Chapter 187:
“Keep silent now, and I’ll make sure you never open your mouth.”
He thrashed, gasping, but she didn’t let go until just before he drowned. He choked and coughed hard, his voice cracking when he finally confessed. “I’ll talk! Actually… we don’t know. We got them from a casino. We traded there!”
“Black Tiger’s place?”
“Yes! That’s it! Yes!”
She let go of him, but he moved faster than expected, scooping up a heavy rock and lunging straight for her. A single gunshot burst through the air.
The bullet clipped past her cheek and punched through the man’s eye. His blood sprayed across her face before his body crumpled.
She didn’t even have time to process before she heard the sirens, wailing and distant, yet too far to matter. Someone else arrived first.
Through the moonlight, a figure approached. His boots sank into the sand, his presence calm and powerful. A pistol dangled from his hand, smoke still rising from the barrel.
The wind tugged at his coat, revealing a knife strapped at his side and ammo resting at his hip. His sharp features caught the moonlight, and his eyes gleamed cold and steady as they locked with hers.
“Don’t move,” he said. The sea breeze carried his voice clearly across the beach.
Rylie opened her mouth to speak — to warn him about someone behind him — but a shot fired before she could finish. Brad pulled the trigger behind him without even glancing back, dropping the last man who had been slipping into the shadows.
Once he was certain the danger had passed, he made his way toward Rylie. He holstered the pistol, then gently lifted her chin with one hand to examine her face.
“Where are you hurt?” he asked, his thumb brushing over the blood. Anger trembled beneath the surface of his voice.
She opened her mouth to reply, but he had already lifted her into his arms. Her soaked clothes pressed against his coat, which smelled faintly of pine and lingering smoke.
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“My leg,” she murmured, and she felt his arms tighten at that.
His eyes drifted down to the blood trickling from her calf. A grim shadow passed over his face.
The ambulance rolled in behind them as Johnny, surrounded by medics, was getting assessed. When he spotted Rylie in Brad’s arms, he pushed his way through the crowd.
“I’ll take her,” Johnny said, stretching out a hand.
Brad stepped aside, avoiding his reach. His stare was hard and unrelenting. The tension in his grip didn’t loosen. His boots crunched over the gravel with quiet warning.
“There’s no need,” he answered. His tone was calm but possessive, cutting straight through Johnny.
Blue lights spun around them, casting sharp shadows across Brad’s jaw. The outline of his sidearm pressed gently against Rylie’s hip with every breath he took.
Johnny’s expression shifted, his jaw tightening as he spoke with restraint. “This happened because of me. She got hurt trying to save me. That makes me responsible for what happens next.”
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