Page 7 of Flawed Revenge

Maybe they weren't going to kill her?

If they tried, she’d fight as hard as she could, but she wasn't stupid, and she knew she wouldn't win.

I'm sorry, sweetie-pie.

It was becoming clearer by the second that she never should have come. Desperation made you do crazy things, but if she’d known there was a chance she wouldn't have made it back home, she wouldn't have come. At worst, she’d thought Leo would turn her away. How could she have ever predicted this?

“Eagle said he gave you this address,” Leo announced, and more of the tension seemed to bleed out of the men surrounding her, although she had no idea why it was such a big deal that she had come.

“I don’t lie,” she said, jutting her chin out with a confidence that was more fake than genuine. Surely he remembered that at least about her, even if he’d forgotten how much he once said he loved her.

“He didn't say why,” Leo added, the question in his voice clear. He wanted to know why, after a decade, she’d gone to so much effort to track him down.

When he found out the reason, he was going to be furious.

Because sometimes she did lie.

And she’d told Leo a pretty massive one. Not that she regretted it. Not for a single second over the last ten years had she ever once wished that she had done what she’d agreed to. Well, she’d never actually agreed. Leo had given her an order, and she’d decided not to follow it. Maybe that wasn't really a lie, but she was pretty sure Leo wasn't going to see it the same way.

“You really want to do this like this?” she asked. “With guns pointed at me, with my hands cuffed like I'm some sort of criminal. With an audience?”

Just because she had no idea of the dynamic between these men, it was obvious that they knew each other well enough to work together like a well-oiled machine. Maybe they wouldn't care about the position Leo had put her in, but maybe they would.

“No, not like this,” Leo said, his tone softening, and there was something in his gaze that she didn't allow herself to recognize.

If she did, it would only lead to more pain. And not just for her.

The man beside her released his hold on her, reached behind her, and the next second her arms fell apart as the cuffs were obviously cut off from around her wrists. Even though her wrists hadn't been bound for more than a couple of minutes, it was enough time to disrupt blood flow, and pins and needles assaulted her as it was returned to normal.

Gasping at the unexpected pain, Kate moved her arms in front of her and tried to rub at them.

Before she could blink, Leo was there. Taking her arms so very gently in his grasp and rubbing them for her.

“Will only hurt for a minute,” he murmured. “We didn't know it was you.”

She had no idea what that meant. Why it should matter who had turned up at the gate. Or the implications of how this would have turned out if it were someone else.

Having him touch her again was … overwhelming to say the least.

It wasn't like she could completely overcome the fact that she’d loved this man since she was eight. Back then, it hadn't mattered that he was fourteen and saw her as nothing more than his annoying little sister’s equally annoying best friend, she’d loved him with her whole young heart.

That love had only grown over time, and when she was eighteen and he was twenty-four, and he finally saw her as a woman rather than a child, it had literally felt like all her dreams had come true.

Until he ripped it all away.

Now she was there, seeing him again, he was nothing like she remembered, but it didn't change the reason for being there.

When she noticed that the other five men had moved back a bit into a small huddle off to the side, seemingly engaged in their own conversation, Kate risked a glance at Leo’s face. The way he looked at the red marks on her wrists made her shiver all over again, and she couldn’t take his touch a second longer.

“My arms are feeling better,” she whispered.

Leo nodded but continued to massage them for a few more seconds before somewhat reluctantly releasing her. “We can go inside to talk.”

No. She had to get this out now. Besides, she wasn't sure she wanted to be in an enclosed space with these men.

“I didn't get the abortion,” she blurted out. Better to just get it over and done with, put that out there.

From his gasp, it was hard to tell if Leo was more shocked or angry. His friends also looked over at her, but she didn't think she’d spoken loud enough for them to hear her, so they must have just sensed the increased tension.