Page 54 of Possessive

My eyes were on the destroyed house. "He did this." I was both horrified and more furious than I ever remembered being. "He knew I'd be here."

"He was probably hoping we’d still be inside," Gianni said.

"The prick seemed to be targeting us." Hunter approached from the shadows, appearing unhurt.

"It does seem a bit personal." Parker was right behind him. "I'm officially offended."

"Me too," Gianni agreed.

"Get out of here," Reuben told the twins. "Gianni, Mina, back in the SUV. I want to be gone from here before the police arrive. Damon, have people move into the area and keep an eye out for Kurt."

"Good idea, boss," Gianni said. He stood with a wince of pain.

Reuben offered me his hand to help me to my feet. His usual closed expression was laced with concern and anger.

"He's fucking with us," I said.

"Or he misjudged," Reuben said quietly. "He might have expected you to be inside for longer."

"Possibly both," Damon suggested. He had his phone to his ear, his expression tight.

Once again, I had more questions than answers. Was he somewhere nearby, deliberately waiting until we were clear before setting up the explosion? Or had he timed it wrong? Did he have any idea a child would be in the house tonight? If he did, he must have known how I'd respond. Was it aimed at me or, like the twins suggested, they were the target?

My lips pressed together, I followed Reuben to the SUV and let him help me inside.

Gianni grimaced, but settled down beside me. "I should say thank you again," I said. "For protecting me. You could have been killed."

"Better me than you, sweetheart," he said. He seemed a lot less cheerful than he usually was. If anything, he seemed rattled. I wouldn't have thought it was possible if I hadn't seen it for myself. Nothing seemed to get to him like this had.

"I'm not that easy to kill." The smile he gave me was forced.

"If we were still inside, or a metre or two closer, we would have been," I said. "Five minutes earlier and he would have killed a child." I watched Gianni's expression carefully.

"Lucky for her he didn't," Gianni said.

"What would you have done if he had?" I asked.

Gianni shrugged. "If she was dead, chances are I would be too."

"But if you weren't?" I pressed. "If you were alive and she was dead, what would you do?"

"In this particular case, we're already hunting him down and want him dead. That hasn't changed." He looked curious as to why I was asking. Enough so that I decided to back off before he was the one with the questions.

"I guess we can't kill him twice," I conceded.

"Technically, we can," he said with a grin. "I have a friend who brought a guy back to life three or four times, just to see how many times he could. But he's a sadistic fuck if I ever met one. On the other hand, that comes with the territory."

"Some people get more enjoyment out of it than others," Damon said from the driver's seat.

"I'd suggest Damon was talking about himself, but I've never known him to get off on other people's suffering," Gianni said.

"Did you just say something nice about me?" Damon asked.

"I guess I did, in a roundabout way," Gianni agreed. "Did you like it?"

"I could get used to you not being an asshole," Damon said.

I leaned my head back against the seat and watched the city lights flash by as we passed.