He Didn’t Kidnap Me. Not Exactly novel Chapter 222

Chapter 222

Another body crashed down… and the room detonated into motion.

“What the-”

The last of Aria’s men swung his rifle toward the sound.

Too late.

DeLuca was already moving.

He crossed the distance in a blur, catching the rifle before the man could fire. One sharp twist ripped it from his grip, and an elbow crashed into the man’s face with enough force to send him sprawling unconscious across the floor.

The entire exchange lasted only seconds.

I barely had time to breathe. Then movement caught the corner of my eye.

One of the men who had been shot… was still alive. Bleeding heavily, he reached weakly toward the rifle lying beside him.

No.

My mouth opened.

“DeLu-”

Before I could warn him, DeLuca moved first. Without even turning completely around, he hurled the rifle he had collected from

the last guy.

The weapon spun through the air like a spear before smashing into the wounded man’s head with a sickening crack.

His fingers went limp.

His body collapsed. And time… he didn’t move again.

Everything had happened so quickly that my mind couldn’t keep up. One moment the apartment had belonged to Aria.

The next… every one of her men was down.

The silence that followed lasted barely a heartbeat before everything changed again.

Aria seized me tighter.

One arm wrapped violently around my shoulders while the pistol jammed harder against the side of my head. She dragged me backward, using me as a shield as she spun toward the direction the gunshots had come from.

Only then did I finally see him.

A man stood near the rear entrance; one of DeLuca’s men. Smoke still drifted from the barrel of the rifle in his hands.

He had been behind us, behind everyone. The entire time. Before I could properly process what I was seeing-

Another gunshot erupted.

The man staggered, his eyes widened. And then he crumpled onto the floor.

Aria shifted behind me. She had shot him. My heart lurched.

Now… it was only her and us.

She swung the pistol toward DeLuca instantly, her breathing no longer steady. The composure she’d worn since arriving had disappeared completely as her chest rose and fell rapidly, and her grip on me tightened until it hurt.

“Stay back!”

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