“Why can’t I arrest her?” Ronan asked. He had a feeling he knew exactly why.
“Celestina didn’t shoot Jack,” Everly said. She got out of her seat and walked to Celestina. “You didn’t do this. We both know-”
A commotion from behind Ronan interrupted what Everly was saying. He spun around to see Vincent charging at them. “You stupid bitch!” Vincent shoved Tennyson out of the way and grabbed Celestina with one hand, the other grabbed Everly.
Ronan’s first instinct was to pull his gun and demand that Vincent release Everly, but there were so many ways this could go wrong. He didn’t want a firearm anywhere near his daughter. Looking to Fitz and Jude, he saw their train of thought was on the same tracks. Neither had pulled their guns, but Jude’s hand was on his knife’s hilt. “Let them go, Vincent. Donotmake me ask you again.”
“My daughter is a lying bitch. I won’t let her ruin everything I spent a lifetime building.” Vincent tightened his grip on Celestina causing her to cry out. Everly, meanwhile was doing everything she could to get out Vincent’s grasp.
Ronan watched as Everly pummeled his shin with kicks. Unfortunately, they didn’t seem to bother Vincent one bit.
Ronan realized there was only one thing he could do. He pulled his gun and pointed it at Vincent’s head. He’d say a million Hail Marys when this was over for putting Everly in the literal line of fire. All that mattered now was getting her away from Vincent. “Let them go,” Ronan growled. “I won’t ask again.”
With a snarl, Vincent shoved Everly away from him. She landed hard on her bottom and looked as if she was going to get right back into the fight. Tennyson stood a few feet away, but made no move to grab his daughter and pull her out of danger.
It dawned on Ronan why. The vision. Tennysonwasthe danger.
The arena had gone dead still. No one moved. No one breathed. Ronan was about to order Vincent to release his own daughter when another voice came out of nowhere.
“Vincent! God damn you. I missed the first time, but I won’t miss the second time.”
Spinning around, Ronan saw Nava, Celestina’s mother, standing behind him, pointing a gun of her own at Vincent. Gone was the fragile, enfeebled woman Ronan had seen the other day. Nava stood tall and wore a fuck-around-and-find-out look on her face.
“Nava, you need to put the gun down,” Ronan said softly. “Let’s not make this situation any worse than it already is. Please.” He held his own gun in his right hand with the muzzle pointing down at the floor.
“Forty years I’ve put up with this bastard abusing and controlling me. I’ve had enough. Take your hands off my daughter or I’ll put a bullet right between your eyes.”
Vincent laughed. “Go ahead. If you shoot me, Ronan shoots you. That’s wraps my problem up in a nice, neat package. You’ll be dead and my bitch daughter will spend the rest of her life in jail.”
“Please don’t make me shoot you, Nava.” Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed movement. Kent was standing, out of Vincent’s sight in the hallway that led to the dressing rooms. Ronan knew exactly what Kent was going to do. He needed to stop Kent. If Nava fired wild because of Kent he knew exactly where that bullet was going to end up; in Ten’s heart. Ronan sent out a warning to Tennyson, Cope and Carson, who took a giant step to his right.
Nava, seeing Carson move, pivoted and swung the gun toward him.
Carson froze and put his hands in the air.
Jesus, Carson using himself as bait wasn’t what Ronan had in mind when he’d called out a warning about Kent. Carson had already been shot once. He’d taken a bullet meant for Truman when a disgruntled former employee brought a gun to a company Christmas party. Thankfully, Carson had been okay, but it had been a close call.
“Put down the gun, Nava. You don’t want your daughter to see you shoot someone,” Carson commanded.
“No, but I do!” Vincent shoved Celestina to the floor. He charged at Nava like a raging bull, slamming into her and knocking her to the ground.
Ronan could see the two of them wrestling for the gun. “Ten! Grab Everly and get the hell out of here!” That gun could go off at any second and he wanted his husband and daughter as far away from it as possible.
Ten did what Ronan asked. He scooped up Everly and ran for the tunnel leading to the locker rooms. Cope and Carson were right behind him.
Fitzgibbon pulled his own gun. “Vincent stop! Drop the gun.”
A single shot rang out. A pained cry followed. Ronan, Fitz, and Jude hit the floor.
Vincent started to laugh. “I finally got you! You’re dead bitch!” Still laughing, Vincent shoved Nava aside and started to stand up.
Ronan got quickly to his feet with his gun still trained on Vincent, who thankfully was not holding the his own gun. “I don’t think so.” He pointed to Vincent’s midsection, which was covered in blood.
“What the-” Vincent fell to the floor.
Ronan stalked toward Vincent, while Fitz and Jude went for Nava. He saw Jude grab the gun and tuck it into the back of his waistband. He got down on his knees to assess Vincent’s gunshot wound.
“Don’t just stand there, fucking help me,” Vincent demanded.
