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“Can you carry him?” I asked Penn.

“Yeah, why? What are you going to do?”

“Get him to my car and drive off, get him to your house. I’m going to make sure there are no traces of us; then I’ll drive his car back.”

“I’ll carry him to the car, but I’m waiting until you’re out before driving away.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine, go.”

As quickly and efficiently as possible, I cleaned up what I could. I wiped up the droplets of Alex’s blood with a towel, then took the towel with me. Penn tossed me Alex’s keys when I got outside.

“Is he awake?”

Penn shook his head. “I texted Gideon. He has the doctor en route; let’s go.”

The whole ride to Gideon and Penn’s, I tried not to be angry with Alex. He should have waited. I’d thought he was really coming around to not doing reckless shit. It made me wonder if maybe he’d had a death wish all along.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Alex

The second Toni gave me the address and explained that the two Bratva didn’t need to live, it was as if a switch had gone off in my head. Nothing mattered except getting to that house and killing them. Of course I was acting with no plan whatsoever, which was something I was doing a lot of. So once I arrived, all guns blazing, I was careless. I saw one of the men in the living room, was about to shoot him when everything went black. My guess was that the second guy got the drop on me and that was why I was currently in Gideon’s guest room with a splitting headache and a very angry Danny looming over me.

“I really thought we were past this.”

I rubbed my temples. “Danny, can you yell at me later? My head is killing me.”

“No, I don’t think I can. You’re an idiot!”

I was. “Fine, but can you call me names in a softer tone?”

I had my eyes closed, but I heard him sigh. “Why didn’t you wait?”

I opened my eyes, and Danny’s expression didn’t show anger anymore; it showed worry and sadness. “I saw red and just went there. I didn’t think.”

“No, you didn’t. You could’ve died.” He was silent for a beat. “Is that what you want, Alex? Is that the end game for you?”

“Danny, I…” I rested my head fully on the pillow and stared at the ceiling. “You have no idea how dark it is inside my head and how empty it is in my chest. Some days I already feel dead.”

I couldn’t look at him, but I felt the dip of the bed and his body heat beside me. “So, that’s it? You don’t care if you die as long as you take Vladimir and as many Bratva out as you can?”

“I don’t want to talk about this, Danny.”

“What if I do want to talk about it?”

I shot up, our faces inches from each other. “Then get a fucking therapist!”

Danny’s eyes widened minutely before narrowing. “You’re a fucking dick.”

“Great, so leave. Why are you here, anyway? To just tell me the grass is always greener on the other side, that there’s a silver lining? Save it, I don’t want to hear your bullshit.”

He stood abruptly but didn’t leave. “I get it, I never lost the love of my life⁠—”

“Stop, Danny.”

“But I loved Mila too, we all did. And a lot of people died that day and it forever changed all of us⁠—”

“Danny, enough.” But he didn’t stop.