The Demise Read Free Page A

left, going in the opposite direction as Aries hustled her ass out of there, pushing Carter swiftly down the hall. She burst through the emergency room doors. The ambulance they had hijacked was waiting there, engine running.
    â€œMiamor!” she yelled. “Help me!” Aries rushed to the back of the vehicle and pulled the doors open. Her heart dropped when she found Miamor sitting at gunpoint at the hands of a hired Arabian goon.
    â€œShoot him!” Miamor shouted.
    The man shouted something in Arabic as he pointed his gun at Miamor’s temple while holding her in a choke hold.
    â€œKill him, Aries! Shoot him! Now!” Miamor shouted.
    the man barked his orders, and although Aries didn’t understand them, she clearly read the look of malice in his eyes. He was ready to commit murder. She had already lost so many of her friends. She didn’t want to see Miamor get her brains blown out in front of her. She straightened her trigger finger and let the gun dangle from it as she raised both arms.
    â€œAries!” Miamor shouted. The man pointed his gun at Aries, and just as his finger curled on the trigger, Carter pulled the gun out of Aries’s back waistline. He was weak, but he was always accurate. He fired.
    BOOM!
    The man’s body jerked violently as a bullet to the forehead sent him flying onto his back. Miamor rushed to Carter’s side, kneeling before him as she cupped his face, kissing him repeatedly. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry, Carter.” The way that they nuzzled into each other’s space reminded Aries of two lions. Each of them was powerful in their own right, but they were each other’s weakness.
    â€œFeels like I’m dying, ma,” he whispered. His words sent a chill down her spine, and a tear fell down her cheek.
    â€œI won’t let that happen, baby, I swear,” she said.
    â€œLet’s get him up here,” Aries said, interrupting the moment, as the sounds of gunshots and police sirens broke through the air.
    Miamor and Aries struggled to lift Carter into the ambulance without hurting him. “Agh! Fuck! Take it easy!” he shouted in pain as they managed to get him inside. Miamor climbed into the back of the ambulance as Aries rushed to the driver’s seat.
    â€œMoney’s still inside,” Carter said as they pulled away from the curb. “Don’t move this fucking ambulance without my brother!”
    â€œWe have to, Carter,” Miamor whispered. “There are too many of them. If we go back in…”
    Miamor stopped talking because they both knew what was happening. They were about to lose another Diamond. She gripped Carter’s hand, and it didn’t go unnoticed when he didn’t squeeze hers back. Miamor was the cause of all of this. She knew it. So did he. Their entire empire was in jeopardy. This war was her fault.
    *   *   *
    Carter struggled to breathe as he attempted to stand up out of the wheelchair.
    â€œNo, Carter, you have to sit,” Miamor urged as she steadied him just in the nick of time. He couldn’t make it from the wheelchair to his desk. He was hurt bad and sweating profusely. “You’re trying to do too much. Just tell me what you need.”
    â€œCall Monroe,” he ordered.
    â€œOkay, okay,” Miamor replied as she immediately dialed the number.
    Carter took three deep breaths and then managed to pull himself to his feet as he walked through the penthouse suite toward his office. It felt like he was running a marathon. His heart and lungs burned as if he were in full sprint.
    â€œCarter! No!” Miamor said as she brought the wheelchair up behind him and he eased back into it. He was so weak; it was humbling and frustrating all at the same time. He wasn’t running anything, not in his current state.
    â€œMoney isn’t answering,” Miamor said, her voice solemn, assuming his death.
    Carter closed his eyes. Her