Reign of Wrath (Dirty Broken Savages #3)(97)

River grinds her teeth next to me, and I put my hand on her knee, squeezing it lightly. I know how much she hates this.

I think of that conversation we had in the shower all that time ago, about how she wasn’t sure she could ever see Cody without seeing his father and grandfather in him. It was a fair point then, considering her history with them and all they put her through. After Julian nearly killed her, her hatred for these Maduro men probably only grew.

But this moment right here, watching her get so protective of this little boy, proves that’s not true. She has it in her to love this kid. She probably already does without realizing it, just because he’s the last living piece of her sister.

It makes me just as determined to protect Cody too. He matters to River, so he matters to me too. I’m not going to let anything happen to the kid.

None of us are.

“Hang back a bit more,” Priest tells Gage. “We can’t let Natalie know we’re tailing her. If she realizes she’s being followed, shit could get bad for Cody.”

“Yeah.” Gage nods, slowing the car down a little.

We keep following Natalie’s car, all of us leaning forward a little to peer out the windshield. I expect her to turn toward one of the neighborhoods along the way that we know she and her brother usually frequent, and I chew my lip absently as we trail her at a safe distance. I keep waiting for her to take Cody to her house or Julian’s house or any place that has to do with their old business, but she just keeps driving.

River is back to sitting straight up in her seat now, glancing around at where we are as she tries to figure out what Natalie is planning.

She’s not alone in that. I have no idea what Natalie would even want with Cody, and the ice queen has passed by most of the places I thought she would’ve taken him.

Finally, she makes a turn off the main road, driving to an abandoned little spot near the side of the river. We’re practically outside of the city by now, in an area I’ve never been to before.

“What the fuck is she doing?” River asks, glancing around as Gage slows our car to a crawl.

There’s nothing here. Just some trees, set back from the road, and the rush of the river that sweeps along. It’s not even a nice part of the river, too close to the highway to be peaceful, and full of deep, murky water.

We pull to a stop far enough away that Natalie can’t see us, our car blocked from her sight by a few trees. All of us tensed and ready, and I crane my neck to peer through the small gap in the trees to where Natalie stopped.

After a second, Julian’s sister gets out of the car. But instead of getting Cody out too, she just slams the door closed once she’s out.

There’s a beep as she locks the doors, and I have a second to wonder what the fuck she’s doing before the car starts to roll forward. She never cut the engine, and she must’ve left the hand brake off too, because the car begins rolling down the embankment toward the river.

“Shit!” River curses, and she’s got that right. Because what the actual fuck is this bitch doing?

Dumb question, I think to myself. She’s trying to kill him.

We all jump into action at once, leaping out of our car and racing toward the bank of the river. So much for fucking subtlety. If we’d known she was going to try to murder Cody, we wouldn’t have followed at a distance at all. We would’ve gunned her down in the road and found a way to get the kid safely out of the car.

Natalie looks up and sees us coming, and her face twists into an ugly scowl.

“You!” she screams, focusing her gaze on River. “You bitch! You took him from me!”

She draws a small handgun from her purse and starts firing at us, but her aim is shit.

A bullet whizzes by River, far enough away that it doesn’t even graze her, but still way too close for my liking. I body check River out of the way, putting myself in the line of fire as the car picks up speed behind Natalie, crashing into the river with a splash.

“No!” River gasps, horror in her voice.

The Bentley begins to sink under the surface, and I fire off a shot at Natalie, forcing her to duck for cover behind a few rotted out logs that sit along the riverbank. My bullet hits one of the logs as she dives behind it, sending pieces of dead wood flying.

“Get the kid out of the car!” I yell to the others.

Then I make a beeline for Natalie.

I’m not letting this bitch hurt River, and I know that’s exactly who she’s gonna go after if I don’t keep her occupied.

Natalie pops up from behind the fallen logs as my brothers and River head for the water and the car currently sinking into it. Her gun is aimed for my head, but before she can shoot me, I duck out of the way, lunging for her to try to knock her off balance.

The logs are in my way, so although I manage to sink my shoulder into her solar plexus, it’s not as hard of a blow as I was going for. She wheezes when I hit her, but she doesn’t go down. Instead, she claws at me with her long-ass nails, raking them down my arm like fucking claws.

“You helped her!” she snarls, her cold mask of a face contorting into something ugly and feral. “Didn’t you? You killed my fucking brother!”

“Fucking brother,” I grunt, grappling with her as I try to twist my gun around to line up a shot. I’ll shoot her at point blank range if I have to. “Accurate description, coming from you.”