The Wife Breaker by Isabella Starling

Chapter 18

HEATH

Rain is sleeping in my bedroom again, but I can’t catch a wink of sleep.

Instead, I’m watching her. I sit in an armchair nursing a drink, my eyes wandering between the view of the ocean beneath me to Rain’s peaceful features.

She’s so beautiful. Like somebody encapsulated the essence of a sun into one person. I can’t get enough. And yet I can’t help but doubt Rain.

Something tells me she’s still so hell-bent on being free, she’ll do anything to escape me and Xavier. But she doesn’t know just how much danger she’s in.

All the Castellamare girls are.

As I watch her, I hear a commotion below. My brows furrow and I get up, watching the unmoving landscape below me. There’s no one there, but I could swear I heard something a moment ago.

I take one last look at Rain before walking into the hallway and addressing the guard outside my bedroom in Spanish.

“Heard anything suspicious?”

“Nothing, signor,” he replies, shaking his head politely.

“Keep an eye on the girl for me,” I mutter. “I need to check outside.”

He nods and I walk past him down the stairs.

The moment my feet hit the ground in the grand hall, I know something’s wrong, because the front doors of the Palacio are open.

“Fuck,” I mutter to myself, gliding along the wall as I grip my holster. I bring out my gun soundlessly and close my eyes for one second.

I recall the image of Rain in my bed moments ago, sleeping so peacefully. I know whatever is coming is going to be fucking bad.

I’m doing whatever I have to do to save her.

When Liberato and I established the Serpent cartel, we swore to protect one another, so he is my priority, too.

Luckily, I pass his bedroom as I dash back upstairs. I softly open the door and bump into my brother, standing by the door in his boxers.

“What the fuck is happening?” he hisses and I motion for him to come outside.

The moment one of us makes a sound or screams, it’s over. And I need this quiet before the storm I know is coming to save Rain.

Whoever has come for me can’t know she’s here.

And if it’s Xavier... I need to hide her fucking now.

Liberato and I run down the hallway and find the guard I left to watch Rain dead, a river of blood running away from his lifeless body on the ground.

I dash forward to my room, and Liberato makes the fatal mistake of shouting after me.

“Hermano!”

The world around me stills before all hell breaks loose.

I’m in my bedroom now, and it’s fucking empty, save for a man who I recognize.

He smirks when he sees me, raising his hands in the air.

“Kill me, and you lose her,” he smirks at me.

It’s the piece of shit who tried to feel Rain up when she first got here. And this time, I’ll spare the bastard no mercy.

I aim the gun at him as he says, “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Heath. I’m your only link to the girl now.”

Gunfire erupts outside, and screams ensue. I curse out loud and run out of the bedroom while the piece of shit guard laughs at me.

Liberato’s long gone by the time I reach the hallway, but there are other men here. Not our men.

This is a raid. They are here to kill us or make us bend the knee.

I scream Rain’s name as I shoot two guards between the eyes, running down the stairs and into the mayhem of the ground floor.

By now, the sound of guns and screaming is overwhelming, screeching to a crescendo as I enter the war zone. Several unmoving bodies are already on the ground, with another half dozen crawling away. People are fighting, shooting, stabbing one another to win.

It’s just like the cage.

It’s just like what was done to us.

L and I have truly become what we once hated most.

“Heath, over here!”

My attention snaps to my brother as he runs toward me.

“Who are they?” I bark at him.

“Dragon cartel,” he replies solemnly, sending a pang of guilt through my belly.

“It’s not Xavier?”

“No,” he shakes his head. “Fuck.”

He fires another bullet and pulls me into a dark hallway.

“They got Rain,” I mutter.

“Why the fuck would they take her? They don’t even know who she is,” I hiss, my blood boiling. “Who’s the fucking leader? Is he here?”

“Come on.”

I follow Liberato to a trapdoor only we know exists. Inside is a hidden passageway to the beach below. If the intruders came here without us noticing them, it must’ve been on the beach.

We run down the stairs and soon catch a view of several men pushing a dinghy into the water.

There’s three people there, with one of them dressed completely in black and holding a screaming, golden-haired woman. My fucking woman.

I can hear her screaming my name and I run forward with Liberato firing shots above me.

I hear screaming and curses as my bare feet hit the sand. I run toward the dinghy that’s almost in the water.

In the darkness, I don’t see who fires the shot. I don’t even realize it’s been fired until it buries itself in my chest.

My first thought is that it’s my right side. They missed my heart.

Then, a second bullet buries itself in my side, close to my stomach.

I scream Rain’s name, watching helplessly as the dark figure revs up the boat.

Liberato reaches me, leaning down to help, but I yell, “Get Rain!”

He runs after them, wading into the ocean as the boat pulls away. It’s too late.

He keeps firing off shots though, hitting the waves.

I can still hear Rain’s screaming echoing in my ears, but it’s getting weaker and weaker.

The blood leaving my body is making me light-headed. I feel my soul leaking out of the bullet holes in my body. This must be what dying fucking feels like.

I lose consciousness but in my mind; I recall the image of the man dressed in black dragging Rain into the dinghy.

Am I only imagining it, or did he really look like Xavier?

But Xavier’s cartel - the one I should be in charge of - is Scorpion. Why would Xavier join another cartel’s ranks to get Rain back? It just makes little sense.

My heart slows down and I feel myself grow weaker. Liberato is kneeling next to me, begging me to stay with him, but I’m far away, drifting off on to a better place.

Rain’s image reigns in my mind just like it always does, reminding me she’s out there, waiting for me to get her back.

It doesn’t matter whether Xavier took her.

All that matters is that I can make it through this so I can get her back.

The shadowy fingers of death stretch out toward me, inviting me into their dark embrace.

And as my limbs grow heavier and heavier, I know I won’t be able to fight it off for much longer.

Not even for another ray of Sunshine.

TO BE CONTINUED

Heath and Rain's story continues in The Widow Maker. Preorder now!