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“We keep her,” he declares. “We don’t give her up.”
He takes a swig from the bottle, and for once, Victor doesn’t even make a comment about it.
“We’ve never disobeyed X before,” I point out, not sure whether to be relieved that we’re all on that same page or worried that we’re about to do something monumentally stupid.
Malice makes a face, his sharp features twisting. “Don’t say it like that. It makes it seem like we’re his fucking lap dogs and he’s our master.”
I grimace. “But you know what I mean, Mal. We’ve always done what he wants. I don’t think he’s going to take it lightly if we ignore his request.”
“Yeah, I know.” He drags a hand through his hair. “But we’ve got two choices here—we either give him Willow, or we don’t. Either he loses, or she does. We’re gonna have to fuck someone over, and I’d rather it be X.”
Vic’s eyebrows climb up his forehead at that, because it’s a pretty big declaration from Malice. Especially considering how desperate he is to stay out of prison now that he knows what it’s like in there.
“He’ll be a powerful enemy if we piss him off,” Vic points out. Then he winces. “We seem to be collecting them now.”
“Donovan and his gang aren’t that powerful,” Malice retorts.
Vic nods in concession. “Fine. But X is. Do we really want someone else up against us? Especially considering how much leverage he has over us?”
Malice sets his glass down on the end table with a thud and cracks his knuckles. His hackles are up, and I don’t blame him for that. He usually tries not to talk about what happened to him when he was locked up. He probably tries not to think about it too much.
But this is so close to home for him, and those feelings and memories are probably right there beneath the surface.
We can’t let him go back to prison. No matter what happens, we’re not giving him up again. When the cops figured out our dad had been murdered, he insisted on taking the fall to protect me and Victor. To keep us from having to face the punishment for something we all did. It would be too much to ask him to do that again.
But even with that threat hanging over his head, my brother still nods decisively.
“We’re keeping her,” he says again. “We’ll just… figure it out. It’s like when we decided to take out Nikolai. We knew there was going to be a risk. We knew people might come after us for it, but we decided it was worth it in the end. I guess we’re deciding this is worth it too.”
“Okay,” I murmur, nodding. “Then that’s the plan.”
“It’s not a plan,” Victor counters. “It’s a rough idea at best.”
Silence falls in the living room for a moment as we all fall into thought, and I rub at my temples as the gears in my brain grind over and over.
We’re trapped in a fucking impossible situation, and no matter what we decide to do, someone will likely get hurt. There are no great options and no clean way out.
Even with all of Vic’s skills at hacking and the resources at his disposal through his computers, we have no idea who X is. We don’t know what to expect from him, so it’s best to expect the worst and try to figure out some way to minimize the damage—which is definitely easier said than done.
The three of us stay in the living room for a couple more hours, debating on different courses of action and weighing our options, and by the time I head back upstairs, we actuallydohave the beginnings of a plan.
It’s risky as fuck, and none of us like it.
But it’s all we’ve got.
37
WILLOW
Soft morning sunlightshines through the window as I wake up in Ransom’s arms.
It’s becoming almost normal to do that, and it’s weird that I almost can’t remember what it feels like to wake up alone anymore. I did it for so long, blinking awake in the early morning, looking out the window to see what the day looked like, then getting up quickly, not having any reason to lie in bed and justbe.
But now, it’s so different.
Now there are warm arms around me, and I can feel Ransom’s steady breaths on my neck. It makes me feel safe. Secure. And more than that, it makes me feel… wanted.
“Morning, angel,” he murmurs, leaning in to sleepily nuzzle at the back of my neck.
