“Sleeping,” Georgie answered. “I got her to drink some water.”
“Thanks.”
Nash gripped my shoulder. “Any time, Cole. You know that.” He wrapped an arm around Georgie. “We’ll head home. By the way, Theo scheduled extra security patrols around the villas. On a random schedule.”
“Good idea.” Goodyear and Kamensky knew she was here. It paid to be prepared for anything. Tonight had proven that.
After they’d left, I locked the door and set my security system.
The bedroom was quiet. The curtains were open, light filtering in. Lili was in the middle of the bed and it looked like she was sleeping soundly.
As soon as I sat down, she stirred and rolled over.
“Cole?”
“Shh, baby, I’m here.” I touched her hair.
In the darkness, I saw the whiteness of her smile. “Good. You okay?”
“Yeah. How are you feeling?”
“Sleepy. I woke up and you weren’t here.”
“I’m here now.”
She tugged on my arm, and I lay down beside her. I pulled her closer and she snuggled in without hesitation.
And suddenly, everything felt right in my world.
I breathed in and felt my chest loosen for the first time since I’d pushed open that bathroom door.
“Where did you go?” she murmured.
I was silent for a moment. I felt her tense, like she expected me to lie to her. “I went to leave Goodyear a message.”
Her hand played with the button on my shirt. “Georgie told me that he killed your team.”
Damn. “I went tonight because of what he did to you, Lili. But I want to take him down for both you and Delta Team.”
“Tell me about them.” Her voice was slow and lazy. I was certain the drugs weren’t out of her system yet.
“Their names were Brent Green, Austin Ramirez, August Zillman. We called him Gus.” My lips quirked. “They were the funniest, most loyal fuckers I knew.”
“And your name wasn’t Cole Black back then, was it?” Her fingers stroked my arm.
I stared at the ceiling.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” she said hurriedly. “Sorry, I was?—”
“Jason Quinn. My name was Jason. But that man died in Mexico alongside his friends. We were on a job, thought we were providing security for a legit company. When we realized drugs were involved, we refused to transport them. Apparently, Goodyear gave the order to give our location to the cartel. They ambushed us.”
“I’m so sorry, Cole,” she whispered.
“Since everyone thought I was already dead, I changed my name, recuperated, then became the Darkwolf. I wanted every skill I needed to find who was responsible for Delta Team’s deaths and take him out.”
“Why haven’t you killed him?”
“Because it would be over too quickly. He doesn’t deserve it to be quick.” It hadn’t been quick for Ramirez.
