Page 26 of The Hitman’s Obsession

“If you don’t what?”

The floor nearly cracks as Roman stomps his foot hard, putting all his weight behind it. I jump back. That must have driven the glass even deeper into his sole, but he doesn’t even acknowledge it.

“It doesn’t matter because I’m not going to do it!”

He’s keeping something important from me, and that’s not okay. We are not going to be a couple that hides things. We’re standing here completely naked in front of each other, but it’s not true intimacy if we can’t share everything.

“Roman. What do they want you to do? This is my father we’re talking about.”

From the way he shakes his head, I see he knows I’m right. But he really doesn’t want to tell me. He cracks his neck again, rolls his shoulders, and slams a fist into his palm.

“They want me to go meet with them to ‘discuss the terms’ of getting him back.” His voice trails off.

“And?”

“And they want me to bring you.”

Now I get it. Why Roman didn’t want to talk about the conversation on the phone. It’s obvious why they want me to go with him.

They want to kill me.

You don’t have to be a trained killer or a mobster to get that.

And I should just listen to him. I should just do whatever he says. He’ll get us out of this. I know he will.

But even though my dad is a total dick that left me with daddy issues that run deeper than the Marianas Trench, I still can’t live with the thought of something terrible happening to him because of a choice I made.

He’s still my dad and the only family I have left.

Gritting my teeth, I look to Roman.

“We’re going.”

His face hardens. That smile is gone. The gentleman is gone. All that’s left is the danger. The killer.

“Absolutely not.”

9

ROMAN

My heart is chugging so hard in my chest that it hurts. Actual pain. And not because I was just in a gunfight either. Because I can’t stand the thought of losing Annie.

It’s a setup. Of course it’s a fucking setup.

There’s a good chance Jimmy doesn’t even have Annie’s dad and is just making shit up to lure us into a trap.

All my instincts are homed into the same thing. Protect Annie at all costs.

She’s made me a new man. Revived the parts of me I thought were dead. If I were to lose her now, I’d lose everything. And where would I be then? Back to the shell of the man I was? Back behind the barrel of a gun?

No. This is my life now. She is my life now. And nothing will happen to her.

Eyes flaring, Annie gets right up in my face. She looks at me with no fear whatsoever. In fact, she looks ready for a fight.

“You may be bigger than me, Roman. And you may be able to dominate me in the bedroom, but that doesn’t mean you get to control every aspect of my life.”

“Annie—”