zigzagged through canyon roads.

Headlights in my rearview came into view. Fox couldn’t have possibly caught up that fast.

“Uhhh, Monroe. I think we have company.” Evan peered through the side mirror.

A red Bugatti revved behind me, gaining speed. As they progressed, I could make out two figures. Shit. Joseph in the driver’s seat and Christian beside him.

“Evan, I’m going to need you to figure out how to get them off our ass.” I turned to face him. “Whatever it takes.” My mouth dried and stomach fluttered. Terror trickled into my bloodstream, sending my heart pounding erratically beneath my sternum .

“Drive faster, little thief. You have to lose them.” Lucas’s groggy voice wasn’t a good sign.

“I don’t know if I can.” But my foot pressed down harder on the gas anyway.

A shot rang out. And then another. Sarah ducked lower in the back, forcing Lucas down along with her.

Evan rolled down the window and took aim, firing in quick succession. Several more bullets whizzed by our car. A sharp turn was coming up and I had to start to slow down so we didn’t slide off the asphalt.

“This car can handle it, Monroe,” Lucas shouted.

“I’m scared, Lucas. I don’t want to crash again.” My hands tightened on the wheel.

“Baby, have I ever led you astray? I had this car modified, it’s supposed to be your wedding gift.”

Surprise hit me, and I blinked back tears. “I don’t need your fancy car. I just want you to live through this. I want to get you to the hospital and keep you alive.” A tear streaked down my cheek, scalding and salty.

More gunfire burst around the car as anger, fear, and love pulsed through me. This was a moment I was so afraid of living through again. The uncertainty of life or death hung over me like a storm cloud. I couldn’t lose my husband. No matter the cost. I needed him.

So, I wiped the wetness from my face and glanced in the mirror one last time before slamming my foot down on the pedal.