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This is getting more intriguing—and more anxiety inducing—by the second. “Tell me you’re not planning on just walking in there and opening fire.”

“Spoken like a true civilian who has no idea how things work.” He unfolds his body from the sofa, shaking his head disapprovingly at me. “No, I’m not going to go in there, both guns blazing. I’m not suicidal.”

“But you’re not going just to get a look at him, are you?” I don’t even know why I keep pushing for information, since everything he tells me makes me just a little more anxious than I was before.

“No, I’m not.” He turns on his heel halfway to the bedroom, folding his arms. “I’m going to take him out.”

“ . . . to dinner?”

“Yes, which is why I need to get a shower and dress up nice. I want to impress him.” When he continues toward the bedroom, he shakes his head, muttering under his breath. “To dinner. Jesus Christ.”

He’s going to kill somebody tonight. I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around that. How do I feel about it? I mean, murderers are bad people, right?

But what if they’re committing murder to protect themselves? Hell, screw that. What if they’re committing murder to protect me? It’s not like I have any warm, fond feelings toward this Victor guy. He kidnapped me, for one thing. He tried to kill us, for another. And I doubt we’re the only ones. For all I know, Adrian is saving the lives of countless other people who would have died by killing Victor.

Isn’t it amazing the things a girl will tell herself when she’s horny for somebody?

I am no closer to finding peace with the situation by the time he emerges, dressed all in black and carrying a pair of black leather gloves, which he tucks into his back pocket. He looks sleek, sexy, and extremely deadly.

This is when it hits me. Forget how sexy he looks. Forget the morality of it.

Once he takes Victor out, we’ll be one step closer to all this being over. I might be able to go home after tonight. That means no more Adrian in my life. The idea fills me with dread I shouldn’t feel but can’t avoid.

“Okay.” I should probably get up, so I do, though I’m not sure why. “I guess this is it.” I can’t help shifting my weight from one foot to the other as nerves take hold and my bladder threatens to give way.

“You don’t have to make it sound like I’m about to walk the plank, you know,” he tells me with a smirk.

Oh, great. I never even thought about that. “What if something happens to you tonight? Oh my God!” I almost shriek, holding my head in my hands. “What happens to me? What am I supposed to do? I’m sort of stranded here, you know?”

“You have a laptop. Get an Uber,” he suggests. “Book a flight, go home.”

“But what if Victor finds out where to find me?”

He reaches behind him into his waistband and pulls out a gun.

“Whoa!” I shout, scrambling backward. “You don’t have to shoot me! I was only asking!”

“For fuck’s sake.” He hands the gun my way, rolling his eyes. “I was going to give you this, just in case.”

“In case of what?”

“In case any of what you just came up with comes true. You should be prepared.”

I might just throw up.

“Take it,” he insists. “Shoot anyone who isn’t me. Got it?”

I can’t believe I’m wrapping my fingers around the grip of an actual gun. “Is it loaded?” I ask.

“No,” he deadpans. “You’ll have to throw it at anybody who breaks in here. Hard.”

Right now, I’m tempted to use this thing on him. And maybe I would, if my whole life didn’t depend on him surviving.

He better be really good at what he does, because he’s pretty much my only hope.

Chapter Twelve

Adrian