Page 120 of Hide Little Traitor

My priority is making sure Chloe is safe, and right now that means hiding away when my instincts scream at me to fight.

It’s not like me to take a backseat during conflict, but I won’t let her down.

Not again.

She tugs my hand, forcing me to stop in my tracks. “Leave me here. Go back and help them, I promise I’ll stay here. I won’t follow you. Just please don’t leave them.”

I sigh and grasp her shoulders, forcing her to look up at me. “Duchess, they are highly trained. They will be fine until backup arrives, but they will kill me if they find out I left you by yourself out here.”

Her eyes dart back toward the motel, panic raging in the green I’ve spent so many years trying to avoid looking into. “I can’t leave them, Damon,” she whispers. “I can’t lose them the way I lost my parents.”

Pain radiates through my chest at her words because I did that.

I may not have been the one who pulled the trigger at the end, but I was the one who tortured Neil. I was the one who stood there and allowed them to be hurt for something I was never convinced they were guilty of.

Tugging her into my arms, I hold her tight against my chest, reveling in the feel of her after so many years.

I used to hug her every single day growing up, the feeling was burned into my mind, and I found myself craving her warmth whenever she wasn’t by my side.

And it didn’t matter how hard I tried to convince myself I hated her, that I felt nothing for the best friend whose heart I tore apart at every opportunity—it was never true.

I wanted it to be. I was desperate to hate her the way I told her I did. But when you’ve spent your entire existence loving someone, hating them is impossible.

“You’re not going to lose them, Duchess. They’re going to be just fine and back to annoying the shit out of me by the time the sun rises.”

Perhaps I shouldn’t make promises I can’t keep, but if it means keeping Chloe safe, I’ll tell as many lies as I have to.

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes, I do. You think Ronan pined after you for a decade, never touching another woman, just to die when he finally has you? You think Kingston spent years rebuilding his life so there was a safe place for you just to leave you? And don’t get me started on that golden retriever you call a bodyguard. There’s nothing on this earth that can take them from you, Chloe.”

For a moment I think she’s going to argue, but then she leans into my chest and her arms wrap around me, holding me just as tight as I’m holding her.

I try to think about the last time I was hugged, and my stomach clenches when I realize I can’t think of when it was or who hugged me.

I’ve lived half my life without love, without affection, just to be dragged straight back into Chloe’s orbit.

Headlights on the road remind me what we’re running from, and I drop a quick kiss to the top of her head before pulling away.

“Come on, Duchess. Let’s find somewhere safe to hide until it’s safe.” I clutch her hand in mine, tugging her a few steps further into the trees, but then I hear it.

It’s so quiet that most people would miss it, but I’d know the safety flicking off a gun even in the loudest of rooms.

I look up just in time to see a masked man approaching us. His steps are precise, but he never takes his eyes off us.

“Drop the guns,” he demands.

His voice isn’t familiar, which just confirms my father isn’t behind this, but it would be easier if he was. I know him, I know how he operates, and I’ve spent years studying his men in preparation for becoming their boss.

A soft sob vibrates through Chloe’s body as she follows his order. We spent years training her to make sure she had the best chance at survival if she were ever caught in a position like this one, and the most important lesson we taught was to always comply.

My grip tightens around my own weapon as I consider how quickly I could get a shot off. I’m quick, but am I willing to risk Chloe getting shot because my ego tells me I can beat this motherfucker?

No.

I swallow around the lump in my throat and toss my gun a few feet away, angling my body in front of Chloe’s in the process.

“Damon,” she hisses.