Free Basement Level 5: Never Scared by L. R. Wright Page A

to know the answer to that myself. But now is not the time. Take your ass back down to B5. Now.”
    Nicholas turned and left without a word. Dro stepped over to Alexa and gently squeezed her arm. When her arm grew lax, he gripped her hand and took her gun. He secured the safety and tossed it over to Chase.
    “ Clean this up,” Dro ordered.
     

CHAPTER 10
     
     
    Alexa fled toward the stairs, leaving them to clean up the mess.
    “ Baby?” Dro’s voice stopped her in her tracks. She clinched her fists together and forced herself to breath slowly. “Baby, don’t run from me,” he said. “Remember, I’m the only one who knows you cry after every mission.”
    With tears in her eyes, she whirled around to face him. His thumb caught the first teardrop that escaped as he gathered her close. She sobbed openly into his shirt while he whispered nonsensical words in her ear.
    It seemed like they had stood there forever when she eventually broke away and gazed into his smoky eyes.
    He stroked her moist cheeks. “It’s okay, baby.”
    “ It’s not, Dro.” She cleared her throat when her voice cracked. “I told myself I would never raise a gun to kill again. That I would never put my family in harm’s way again, never put myself in the position to have to do something like that!”
    “ You didn’t put yourself in that position. He came here to kill you. That’s on him, not you.”
    “ Dro, you can’t seriously believe that. He came here to avenge his brother’s death. You know as well as I do that was a direct result of my actions.”
    “ That’s not true. Paul tried to rape you. He knocked you down. He ripped your underwear off. He cut your stomach. Killing him was self-defense.”
    “ Maybe,” she admitted. “But there were many others that weren’t self-defense. Besides, Paul flipped out because I made him think I wanted him. I played him just like all the others. Others who didn’t deserve what I did to them. I told you, we have done so much dirt. It was bound to come back on us. And I can’t—” She swallowed, trying to ease the lump in her throat. “—I can’t help but feel like we deserve everything that comes to us.”
    “ Alexa, you heard what Tommy said. The person who hired him was Melissa. This has nothing to do with our business.”
    “ That we know of. We don’t know who the other person is, the man she’s working with.”
    “ But we’ll find out and stop them.” He rested his hands on her folded arms. “Don’t do this to yourself. We made decisions based on the life we led then and the choices our parents made for us. We’re trying to make it better, and sometimes it just doesn’t work. But we can’t give up on that dream. And we can’t stop fighting.”
    She shook her head and stepped back from him. But when she tried to turn away from him, he grabbed her head with his hands so she couldn’t avoid eye contact. She sighed. “Dro, please, you know I’m right. That’s why I can’t do this anymore.” She pushed him back, pulled her knife out, and dropped it on the floor. “I promised myself I wouldn’t harm another human being. I made that promise for my children. We made these changes so our kids could have a better life.”
    “ You’re right,” he agreed. “We’re parents, and no, we can’t act like we used to. We’ve done things in our lives that...I don’t even need to say it. I understand where you’re coming from. I don’t particularly like that the kids are involved. And I know you don’t want Ky and Alex to see this side of you or to grow up striving to be like you. But we do want them to grow up, baby. That means we have to protect them.” He searched her face. “It’s fine to want something better for our children. I do too, baby. But you can’t keep hiding, running from the past. You shouldn’t deny who you are, Alexa.”
    She choked back another sob. “I’m a killer, Dro. Do you want me to wear an assassin’s badge? If there was ever a past