Page 20

“Now, please, Brady. I’ll explain later.” She turned him, ushering him toward his room while glancing back at me nervously. “Please stay in bed until I come in.”

She didn’t give him time to argue as she closed the door and stood in front of it like a frazzled sentinel.

“Go.” She stiffened, standing straight. “I don’t know who you are or what you want or⁠—”

“No.” I shook my head, trying not to stare at her for too long. If I did, it’d be like looking into the damn sun. I’d be stuck and unable to stop.

“No?” Her jaw dropped. “No? No.” She shook her head, stating it rather than asking it. “No. I’m not letting you tell me— No. Go. I don’t know what you want from me and⁠—”

I stepped forward, keeping my voice down like she was so Brady couldn’t be able to overhear as well. “I want you alive.” That was the plainest truth. It was also the complete opposite of my order. I only knew she existed on this planet because I was supposed to kill her as a loose end to the latest claim that Gregori was dead.

She blinked, shaking her head again.

“I killed those two hitmen.”

Again, her lips parted as her jaw dropped.

Fuck, was that putting some ideas in my head. I resisted the urge to imagine those plump pink lips wrapped around my dick, her doe eyes so innocent as she looked up at me.

Not the time!

“If I hadn’t gotten here first, you’d be dead.” I pointed at the bedroom door she blocked. “So would he.”

She pressed her lips together and shook her head some more. Now, the glistening sheen of almost-shed tears emphasized the light blue of her eyes.

“But…” She sniffled once. “I don’t understand.”

“Then we’ll try to understand it together.”

She narrowed her eyes, as if the idea of doing anything with me appalled her. “You said first. You said if you hadn’t gotten here first.”

I waited her out.

“Were you intending to come here, to be here…” She lowered her gaze to where my gun was holstered behind my suit jacket. “You’re… you’re the same. You’re… you’re a hitman too.”

We were getting sidetracked here. Explaining who I was wouldn’t be a quick or easy conversation. It wasn’t one I wanted to have here, where Konstantin hitmen could come to finish the job. I didn’t recognize these two by name. They were probably newer contracts to the smaller Bratva, but it didn’t really matter. She was targeted by more than just us. Her safety was compromised here.

With this newfound urgency not to kill her but to kill to keep her alive, I had to relocate her.

Both of them.

“You need to go.” Her throat flexed as she forced a swallow. “You need to go. I… Thank you. Thank you for stopping them from hurting me but… but… you need to go.”

I watched her, committing to the fact that she really was an innocent.

She seemed so bewildered, confused and lost.

And she was clearly naïve to even think that she could tell me what to do.

“No. We need to go.” I reached for the man on the floor. “We need to get out of here before anyone else tries to follow up.”

She gawked at me again as I dragged the body behind the couch, where the boy wouldn’t see him when he walked out with her.

“You’re insane. I’m not going anywhere with you.”

I stopped dragging the man. “Because I didn’t just save you? Sure, that’s logical.”

“I don’t…” She rounded the couch, watching me like a hawk. “Nothing is logical. Nothing. Not to have three hitmen in my house, much less one who’s a complete stranger demanding I leave with him.”