Maybe . . . maybe I could use it to get us free. The only thing inside the smaller safe had been a stack of letters.
Felix had scattered them onto the floor like garbage, shooting into a rage before I’d even been able to figure out what they were.
He’d dragged me downstairs to get Bailey before he’d dragged us right back up here and had begun to tear apart the third floor.
Screaming at me to tell him where it was.
A log.
That’s what this had been all about?
As if I’d protect that over my daughter.
“You aren’t going anywhere,” Jace said, “and sure as hell not with Faith or Bailey. You want to walk out of here? Let Mack continue to hunt you down? Be my guest. But you aren’t hurting either of them.”
I could see it in the firm clench of Jace’s jaw. In the way his finger flexed on the trigger of his gun.
The two of them had started to dance around the other, moving slowly as they began to circle like hawks.
Predators after their own prey.
Both of them beasts. Coming from the same ugly world.
But that was where the similarities ended, their hearts so strikingly different.
I felt the burn of Jace’s.
The bolt of light.
The streak of love.
And I knew . . . I knew I couldn’t just sit there. He was getting ready to go down in a blaze. I had to do somethin’.
If Felix had been responsible for Joseph’s death, no doubt Felix wasn’t going to think twice about killin’ any of us. I shook when I realize it’d probably been his intention all along.
Get the log, and then he was goin’ to get rid of us the same way as he’d gotten rid of Joseph.
I couldn’t allow that to happen.
With none of their attention on me, I quietly eased off the couch and onto my knees.
In the lapping shadows, I ran the palm of my hand over Bailey’s mouth, my eyes begging her, silently praying she’d understand I was asking her not to make a sound.
Silently telling her how much I loved her.
That she was my world.
I hid her in a crevice between the couch and a massive dresser, and I pressed the softest kiss to the top of her head. A promise that I would always love her. No matter what happened.
My little thing hugged my neck, sending her own silent plea.
But somehow her heart was beating steady. Filled up with that understanding that was too great for someone her age. The child always too keen.
Pressing my lips to her chubby cheek, I breathed her in, held her little spirit tight to my heart.
Then I gathered the little courage I had and crawled back out, peering around the couch only far enough to see the two men still circling each other.
“You should know better than to think any of this works like that. Joseph killed my uncle, and he was holding that log over our heads like it was going to save him. Nothing would have. Just like there isn’t anything that is going to save you or her.”
Felix was in the middle of the room. Seething. The stench of hate coming off him was so great, I knew there was no chance any of us were making it out of there if someone didn’t stop him.
The vile man stood like a fortress between Jace and Bailey and me.
The only thing coming between us.
I had to do something.
Anything.
Anything to distract Felix so Jace could have a shot at saving us.
I wrapped my hand around the base of a tall glass lamp that had been shoved to the floor.
Everything shook, as devotion and fear warred.
The latter was so strong it turned my stomach and soured on my tongue.
But I needed to be brave. Brave the way Jace had always been. Willing to sacrifice myself for the ones I loved.
It was the rawest, barest form of it.
Giving it all.
Slowly pushing to standing, I emerged out of the shadows with the lamp held high. I ran for Felix, praying I could make a difference.
Stop this madness, once and for all.
Those copper eyes flashed with terror.
With the most startling kind of fear when Jace realized what I was doing.
I swung.
“No!” Jace screamed, and he was racing my way, flying across the floor.
Gunshots rang out. The piercing sound ricocheted against the walls.
Deafening.
Agony.
I swore I felt the sting of it just as I felt the impact of the lamp across the top of Felix’s back.
Jace was there, ramming into Felix and pushing me out of the way at the same time.
Flying back, I landed hard before scrambling back and out of the way.
Eyes wide as I watched the scene unfold in slow motion.
Felix staggered. Shock written on his face as he clutched his chest.
His big body fumbled back, and he slammed into the big window that was covered by a black drape.
It shattered and the fabric ripped free from the rod. The milky night poured in as I watched the massive figure tumble backward through the frame.
A shriek pulled from my lungs at the finality of it all. Relief and horror and shock.
That Felix could do this.
That Joseph could put us in this position.
And Jace, he was looking at me, relief and the truest kind of love pouring from the glinting gold in his eyes.
It was as deep as the blood that saturated the front of his shirt.
Dread spiraled through the center of me.
“Oh God, Jace,” I whimpered, and I tried to climb back to my feet so I could get to him. So I could stop this from happening.
No.
This couldn’t happen.
Pain flashed across his face, and he crumpled to the ground.
Panic surged, as thick as it sloshed through my blood.
Desperate, I crawled across the floor, frantic to get to him, another sob breaking free.
“Jace.”
I fumbled for him in the darkness, and my fingers ran over his face.
His beautiful, unforgettable face.
No, no, no.
Shivers ripped through my body, and I wanted to crawl over him, protect him the way he’d protected me.
“Jace,” I whimpered, hovering over him, hands shaking as I set them on his cheeks. “Jace.”
He reached up, his hand on my face.
His voice was raspy, gurgling in his throat. “Anything, Faith. I told you, I’d give anything for you.”
With the softest smile on his face, his hand dropped away and his body went slack.
And I screamed.
I screamed as I clung to him.
Begging him not to leave me.
Big hands were on my back, dragging me away while I fought to remain at his side.
To stay.
“Faith . . . you’ve got to let go, honey. You’ve got to let go.” Mack’s voice was in my ear.
Asking me to do the one thing I didn’t want to do.
Forty-Six
Faith
I could feel the tentative footsteps edge up behind me. The heavy breaths released into the dark, subdued air. The grief that saturated everything.
“He always loved you.”
Tears streaking free, I shifted to look over my shoulder at Ian.
Another bolt of sorrow crashed over me. The man resembled his brother so much that my heart panged at the sight of him.
Ian eased up to my side, strain so heavy in his shoulders I could feel it radiating from him.
Wave after wave.
“You were his entire world,” I whispered.
Ian grunted. “No, Faith, that position belonged to you. He would do anything for me, but when it came to you? He gave up everything. For a long time, I hated you for that. Terrified you were better than me, that he would like you better, and he’d forget all about me. Selfish, right?”
“You were only a kid,” I whispered. “I guess I’d felt the same way—had thought that he’d forgotten all about me when he walked away. I still don’t understand why he wouldn’t have just told me when he was gettin’ sent away. I would have understood. Would have supported him.”
Ian huffed out a tortured sigh. “Because Jace never saw himself the way the rest of us did. He never thought he was good enough for you.”
“He was more than enough for me.” I glanced over at Ian. “He was everything.”
I watched the grief streak across his face. “He’s the last thing I have, Faith. The only thing. I don’t think he ever really knew it. Understood it. He was everything to me, too. I wouldn’t be here without him.”