Page 49 of Stolen Temptation (Irish Kings #3)

Kiara

No, no, no.

I just got Rory back, and now he’s running off to go fight Leo on his own?

Panic jump-starts me into movement. I can’t let this happen. I can’t let anything happen to Rory. He said I’m the woman he loves.

He loves me back.

With vicious hands, I dig into the wedding dress impeding my legs and start ripping fabric as quickly as I can. I don’t stop until a pile of discarded tulle lays on the ground at my feet.

Jesus, these heels didn’t seem that hard to move in until right now, when I’m all-out sprinting after Rory and Leo. I only waste a couple seconds yanking them off my feet.

Please, God, don’t let anything happen to him.

The last time the two of them faced off, Rory got shot. I can’t go through that again. I can’t watch as he falls to the ground. This time, I’ve got to do something.

That future that flashed before my eyes when he went down, bleeding…I want it. I want that future with him more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. And now that I know it’s possible, that he wants to be with me, too, I’m going to fight for it.

With everything I have.

Until I run out of air to breathe.

My footsteps are well-hidden beneath the percussive aria of bullets whizzing back and forth through this sanctuary.

I don’t know what I’m running up on, but I’m expecting chaos.

What I don’t expect are all the bodies.

Men with our family’s tattoos on their skin lie scattered behind the barricade. It’s more like a corpse enclosure than a battle station.

What the hell happened here?

As terror, nausea, and panic choke the air from my lungs, my gaze darts from dead face to dead face while I pray Rory isn’t among them.

Air gushes from my lungs once I realize he’s not.

A bullet whizzes past my ears, warping my sense of hearing. Too late, I drop to the ground, my satin-covered knees hitting the stone floor. I crawl toward the edge of the barricade, heart in my mouth as I peer around it to the middle of the room.

The fog has begun to dissipate. Some corners are still enveloped in smoky shadow, but the center gradually comes into sharper focus.

Oh, god.

There.

Rory. Leo. They’re…

Locked in a savage fight.

Heart in my throat, I can’t look away from the grisly sight of the two men who’ve shaped my life most exchanging fists and gunfire.

An involuntary gasp escapes my mouth when Rory backhands Leo, gun in hand.

Leo takes it without complaint, blood spilling from a newly split lip. He lets out a roar and tackles Rory to the floor, knocking the gun out of Rory’s hand in the scuffle.

“No!” My cry is lost under the volume of the bedlam unfolding around me.

Rory and Leo tousle to the ground in an all-out brawl.

Around them, other Kings are locked in fights with Petrov soldiers.

On the altar, two Petrovs grab Maksim’s body and drag his corpse toward an exit, smearing a trail of his blood as they go.

But I can’t take my eyes off Rory and Leo. Not for a second.

Leo punches Rory once. Twice. With each blow, my chest tightens.

Determined grunts slip from Leo’s chest, and the awful slam of his fist every time he punches Rory’s face is killing me.

Rory bucks him off and lunges for his discarded weapon. As he stretches out his arm, his face contorts in pain.

His chest… There’s a literal hole in his chest, and he still came. He should be in a hospital, but he found out Leo was marrying me off today and showed up here to rescue me.

Just like that cursed night at the bookstore, the amount of love swelling in my chest threatens to overwhelm me.

This night can’t end the same way. This time, I have to help him.

I creep toward the fight, only to freeze when Leo straightens to full height. He kicks Rory’s gun out of reach and nails him in the chest with the tip of his hard-soled Italian leather shoe.

Fire eats up my blood.

It’s one thing when that psycho hurts me.

Watching him hurt my man turns me homicidal.

I dive out from behind the De Luca barricade, eyes locked on Rory’s gun still skidding across the marble floor. It hits the bottom stair of the altar, and I’m there to snatch it up.

Without another thought, I get my hands around the gun and aim for Leo’s back.

My hands shake, and I don’t have a clear shot, but that’s not going to hold me back.

Leo retracts his leg, ready to kick Rory again. I unleash the full power of my voice with my scream.

“ Stop !”

The sound makes more than one man glance up, but Leo’s the only one I care about right now.

He throws his head over his shoulder, getting a good eyeful of me and what I’m about to do. Leo turns the rest of his body to face me, more fury and hatred on his face than I’ve ever seen.

“A little bug, holding a gun.” He takes a leisurely step in my direction and chuckles. “Pathetic.”

Then, he charges at me, fast and fucking furious. Quicker than I can pull the trigger. In fact, I can’t do anything at all before Rory tackles Leo to the ground from behind. The two of them go down ten paces from where I stand.

As they struggle, Rory grabs a fistful of his hair and slams his face into the stone floor.

With a strangled roar, Leo wildly swings an elbow back, nailing Rory in the gut. What he can’t see is that behind him, the Kings have already won. The Russians are retreating, and he’s the last De Luca alive.

Except for me.

Leo releases a howl of rage, scrambling out from under Rory, and lunges for me. Rory swipes for his feet, but this time, I don’t need the assist.

Aiming Rory’s gun at Leo’s chest, my finger rips back, once, twice, and the bullets fly. A cross between a gasp and a hiccup escapes my cousin—my half-brother—as he takes two bullets to the heart.

One for what he did to Rory. And one for what he did to me.

Leo doesn’t have the strength to clutch at his chest before he falls at my feet, bleeding out all over the sanctuary floor.

He gazes up at me, gasping his final breaths. Shock widens his eyes as he lies there. Dying.

He won’t get a chance to underestimate me again.

I drop my arm, Rory’s gun dangling from my fingers. Anxious tears stain my cheeks, but I manage to smile as I lean over to give him a final goodbye. “Fuck. You.”

Only a moment passes before Rory’s there, slipping the gun from my loosened grasp and wrapping his other arm around my waist. I don’t realize it until he’s there supporting me, but I’m three seconds from collapse.

My head falls against his shoulder, my eyes still locked on the sight of Leo’s face. The last man in my family is dead.

This horrible, awful, brutal family I’ve been trapped in my whole life is gone. Every single person on Earth who shares my blood is gone.

And I pulled the trigger.

Leo’s days of terrorizing me are over.

“I’m so proud of you.” The soft kiss Rory presses on my damp cheek nourishes me somehow.

“I never ever imagined killing Leo…” I lift my head to meet Rory’s warm, exhausted gaze. “But I think it’s the best idea I’ve had all day.”