NO SAFE ROAD

Stay Out of The Way

Chapter Seven

The gunshot came from the front room.

Not loud enough to split the walls open, but close enough to turn Mara’s blood cold in a single instant.

She stood in the office doorway, frozen for half a second too long, and then the building seemed to wake all at once.

Shouts. Heavy footsteps. Someone barking orders.

Then another shot.

Mara flinched hard enough to feel it in her shoulders.

Her heart was trying to claw its way out of her chest. Every instinct screamed at her to run toward the noise, to do something, to stop standing uselessly in a room while men outside made the kind of decisions that ended in sirens.

But the office door was still open, and Cole’s warning still echoed in her skull.

Don’t open that door for anyone.

A crash thundered from the hall.

Mara jerked around just in time to see the office door swing wider on its hinges. For one wild second she thought someone had come through it.

Instead, Tessa filled the frame, one hand braced against the wood, eyes sharp and already assessing.

“Stay put,” she snapped.

Mara’s mouth opened. “What happened?”

“Something stupid,” Tessa said.

That was not reassuring.

Another shout sounded from the front room, followed by the ugly crack of wood on wood.

Mara’s pulse stumbled. “Is Cole—”

“Fine,” Tessa said immediately, and too fast.

Mara stared at her.

Tessa looked back, expression flat. “He’s alive.”

That should have helped.

It didn’t.

Mara moved anyway, stepping toward the hall before Tessa caught her by the wrist.

“Don’t make me drag you,” Tessa said.

Mara turned on her. “Let go.”

“Not happening.”

Outside, the sound of a struggle slammed through the wall—grunts, a body hitting something solid, a curse that sounded like one of the brothers.

Mara’s breath caught. “What is going on?”

Tessa’s jaw tightened. “Your ex brought more than a mouth and a warrant.”

The words hit harder than they should have.

Mara felt the room tip slightly. “What does that mean?”

“It means one of the men he came with tried to get into the back hall.”

The blood in Mara’s veins went cold.

“Why?”

Tessa’s eyes stayed on hers. “Because someone wanted whatever’s in this building.”

Mara stared at her.

The answer should not have made sense so fast. That was what made it terrifying.

Tessa’s grip loosened, just slightly, and she lowered her voice. “You said he’d been keeping files. A key. Maybe a flash drive.”

Mara nodded once, barely able to speak.

Tessa’s gaze narrowed. “Then he didn’t come here just to scare you.”

Another shot rang out.

Mara jumped.

This one was closer.

Tessa cursed under her breath and pulled Mara fully into the office, then shoved the door nearly shut behind them without locking it. She went to the desk, checked the drawer, and came back with the handgun still in her hand.

Mara stared at it. “You keep that in a desk drawer?”

Tessa gave her a look. “Where else would I keep it?”

Mara had no answer to that.

The hallway outside was chaos now—fast, ugly movement and voices overlapping so quickly she couldn’t separate them. Then Cole’s voice cut through all of it.

“Down!”

Something heavy slammed into the wall.

Mara startled again, the sound making her stomach twist. “How many are there?”

Tessa’s mouth flattened. “More than I like.”

That was somehow worse than the first answer.

Mara pressed a hand to her ribs, trying to force herself to breathe normally. It didn’t work. “Why are they here?”

Tessa looked at her for a long beat before answering. “Because men like your ex don’t show up with backup unless they think they’re close to something worth stealing.”

Mara swallowed. “The papers.”

“Maybe.”

“But Derek didn’t even know what I took.”

Tessa’s eyes shifted, cool and sharp. “Didn’t he?”

Mara went still.

Tessa was already watching her reaction, and Mara hated how obvious it must have been that she’d been withholding pieces.

“I didn’t know everything,” Mara said carefully. “I told you that.”

“I know.”

“And I already burned the files.”

“I know that too.”

Another impact thudded through the front room. Fainter this time. But close enough to make the floor seem to vibrate under Mara’s feet.

Tessa exhaled through her nose. “What I don’t know is what else he had you carrying around in your head.”

Mara’s mouth went dry.

Tessa’s tone wasn’t accusing. That somehow made it worse.

The office door cracked open wider as Cole appeared in the frame. One knuckle split, shirt untucked, expression hard enough to make the room go still on instinct.

He looked at Tessa first. “How many?”

“Two down,” she said. “Maybe three still moving. One got away from the front room.”

Cole nodded once, then looked at Mara.

His gaze stayed on her for a beat longer than necessary, and she hated that the sight of him—breathing hard, jaw tight, blood on his hand—hit her chest with a stupid, unwelcome rush of relief.

He was fine.

Or at least alive.

That should have been enough.

It wasn’t.

“You okay?” he asked.

The question caught her off guard.

Mara blinked. “I—yes.”

Cole’s eyes moved over her face, checking for the answer in a way that made her feel more seen than comfortable. Then he nodded once, as if satisfied, and turned back to the hall.

Tessa frowned. “What’s the damage?”

“Front room’s a mess,” Cole said. “One of theirs tried to get close to the back hall.”

Mara felt her stomach drop. “Did he get in?”

“No.”

Something in his voice made that sound final.

Tessa took a slow breath. “Good.”

Cole’s gaze shifted to the handgun in Tessa’s hand. “You need that?”

“Yes,” Tessa said without looking away from him. “Unless you’ve got a better idea.”

One corner of his mouth moved, but there was nothing close to humor in it.

Then he looked back at Mara. “We need to move.”

“Where?”

“Somewhere they can’t get to you easily.”

Tessa snorted. “So, not this building.”

Cole’s jaw flexed. “Exactly.”

Mara stared between them. “I’m not going anywhere with a gunfight still happening outside.”

Cole’s eyes pinned hers. “You’re not staying here alone either.”

She wanted to argue. She really did.

But another sound rolled through the hall—fast footsteps, one sharp shout, then the unmistakable thud of a body hitting the floor.

Mara’s breath caught.

Cole turned toward the noise instantly. “Tessa, get her moving.”

Tessa rolled her eyes like this was all deeply inconvenient. “Finally, something I’m good at.”

Before Mara could protest, Tessa grabbed her by the elbow and steered her toward the back door at the far end of the office.

Mara dug in her heels. “Stop—where are we going?”

“Out,” Tessa said.

“No.”

“Interesting choice,” Tessa replied, not slowing at all.

Mara ripped her arm free. “You’re not dragging me somewhere blind while men with guns are—”

The front room exploded in another crash, louder than before.

Mara froze.

Cole appeared behind her in a blink, and for the first time she felt it: not just his presence, but the force of it. A hand closed around her upper arm—not rough, but firm enough to stop her from moving.

His voice dropped low. “Listen to her.”

Mara looked up at him, fury and fear tangling so tightly she could barely separate them. “I don’t like being ordered around.”

“I don’t care,” he said.

The bluntness of it startled a breath out of her.

Then, quieter, he added, “Not right now.”

That should not have mattered.

It did.

Tessa opened the back door and checked the hallway beyond it before jerking her head once. “Move.”

Mara stood still for one more beat, trapped between refusing and following.

Then another shout sounded from the front room, and Cole’s hand tightened just slightly on her arm.

He was not dragging her.

He was making a decision for her because the room had become too dangerous to keep pretending choice was simple.

Mara hated that she understood it.

She hated more that part of her wanted to lean into the safety of it.

They moved into the back hall.

The air changed immediately. Cooler. Narrower. The lights overhead flickered once, then steadied. The clubhouse noise became muffled behind them, reduced to a dim roar and the occasional sharp crack that made Mara keep expecting the walls to split.

Tessa led with the gun low at her side like she’d done this before and had no interest in making it dramatic.

Cole stayed close behind Mara, his hand still on her arm.

Not possessive.

Not quite protective either.

Just there.

That made it worse.

The hall ended in a narrow stairwell and a side exit to the alley. Tessa pushed open the door at the bottom and glanced outside.

“Clear enough,” she said.

Mara paused at the threshold. “Where are you taking me?”

Tessa looked over her shoulder. “Somewhere quieter.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“No,” Tessa agreed. “It’s the one you’re getting.”

Cole stepped beside Mara and finally let go of her arm. She hated that the absence of his hand felt like a loss.

“Go with Tessa,” he said.

Mara turned to him sharply. “And you?”

He looked past her, back toward the noise inside the clubhouse. “I’m staying here until this is finished.”

Her stomach tightened. “Cole—”

His gaze landed on hers, steady and unreadable. “She’s not getting through that door.”

Mara searched his face for something else. Some hint that he was saying this because he wanted to protect her, not because he thought she was a liability or a complication. She found both possibilities and hated that she couldn’t tell which one mattered more.

A sudden shout cut through the building behind them.

Then Tessa was grabbing Mara by the shoulder again, gentler this time but still unyielding. “Move.”

Mara took one step toward the alley, then stopped and looked back at Cole.

For one second, in the harsh spill of hallway light, he looked exactly like the kind of man people wrote warnings about and then ignored until it was too late.

His eyes met hers.

Something passed between them there—quick, sharp, and impossible to name cleanly.

Then he said, low enough that only she could hear, “Stay out of the way.”

Mara blinked at him.

It should have annoyed her.

Instead it landed somewhere in her chest with the force of a promise.

Tessa moved first, and Mara followed because the sound of another crash behind them made the choice for her.

They crossed into the alley just as the clubhouse windows flashed with reflected movement from inside.

Mara turned back once.

Through the narrow rear door, she saw Cole step into the shadowed hall again, shoulders squared, blood on one hand, gun in the other.

Then the door swung shut.

And the entire building seemed to hold its breath.