Page 121 of Shattered By the Currents

His skin went cold. Son of a bitch. The fucker was inside.

Without caring about the noise or damage, he stepped back and fired a bullet into the glass beside the door. It shattered. He reached inside and shoved the chair aside, ignoring the scrapes of glass against his skin. Then he was inside and running up the stairs. She wasn’t in the bedroom, but the sound of running water came from the bathroom.

He ground to a stop inside the doorway, the sight in front of him dragging the fury in his chest to the surface.

“What the hell are you doing, Xander?” Connor’s pistol was raised, the rage in his voice tangled into each word.

“You can see pretty fucking clearly what I’m doing,” the man growled, the muzzle of his gun pressed to Raven’s temple. “Drop the weapon or I shoot her.”

Connor scanned Raven from head to toe. There was a cut on her forehead, and she was wet from the shoulders up. The asshole had already hurt her. And he was going to pay.

“Drop it!” Xander shouted. “It will be so fucking easy to shoot. I want to. You have no goddamn idea how much. But I also need something from her. So drop the gun, let me get my money, and I’ll leave.”

Money? What the hell was he talking about?

Raven whimpered when Xander pushed the gun harder into her head.

Connor glared. Then, slowly, he set his Glock on the bathroom tiles.

“Good.” Xander smirked. “Now move into the bedroom.”

He walked backward, not taking his eyes off either of them.

Raven looked scared, but also angry.

“What’s the plan, Xander?” he asked, his feet twitching to lunge at the guy. But he had to choose his moment carefully.

Xander steered clear of Connor, heading toward the door. “I’m taking her with me.”

He almost laughed. “If you think I’m letting you step foot outside this house with her, you clearly don’t know who you’re dealing with.”

“Do you know whoyou’redealing with? I’m a man with nothing to lose.Everything’sbeen taken from me. And the person responsible is in my hold. So yes, sheiscoming with me, and she’s gonna get me back a fraction of what she took.”

Connor’s eyes narrowed.

Xander took another step back, toward the door. “We’re leaving.”

“But you’re not. My team is on the way. There’s little chance you’ll make it out alive. Even less if you hurt Raven.”

His eyes flared. Connor knew the exact moment the guy decided to run. His stance shifted, his hold on Raven loosening.

Connor was a millisecond away from shooting forward when Raven slammed her foot onto Xander’s, then dropped her weight.

As soon as the gun wasn’t aimed at her temple, Connor dove forward.

In one fluid move, he shoved Raven aside and drove his shoulder into the asshole’s chest, sending them flying into thehallway. His left hand gripped the wrist that held the gun and shoved it high.

The deafening crack of the weapon firing cut through the house, the bullet hitting the ceiling, drywall falling on them both.

Connor didn’t flinch as they slammed against the stair railing outside the bedroom. He twisted hard, locking the guy’s wrist, forcing him to drop the pistol.

Xander growled and shot his head forward. Connor dodged the hit, but in the process, Xander rolled and threw an elbow into his face.

Connor didn’t pause. He jabbed Xander in the ribs. Once. Twice.

On the third, Xander cursed and rolled away, grabbing for the gun.

He’d just risen to his feet at the top of the stairs when, simultaneously, Connor kicked him in the shin, hard—and a different gun fired, the bullet hitting Xander between the eyes.