36

"Sorry, honey, but this is the end of the line." Gideon's deep bass voice pulled her out of her thoughts and when she looked up at the huge, dark-skinned man with the dark eyes, he seemed like a mountain. Insurmountable, unstoppable. He had entangled himself Armen stood in front of the front door and locked eyes with her.

"Let me pass, Gideon." She had to get out of here. Away from her brother, away from this whole shitty situation. Killian had basically put them on the back burner for a week after everything they'd done. And now he also denied her her freedom?

"Damn, Gideon. I'll be back in half an hour, I just want to clear my head." Still the giant didn't move. She just wanted to think, work off her frustration a little, and then come back. Where else should she go but back here?

"That will not do. Orders from your...brother." Samantha caught the small telltale pause before the man choked out the word "brother" as if it were a swear word. He knew it. He knew what Killian and Sam were doing - or rather had done - to each other.

Because at the moment their strange relationship, which hovered between siblings and lover, seemed frozen. Samantha frowned angrily, knowing full well that she wasn't exactly scary, but that didn't mean she couldn't get past him.

Her brother certainly prefers brute force and dominance at such moments, but someone like Sam had to be smarter to get past a man like that.

"I'm not well, Gideon. Please, I need some air," she said, swaying slightly, his gaze softening a bit but still shaking his head. In hindsight, Samantha would certainly be ashamed of taking advantage of this man's feelings, but the fact that he was secretly crushing on her would definitely help her.

"Sorry, can't..." Samantha dropped, pretending to lose balance and collapse, and Gideon reacted exactly as he was supposed to: He reached out with both hands and caught her before her knees could hit the floor hard, cradling her small body against his chest and... cried out in pain.

With all the strength Samantha could muster, she rammed her forehead into his face and hit his nose, which not only crunched uncomfortably, but also at a strangely twisted angle. She had broken his nose and felt guilty as the blood spurted down the man's face. She didn't want to hurt him. Really not.

But she would never tolerate being locked up anywhere. Neither he nor her brother had a right to do that. She quickly squirmed to her feet and was surprised at how quickly Gideon recovered, thinking he would struggle with his broken nose for a while and let her go. But she was wrong: he immediately grabbed her again, caught her thin jacket and ripped it until the material gave way and Sam could easily free her arm from it.

"Don't!" Gideon yelled from behind her, but she was undeterred. Samantha yanked open the door to the nightclub, the low sun blinded her and she covered her eyes briefly to be able to see something and made it maybe three steps away from the entrance... when all hell broke loose. Sam had never heard gunshots before in her life, she only knew the sound from television and the internet.

However, she knew immediately that she was being shot at as soon as she stepped out of the club and a mountain slammed into her back. She heard a snarling, crunching sound over the constant roar of bullets as she was pinned to the ground.

At the edge she saw a dark hand that pressed her head down and definitely belonged to Gideon. It was easy for him to push Sam's body behind a parked car. He looked at her with angry eyes, bloodied face and dark sparkling eyes, took a breath to say something and suddenly there was only red.

Sam sat frozen on the dirty curb, watching as the bouncer's head exploded and his face was replaced by a shredded heap of flesh. Something wet, warm and maybe slightly slippery hit her face and she tried not to think about the fact that she had just spread the remains of Gideon's head all over her body. She just sat there, the rumble of gunfire muffled in her ears, which started ringing from the volume.

Her muscles failed her and she waited in vain for her flight instinct to kick in. Someone pushed Gideon's corpse aside, exposing the headless body to another volley of bullets that ripped through the body. overkill It broke through her foggy thoughts for a moment, then she saw Dom, who shouldered her further against the car, put a gun to his shoulder and fired shots himself. ratata tatata.

Again and again. ratata tatata. Then more people came. Better equipped, with vests and semi-automatic weapons. They positioned themselves to the left and right of the entrance, providing fire cover while Dom brutally pulled on Samantha's arm, literally throwing her back into the club. Sam got to his hands and knees but just looked down at the ground, still utterly shaken. A small lump of flesh slid down her chin and then landed in her field of vision, directly in front of her on the floor.

That was when she finally started screaming