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I knew she had a tough side to her in there, somewhere under all that sweetness, but I never knew it was this wild. This brave and unbreakable. She’s clearly terrified, but she’s also pissed off, and it’s like the combination of emotions set something off inside her. She’s staring death in the face basically daring Malice to shoot her.
Their stare-down drags on for another long moment, the tension thickening the air in the room. Then Malice curses and pulls the gun away from Willow’s head.
He shoves his gun back in his waistband, his gaze locked on Willow as he steps slowly toward her, closing the distance between them and dropping his head until they’re almost nose to nose.
“This just means you’ve picked option A,Solnyshka. You’re coming with us. There’s no fucking way we’re just walking out of here and leaving you on your own. Someone is pissed about Nikolai’s death, and they’re after you. If they get their hands on you, there’s no telling what they’ll do to get you to talk, and I’m not letting that happen.”
Maybe Willow can pick up on the hint of worry in his tone that’s clear as day to me. Or maybe his words are enough to convince her that no matter how much she might hate coming with us, Malice is right that she’ll be safer that way. She stares at him for a long moment, her brows furrowed as a little line forms between them, then her gaze flicks to me and Vic.
She takes a deep breath, closing her eyes. When she opens them again, that flash of wildness is gone, and she just looks tired and scared.
“Fine,” she whispers. “I’ll go with you.”
Malice nods curtly, then shoots me a look.
“On it,” I say, heading into her room to start packing up.
Willow scampers in a moment later, clearly not willing to let me be the one who decides what she takes and what she leaves behind. She drags out a battered suitcase and a duffel bag from the closet, shoving things into them as Victor finishes scrubbing the apartment clean.
She’s just tugging the zipper on the duffel bag closed when Victor pops his head in.
“I’ve done my last checks,” he informs us. “The place is clean. Let’s go. We'll take Carl's car back to our place and chop it.”
“Great.” I grab the duffel bag and suitcase, hefting them in my arms as we make our way back out into the living room. It looks good. You’d never know there was a dead man bleeding out on the floor less than an hour ago.
I take point, making sure there’s no one around to witness as Victor and Malice get the body into the trunk of Carl's car, which is parked halfway down the block. Then I go back up for the bags, shoving them in the trunk of Malice’s car before opening the door to the back seat and gesturing Willow inside.
She’s quiet on the drive back to our place, chewing on her lip and staring out the window. It’s after midnight when we roll into the garage at the warehouse. Malice maneuvers Carl's beat up vehicle into the garage after us, and Vic pulls up alongside us in his car a second later. I grab Willow’s bags and hold the door open for her as she slides over the seat and gets out, then all four of us head inside.
“I’ll handle the body,” Malice says, flipping on a light. “Vic, go back through the security footage around Willow’s apartment, cover our tracks, and make sure no one can find out that the fucker came to her place before he died. Even better, try to create a digital footprint for him somewhere else to throw off anyone who looks into it.”
Vic nods shortly.
“And then we need to start trying to find out who was asking him questions in the first place,” I add.
Willow glances around, still looking a bit shell-shocked and dazed as she crosses her arms over her chest. “Where am I going to stay?”
Malice flicks a look in her direction. “We don’t have an extra bedroom, so you’ll have to sleep in one of our rooms.”
Her eyes go wide, and she shakes her head. “Can’t I just sleep on the couch or something?”
“No, you can’t. We don’t trust you enough to let you have free rein here. You’ll sleep in one of our rooms so we can keep an eye on you,” he snaps. “So choose who you want to stay with, and deal with it.”
Willow glances at each of us in turn, considering. Her eyes linger on me and she ducks her head.
“Ransom,” she finally says.
Victor doesn’t react to her pronouncement. He’s better at keeping his feelings masked than either Malice or I, but I have a feeling he’s relieved not to have been picked. I can only imagine how having her in his living space would fuck up his carefully cultivated routines.
Malice’s jaw tightens, something that looks a lot like jealousy flashing through his eyes before he hardens his expression and nods. “Fine. Ransom it is.”
I can’t help the grin that tugs at the edges of my lips. I probably shouldn’t care one way or the other, but I like that she picked me.
27
WILLOW
I feellike the world is spinning around me. Like I’m on a tilt-a-whirl and can’t get off.
