Series: Sean Moriarty
Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 113805 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 569(@200wpm)___ 455(@250wpm)___ 379(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 113805 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 569(@200wpm)___ 455(@250wpm)___ 379(@300wpm)
“I’m sorry. Oh god, Sonya, I’m so sorry. I should have called…” I croak.
“Yes, you should have!” Sonya cries and squeezes me harder. “I’ve been going crazy with worry. But I’m happy you’re both safe.”
James growls, “As touching as your little reunion is, I’ve—"
A loud boom drowns out the rest of his words.
Sonya and I seem to jump at the same time.
Pulling away from each other, we turn towards the source of the sound.
“What the fuck…” James growls and takes a protective stance in front of us.
Craning my neck to look around the brick exterior, I peer down the road and see three black cars approaching fast. Tires squealing and engines roaring.
The doors to the black SUV parked in my driveway pop open and the men inside start to get out.
But a sudden spray of gunfire sends them scrambling back inside.
“Fuck!” James shouts. “Get in the house!”
My brain lagging a bit behind, I don’t get a chance to run inside before James is roughly shoving Sonya into me.
Abel and Alex both start to wail.
Sonya cries out and I do my best not to trip and fall.
Not caring if he hurts us or not, James continues to shove us until he can slam the door shut.
“Safe room!” he roars.
A split-second later, holes suddenly appear in the top of my door and a window explodes.
At least that’s what it looks like until I realize what’s happening.
Those aren’t normal holes letting shafts of light in… They’re bullet holes.
“Get in the fucking safe room!” James roars at us again, so loud I’m surprised he didn’t blow out all the blood vessels in his throat.
Snapping out of my daze, I grab Sonya’s arm and drag her to the basement door.
When Jude showed me the safe room and explained how it works, I thought he was overly paranoid.
Now I’m eternally grateful he had the forethought.
“What’s going on?!” Sonya cries out, dragging her feet as I pull her along. “Why are there people shooting at us?”
“I don’t know!” I shriek, freaked the fuck out.
Any second now, a bullet could come through a wall and kill me or Abel…
I let go of Sonya long enough to yank the basement door open, then tug her down the stairs with me.
Sonya must be completely out of it though because she tries to fight me. “We should leave. We need to call the police!”
Digging my fingers into her arm, I grit my teeth and use all of my strength to keep her moving. “We can’t leave, they’ll shoot us! We’ll call the police from the safe room!”
“What the fuck is a safe room?!” she shrieks.
My temples beginning to throb with pain from all the screaming and crying, I ignore her question.
It’s best just to show her.
Once we reach the bottom of the stairs without breaking our necks, I drag her over to the large painting hanging on the back wall.
“What the fuck is that?” Sonya gasps and attempts to yank her arm back.
“It’s a painting,” I grind out and finally release my hold on her.
“Yes, I can see that,” she says with some attitude, “but who the hell has a painting like that?!”
Running my fingers along the gold frame, I search for the hidden button Jude showed me. “Art is subjective, and it’s worth a lot of money...”
Sonya scoffs. “Sure, art is, but that’s not art. That’s… that’s… creepy!”
Yesterday… hell, a few minutes ago, I’d agree with her. When I first saw the painting, I was creeped out too. Two naked men fighting in hell with a demon watching gleefully is pure nightmare fuel.
But it’s starting to grow on me.
Especially when my fingers finally find the outline of the button. Sighing in relief, I press the button down and activate the release.
The frame of the painting pops away from the wall, the painting itself part of the hidden door.
Some mechanism activated by the button, the door swings open slowly for us, revealing a pitch-black room.
“I’m not going in there!” Sonya screeches and backs away.
Growing tired of her attitude, regardless of her earlier concern for me, I turn towards Sonya, ready to give her a piece of my mind.
But a loud burst of gunfire followed by James shouting out in pain stops me.
“Fuck! My fucking foot! Fuck!” James yells.
My heart dropping into my stomach, I grab Sonya’s arm and yank hard enough to pull her arm out of the socket if she fights me.
“Get in!” I scream and shove her roughly past the threshold.
She stumbles and I fear she might drop Alex, but it can’t be helped.
Better injured than dead.
Grabbing the handle of the door, I slam it shut, throwing us into complete darkness.
“Oh my god!” Sonya starts to shriek over and over. Freaking the babies out even more.
Doing my best not to completely lose my shit, I run my palm all over the wall, searching for the light switch.