Page 94 of The Formation of Us

With light steps, Duke eased inside and crossed the storeroom. He inched open the door that led into Anna’s community room.

Levens had Anna bent backward over her sofa, with his hand pressed to her throat and his gun barrel planted between her eyes. Dahlia sat frozen at the piano, her face contorted with horror.

“Please,” she croaked. “She’s yourwife.”

“Shut up, bitch, or I’ll put a bullet between your eyes, too.”

“Don’t do this,” Dahlia begged.

Duke drew his revolver. He needed to be fast and accurate. Because Levens would shoot; he had nothing left to lose.

Gun cocked, breath even, Duke slipped inside, one silent step at a time.

“Five goddamned years I sat in that hole because of you,” Levens said, his nose an inch from Anna’s face.

Duke raised his revolver and locked his elbow.

The flash of surprise in Anna’s eyes gave him away: Levens swung his pistol and fired, shattering the plaster behind Duke’s head. Duke ducked into the storeroom. A second shot splintered the pine door. Finger on the trigger, he leapt back into the room, but the coward was shielding himself with Anna.

Levens fired again, and the bullet whizzed by Duke’s right ear. The man’s aim was getting hotter.

Duke angled for a clear shot that could bring Levens down, but before he could squeeze the trigger, a wild screech filled the room, and Dahlia swung the piano bench into the back of Levens’s head. The wood cracked on impact, and the man stumbled forward but didn’t fall. He grabbed Dahlia and slammed her to the floor so hard the windows rattled.

Now, Duke fired.

The bullet hit Levens in the shoulder and spun him sideways. Lunging like a tiger, Duke dove into the man’s side, taking him to the floor and knocking the gun from his hand.

Levens scrabbled for his pistol, but Anna kicked it away. With a howl of outrage, he lunged at her, fist raised. “You traitorous bitch!”

Duke hauled him back before the man could slam his fist into his wife’s already-bloody face. Pain screamed through his shoulder as he forced Levens’s arm up and snapped a handcuff around his wrist.

The monster’s enraged howl filled the room, and he tore away, lunging at Anna with a vicious growl. Duke grabbed the cuff dangling from Larry’s wrist, but before he could haul him down, the crack of a pistol sent Levens to his knees. Blood stained the thigh of his trousers where Dahlia had shot him.

The man growled like a rabid dog and tried to get to his feet, but his injured leg collapsed and he fell to his knee. Duke slapped the other cuff around Larry’s wrist, binding the man’s hands behind his back.

“I’m not going back to prison!” With an enraged growl, Levens lunged at Dahlia, yanking the cuffs on his bound wrists, and wrenching Duke’s shoulder.

“Neither is Anna,” Dahlia said. And she pulled the trigger.

The bullet knocked Levens backward over his boot heels, and yanked the metal chain linking the cuffs from Duke’s raw hand. Larry’s head cracked on the coffee table as he crashed to the floor.

The front door flew open, and Duke reached for his revolver, but it was Boyd who stormed inside. His brother gave the room a sweeping glance and rushed to where Duke crouched beside Levens.

“What the hell’s going on?”

Duke’s breath shuddered out. “Anna’s husband paid her a visit.”

“What’s he doing out of prison?”

“Getting himself killed.”

Boyd had met Levens five years ago when the man tracked Anna to Claire’s house and threatened both women. Shortly after jailing the man, Duke had taken Anna to Pittsburgh to testify against her husband.

Levens lay in a pool of blood. Duke checked for a pulse, knowing he wouldn’t find one; Dahlia had shot straight into Levens’s black heart. Levens had fought too hard and pushed too far. Maybe he’d known Dahlia would pull the trigger and end his miserable life. The bastard deserved the bullet in his chest, but Duke felt a crushing weight settle on his shoulders. Dahlia had knowingly and willingly killed a man.

o0o

Faith put the children to bed, then waited in the silent parlor with Millie. They were too tense and scared to talk. Duke had been gone for an hour, and Dahlia hadn’t arrived yet.