The air in the safe house was thick with the scent of gun oil and the lingering, bitter ghost of Zeno’s cologne. I didn’t look at Thal. I couldn’t. My mind was trapped in a loop of Zeno’s voice:Thalassios just made his leash out of silk.
“He’s a master of psychological warfare, Daphne.” Thal’s voice broke the quiet, low and rough. I felt him move behind me, his heat radiating like a warning. “He knows exactly where to twist the knife to make you doubt me.”
I turned, my eyes meeting his. He looked like a king who had won the battle but was losing the war. “He didn’t have to twist anything, Thal. He just pointed out the bruise you’d already left.”
Thal flinched, a flicker of genuine pain crossing his face before his expression hardened into that familiar, territorial mask. He stepped into my space, his hand coming up to cup my jaw. His thumb traced my lower lip, his touch both possessive and desperate.
“I lied to keep you breathing,” he whispered, his forehead pressing against mine. “If that makes it a leash, then so be it. I’ll be the villain if it means you’re still standing when the smoke clears.”
I gripped his wrists, not to pull his hand away, but to hold it. I was addicted to the very thing that suffocated me. “Rhea is at the marina. The black ledger, the one I told Zeno about, is the only way to kill her influence for good.”
Thal’s eyes darkened as the hunter in him snapped back to the surface. “Then we hit the marina tomorrow. We finish Rhea, and then...”
“And then?” I pressed.
“And then I deal with Zeno,” he growled, his mouth hovering inches from mine. “He was right about one thing. I’m never letting you go back to him. Not now. Not ever.”
He kissed me then, a hard, desperate collision that tasted like salt and iron. As I melted into the darkness of his embrace, I realized Zeno’s warning wasn't just a threat. It was a prophecy.
The war for the city was moving toward its final bloodbath, but as I looked into Thal’s obsessive, dark gaze, I realized Zeno was right about one thing.
This wasn't a rescue. It was a transfer of ownership.
The war for Vegas was ending, but the war for my soul? That battle was just beginning, and I was the only one who would walk away from the wreckage.
Nineteen
TRUST TESTED
THAL
“That’s the place?” Daphne asked, her finger tracing a spot on the map spread out on my dining room table.
“Yes, that’s it,” I replied. “But we’ve kept the location a secret from everyone involved this time.”
“We can’t do this alone, Thal. It’s too dangerous.”
“We won’t be alone. I’d never risk putting you in that kind of danger. Our men will be on standby. When we need them, when the moment is right, we’ll summon them. The target’s exact location remains a secret until the last moment. No leaks, no surprises.”
Daphne looked at me, uncertainty flickering in her eyes.
“How can we be sure Rhea and the syndicate won’t see us coming?” she asked.
“We can’t.” I shrugged. “But my team has been surveilling the site for weeks. They’ve clocked every camera within a mile radius. My technical team already has a plan in place to disrupt the feed on each of them at my command. This will be donewell before we begin to approach. And, of course, any men surrounding the premises will be eliminated by our preliminary guards immediately. We’ve covered every alarm that might alert them to our presence.”
“The jamming sequence starts at T-minus three minutes,” Daphne said, her finger tapping the marina’s north dock. She looked like a technician calculating the odds. “If your team misses the third camera on the pier, the silent approach is dead.”
I looked at her, at the sharp, lethal line of her jaw and the cold precision in her eyes. Gone was the ward Zeno had tried to break. In that place, I saw a technician of death. She’d dissected my plan before I’d even finished the preamble.
“My team doesn't miss, Daphne,” I rumbled, a dark pride blooming in my chest. “But you’re right. Rhea is a cornered animal, and tonight, we’re the ones holding the cage open.”
Maybe talking nonstop wasn’t what she needed.
They always said men needed to listen more, didn’t they? Maybe I was foolish for not trying that first, but I decided to do it now. I stood and walked over to her, pulling her to her feet.
“Tell me what’s haunting you,beauty,” I rumbled, pulling her into my heat. I wanted to anchor her. I’d longed to strip her bare since the moment she walked in, but the look in her eyes told me she was drowning in thoughts I hadn't been invited to yet.
She leaned into me, her sigh catching against my chest. “I’m worried about the plan, Thal. But mostly … I’m worried about after.”
