Ashlyn hurried back to the doorway, and she volleyed her attention between Eli and the window. Cora had stopped crying again, but it still wasn’t easy to hear if someone was approaching the house because of the shouts and curses from the living room.
Even though Ashlyn had tried to steel herself for it, the next shot still stunned her. And put her heart right in her throat. From her position she could partially see Eli, but Kellan was in her way so she couldn’t tell if Eli had been hit. Kellan’s next round of ripe profanity didn’t help that, and he moved in, kicking at something.
Remy’s arm, she realized.
Remy howled in pain, and Ashlyn moved out a few inches so she could get a glimpse of Eli. He was still down, and he had Remy’s hand pinned to the floor. That didn’t stop Remy from pulling the trigger again.
This time, Ashlyn didn’t have to guess where the bullet had gone because she saw it blow out a hole in the wall just above Eli’s head. Another couple of inches, and he would have been killed.
“Enough of this,” Eli snarled.
Ashlyn held her breath and watched as Eli gave Remy’s hand another bash on the floor, and then he rammed his elbow into Remy’s chest. The man sputtered out a cough, and that split-second lapse was enough for Kellan to move in. He latched onto the back of Remy’s shirt collar and dragged him off Eli.
But Remy somehow managed to keep hold of his gun.
A gun that he aimed at Eli.
Ashlyn heard herself yell for Eli to watch out, but he was already scrambling to the side while he reached to draw his backup from his boot holster. He was still reaching for it when the next blast roared through the room.
She froze, her feet seemingly frozen in place, but that didn’t stop the horrible thoughts from racing through her head. “Eli,” she managed to say. Ashlyn would have gone to him, but Kellan stepped in front of her again.
“You don’t need to see this,” Kellan said, spiking her fear even more.
Until she realized Eli was fine. Well, he hadn’t been shot, anyway. He was on his feet, his backup weapon now in his hand, and he had it pointed at Remy.
Remy wasn’t fine.
The man was no longer holding his gun. That was good. He was on the floor, his hands pressed to his chest, and Ashlyn had no trouble seeing the blood. It was seeping through his fingers and spilling down the side of his shirt.
“I had to shoot him,” Kellan muttered, and it sounded as if he was talking to himself. He went closer and kicked Remy’s gun to the other side of the room. “Remy didn’t give me a choice about that.”
No, he hadn’t. Remy’s choices had started when he’d taken Dominick hostage and then had come here to the house. Despite Eli trying to reason with him, he’d fired three shots, any of which could have hurt or killed. He had to be stopped, and thankfully Kellan had done it.
“I want to be with Marta,” Remy said, his words choppy with his rough breaths. “I want to be buried next to her.”
Eli certainly didn’t give him any assurances that would happen, and she wondered if Gus would even allow it. Not after everything that Remy had done.
“I’ll call for an ambulance.” Eli holstered his backup, picked up his gun and then took out his phone to do that, but he also glanced over at Ashlyn. “Is Cora okay?” he asked.
She managed a nod, not trusting her voice. Ashlyn wasn’t certain she could speak yet. Not sure she could move to Eli, either, even though that’s what she wanted to do. She wanted to hold him, to feel for herself that he was safe. But Eli still had to wrap this up.
“Check on the car and make sure that fire didn’t kick back up,” Kellan instructed Gunnar.
While Eli continued to hold his gun on Remy, Kellan went to the man, stooped down and pressed his hands over Remy’s. Probably to try to slow down the flow of blood. Ashlyn figured that wouldn’t help, not with the amount of blood that Remy had already lost.
“Did you hire those guns who tried to kill Ashlyn and Eli?” Kellan asked him.
Remy opened his mouth, maybe to answer, but that’s when she heard the rattling sound that came from Remy’s throat.
And she watched as Remy died.
Kellan cursed again, probably because a confession would have tied up everything into a neat little bow, but they still might be able to get confirmation from Waite—who was still in custody. Eli had said they could hang charges of accessory to attempted murder over him to get him to talk.
Ashlyn turned to go into the bedroom so she could check on Gloria and Cora, but she’d only made it a step when she felt someone take hold of her shoulder. At first she thought it was Eli, but the grip was too hard. Hard enough to leave bruises. And the person spun her around, knocking her weapon from her hand and dragging her back against his chest.
Dominick put a gun to her head.
* * *
ELI’S HEART SLAMMED so hard against his chest that it felt as if he’d cracked a rib. Hell. This couldn’t be happening. Not now, after everything they’d just been through.
He dropped down behind the side of the sofa and automatically brought up his gun, taking aim at Dominick. So did Kellan after he took cover behind the end table. But both he and his brother knew that neither of them had a clean shot. Just as they hadn’t with Remy when he’d dragged Dominick from the car and into the house. That’s because Dominick was now using Ashlyn as a human shield.
Eli couldn’t help but see Ashlyn’s face and the shock and terror that was on it. He hated that once again she was in danger. As bad as the other attacks had been—and they had been bad—at least the gunmen hadn’t managed to get their hands on her. Now Dominick had managed that.
And he’d done it right in front of two armed lawmen.
Eli wanted to kick himself for not seeing what was about to happen. Kick himself, too, for not putting a stop to it. But that led Eli to a couple of questions. Had Dominick ever actually been a hostage, or had this been some kind of sick setup with Remy? Of course, the biggest question on Eli’s mind was why Dominick was now holding a gun on Ashlyn.
“Throw down your weapons,” Dominick told Eli and Kellan. “Then, listen carefully to what you need to do to keep Ashlyn alive.”
Eli forced the muscles in his jaw to ease up so he could speak. “Trust me, I’m listening. Now, what the hell do you want?”
Dominick shook his head and made a sound of frustration. “I wanted things to go a heck of a lot better than this. Since that didn’t happen, I’m now on to plan C.”
Which meant two other plans had failed. Eli didn’t have any trouble filling in the blanks on what Dominick had tried to do.
“You had your own granddaughter kidnapped,” Eli started, “and you set me up for that by trying to make Ashlyn believe I was responsible for it. You wanted her to murder me, and once she’d been convicted and was in jail, then you would have had a clear path to get permanent custody of Cora.”
Dominick didn’t deny anything Eli said, not with words, nor with his expression. This was all about getting his hands on Cora.
Ashlyn’s eyes narrowed, and Eli could see her fear and shock replaced for another emotion. Fury. He totally got that. This idiot had put Cora in danger not just by having those thugs kidnap her but also with the attacks.
Of course, Dominick likely thought the baby had never been in danger, but she easily could have been. The hired guns could have turned on Dominick and tried to hold the child for ransom. Cora could have been hurt or worse. And all because Dominick hadn’t wanted to “share” her with Ashlyn.
“When Ashlyn didn’t take the bait and kill me,” Eli went on, “you set your goons on us. Goons who shot us when Cora could have been in the car.”
“She wasn’t.” Dominick’s voice took on even a harder edge. “They had orders to make sure she wasn’t part of that.”
“Orders that you trusted with hired killers,” Eli poin
ted out. “I don’t know if that makes you stupid or just plain careless with a child’s life.”
That sure didn’t cool down the fire in Dominick’s eyes, and he gave Eli a look that could have frozen hell. “Cora’s my granddaughter. My blood kin,” he emphasized through clenched teeth. “I will be the one to raise her.”
Which meant Dominick was going to have to get Ashlyn out of the way. Along with Kellan and him, too, and any other witnesses.
From the corner of Eli’s eye, he saw Kellan move. His brother was shifting his position, trying to get into a better angle to put a stop to this. But Dominick saw it, too, because he immediately turned, keeping Ashlyn in a chokehold in front of him.
“Did you not hear that part about keeping Ashlyn alive?” Dominick snapped. “Trying to shoot me is a surefire way of getting her killed.”
Kellan froze. But Eli knew they couldn’t just stand there and let Dominick do whatever he was planning on doing.
Eli listened for any sign that Gunnar was still nearby. He didn’t glance outside because he didn’t want Dominick to be reminded that the deputy had gone out there. Not that Dominick had forgotten that, but Dominick wasn’t a hired killer, and he might not be thinking straight right now. All they needed was some break, a distraction, just enough for Ashlyn to bolt out of Dominick’s grip so that Eli could shoot him.
Eli very much wanted to shoot him. And that was a reminder for him to tamp down his anger. That wasn’t going to help Ashlyn right now. He needed to keep a clear head.
“Here’s how this is going to work,” Dominick said. “Ashlyn and I are going to get Cora, and we’ll walk out of here. I don’t want to use the cruiser that Remy wanted because I suspect there’s a tracker on it. Idiot,” he grumbled when he glanced at Remy’s body.
So that meant Dominick likely hadn’t been working with Remy after all. Not that it mattered now, but when they got out of this—and they would—then Eli would want to build a solid case against Dominick. He wanted him in a cage for the rest of his miserable life.
“I’m guessing the reason for this desperation is because you got wind that Waite was about to spill his guts,” Eli went on. He wanted to keep Dominick’s attention on him so that he didn’t notice Gunnar or Kellan. “Waite will confess that you’re the one who hired him and his buddy. He must have told you that when you were at the sheriff’s office visiting him—right before Remy kidnapped you.”
Again, Dominick didn’t deny it, but his silence put a cold hard knot in Eli’s gut. All along Dominick had been a suspect, but Eli hated that he hadn’t gotten the proof sooner. He definitely hadn’t wanted things to play out like this what with Ashlyn, Cora, Gloria, Kellan and Gunnar in danger. Plus, some of the hands could get hurt, too, if Dominick tried to escape.
“Your son, Danny, didn’t want you to raise Cora,” Ashlyn said. “In fact, before he died, he made it clear that he didn’t want you anywhere near her.”
Dominick tightened his grip on Ashlyn’s neck, and Eli could feel the man’s anger go up a notch. Obviously, this was a sensitive subject, and while Eli wouldn’t have minded pushing some of Dominick’s buttons, he didn’t want to do that while he was holding a gun on Ashlyn.
“My son was on drugs and confused,” Dominick spat out. “If he’d been thinking straight, he would have made sure that she wasn’t put up for adoption where anyone could have ended up getting her. She’s my granddaughter, and with Danny dead, she belongs to me.”
In his own way, Dominick was just as crazy and obsessed as Remy had been. That only made him more dangerous, because there was no way to reason with someone this bent on getting his way.
“Cora belongs to me,” Ashlyn snapped, and she was just as angry as Dominick. Definitely not good. Eli didn’t want her to do anything that would goad the man into pulling the trigger.
“Until you can prove to me that she has your DNA, then she’s mine.” This time Dominick dug the gun even harder into her head just as Remy had done to him minutes earlier.
“Both of you want what’s best for Cora,” Eli interjected, trying to get Dominick to turn back to him. “Just make sure you don’t fire any shots that can go through the walls.”
That did get Dominick’s attention, and he finally turned his glare back on Eli. “If I shoot, I won’t be aiming at a wall.”
No. He’d be shooting at Ashlyn, and she’d be a very easy target. But for now, Dominick almost certainly wanted to keep her alive because he thought she was his ticket out of there. With his money and resources, he no doubt planned to take the baby, murder Ashlyn, and then he’d disappear with Cora.
Eli didn’t intend for any of that to happen.
“I need a vehicle,” Dominick reminded them. “I’ll take the keys to your truck.” He meant that for Eli. “First, put your gun on the floor. You, too, Sheriff Slater. And before the two of you think of delaying that some more, just know that I will shoot. Nowhere near where Cora is, but that end table isn’t giving the sheriff much protection. I’m thinking a bullet could go through that without a problem.”
It could, and Eli wasn’t immune to the threat of having his brother shot. Or of having any gunfire. There’d already been enough bloodshed. But Eli also had no intention of facing Dominick while he was unarmed.
Eli slid his gun across the floor toward Dominick, and in the same motion, he drew his backup from his boot holster. He kept that out of sight. From behind the table, Kellan did the same, drawing his backup as well.
“Good,” Dominick continued. “Now, go ahead and take your keys from your pocket and slide them over here. Remember not to do anything that’ll get your lover killed. That includes giving me the wrong key and trying to charge at me when I reach down for them.”
Eli doubted that Dominick had any proof that Ashlyn and he were indeed lovers, but it was possible they were giving off some kind of vibe. Eli knew he wasn’t reining in all his emotions when he looked at her, but he didn’t want Dominick using that in some way.
He took out his keys and as instructed, Eli slid them toward Dominick. They stopped just a few inches from his feet. Dominick tightened his hold on Ashlyn even more, causing her to make a gasping sound. A sound that made Eli want to do that charging that Dominick had already warned him about.
Eli moved back behind the sofa and waited for any chance he had to put a stop to this.
Dominick stooped down, dragging Ashlyn with him. “Pick up the keys,” he told her.
She did, closing her fingers around them, and when her gaze met Eli’s, he wanted to curse. Because he could tell that Ashlyn was about to make a move. A move that he prayed wouldn’t get her killed.
Before Dominick had fully stood back up, Ashlyn turned, ramming the keys into his face. The metal gouged his cheek, causing him to shout out in pain, and he cursed her, calling her a vile name. However, the injury wasn’t enough for him to break the hold he had on Ashlyn. He yanked her, hard, against him, and this time she did more than gasp.
Dominick was choking her.
“Gloria?” Dominick called out. “I know you’re back there, and you have Cora with you. Bring her out to me now, or Ashlyn dies.”
Chapter Seventeen
Ashlyn prayed that Gloria would stay put in the bathroom. She started to shout to the sitter to do just that, but the chokehold Dominick had on her was so tight now that she couldn’t speak.
Couldn’t breathe.
Plus, Dominick had threatened to shoot Kellan. And she was certain the man would do just that. In fact, he’d be looking for any excuse right now to eliminate the lawmen in the room, because that would give him a clearer path to killing Gloria and her. That had to be his end goal, to get them all out of the way so he could walk out with Cora.
It sickened Ashlyn to think that his plan could possibly work. No way was anyone going to risk firing shots at Dominick if he had the baby in his arms. Then, once he had Cora in Eli
’s truck, he could simply disappear.
Even if she managed to stay alive, Ashlyn might not ever find her baby. That’s why she had to stop Dominick now. It didn’t matter if Cora and he had DNA in common. She was Cora’s mother, and Dominick was a monster and had no right to take her.
She clawed at Dominick’s hands until he finally eased up on his grip. By the time he did that, Ashlyn’s lungs were aching, and she gulped in several quick breaths, causing herself to cough. However, she did manage to hold on to the keys, and she hoped she got a chance to use them again. She poked the largest key through her fingers, turning it into a weapon, but she also kept it down by her side so that Dominick hopefully wouldn’t see what she’d done.
“Gloria?” Dominick yelled again. “I start shooting if you don’t come out here now with Cora.”
Again, Gloria didn’t answer, but Ashlyn was positive the sitter had heard the threat and was no doubt debating what to do. Ashlyn was doing the same, and maybe Gloria would just stay put until Eli, Kellan or she could stop Dominick.
Or maybe Gunnar could.
Ashlyn had been glancing outside but hadn’t spotted the deputy in the last five minutes or so. Certainly, Gunnar had heard what was going on and had hopefully called for backup. Or else he was waiting and trying to work out a way to get inside and sneak up on him.
She didn’t think Dominick had brought any hired guns with him. If he had, he would have already used them. So that meant Gunnar wasn’t likely to be ambushed. That was something, at least. But she had to wonder if Dominick was working alone in this.
“Did you team up with Oscar or Remy?” she managed to ask, though it was still hard to talk with his tight grip on her neck.
Dominick made a quick sound of surprise. Or maybe disgust. “No. Both are idiots.”
So Remy’s kidnapping had been just that. A kidnapping that’d stemmed from desperation.
“Oscar might be useful, though, if I can set him up for this,” Dominick added in a mumble.
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