Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 79781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
My stomach feels like a pit. “But I ran. So they never got their money.”
Roman is staring into the fire with his eyes wide.
“No. It is still too close to home. Too much of a coincidence. The Malettis want to make my life hell… so how did I end up watching over one of the kidnapping victims that they failed to score?”
“Yegor is the one who connected us with Tate,” Maks says. “Yegor despises the Malettis. He couldn’t have purposely led them here… no?”
Roman’s expression is unreadable.
My heart sinks.
“You know what this means?” Maks asks, staring directly at Roman.
I’m too afraid to ask.
“I do know what it means,” Roman says, standing up from the couch.
17
Roman
Yegor.
Yegor knew.
This whole fucking time.
Yegor is the one who informed me about the job to protect Tate, taking him under my wing here at Crimson.
So Yegor had to have known that the Malettis were after Tate.
Growing up around bad people means that you learn to never see a coincidence as purely random. There is always a reason. A common denominator.
The only link that we had to Tate Landrey was through Luke Landrey.
And the only link that Luke Landrey had to us… was through a mutual friend with Yegor.
I made the mistake of trusting that the job was clean. But Yegor must have lied to me, and to Tate’s brother, too.
How the fuck… how could any of this have happened?
I’m walking back upstairs before I realize my feet are taking me there. I slide open my safe drawer and pull out a second gun, another knife, and a length of rope, shoving a different weapon into each of my pockets, and a knife into my boot.
When I get back downstairs Tate is surrounded by the rest of the guys.
My heart squeezes in my chest.
He is safe. Here. At least for this moment.
But if I don’t do what needs to be done, he will never be safe again, for the rest of his life.
“Tate,” I tell him. “Can I speak to you? Alone?”
He gets up from the sofa, following me down the hall toward the kitchen. I stand beside the long table, taking both of his arms in my hands.
“Is this where you tell me the job is no longer worth the money?” he asks, puffing out a feeble laugh.
“Never. No job has ever been more worth it.” He nods, but I can tell he isn’t convinced. “I don’t know what it would take to convince you that you aren’t a burden, but if it takes me dying for you, I will gladly do it.”
“What? You can’t die. No one can even fucking touch you.”
“Usually, that is true. But if people in my family are leading the Malettis right to me, again, then I don’t know how deep the loyalties run. Yegor tells me that he hates them. Sends me photos of their blood. But I think it’s all a show. A show he’s been putting on for all of us, fuck—”
Tate tilts his head up and crushes his lips to mine, over and over and over again. “You can’t die,” he murmurs against my lips. “It isn’t possible. You’re fucking immortal.”
Nothing has ever been less true.
I’m not afraid of my own death, but that doesn’t make me immortal.
“Listen to me, Tate. I need to go to Yegor. And you will not come with me.”
His eyes dance over my face. “When?”
“Now.”
“Fuck.”
“You will stay here with Hunter and Rayne. Hunter can protect you, and you will be safe in this house tonight. But you cannot come with me to see Yegor. It’s what he wants. It’s what he’s been planning on.”
“I’m coming with you anyway.”
“You are not.”
He glares at me, something burning behind his eyes. “You think you’re going to stop me?”
“Yes, I do. Hunter is actually someone I know I can trust, and he won’t let you slip away alone. Trust me on this.”
“Nothing will fucking matter to me anymore if you get hurt.”
“You cannot see this side of me,” I tell him firmly.
I’m so keenly aware of every weapon on my body right now.
I’m aware that Yegor will have just as many.
And if he has company at his house, nothing will be safe.
But Tate’s eyes hold a vast emptiness that nearly breaks my heart.
“You think I’ll never be able to handle seeing the different sides of you, Roman,” he says softly. “But I’ve already seen them. I already know you, even if you think you’re so good at hiding yourself—”
“Beauty,” I whisper, my voice low, “please don’t…”
“And I’m not afraid,” Tate finally says. “I’m scared shitless of the freak who’s threatening me, and my life in general, but I’m not afraid of you. The real you. I haven’t feared you since the moment you told me the truth.”
I shake my head. “You will understand one day why you should be afraid to want me.”