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I sighed. He knew she was getting sick all the time, too. He was just as worried as I was.
“No better,” I told him quietly. “Taking it a day at a time,” I confessed. I pinched the bridge of my nose. I really, really hated this shit.
“Let her know I love her, yeah?” he told me quietly. Hayley was like a little sister to him; he’d do anything in the world for her. “I hope she gets over this soon.”
Fuck, so did I.
3
Miles
Istared at Quinn for a moment, wondering where the fuck his head was at. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?” I asked after a moment. What he had just told me—no. I didn’t have near enough fucking manpower for this shit. His boss had lost his fucking mind.
“Miles, these girls need help, and you’ve got a way in that the boss doesn’t. He’s asking this as a favor. You do this, he’ll owe you.”
I gritted my teeth and shoved my hand through my hair. “You know what this could mean, right? I could get killed. Hayley could lose yet another man in her life, and I won’t fucking do that to her. We’re talking about the Russians here, Quinn. This isn’t fucking child’s play. This is out of my fucking level of expertise.”
Quinn sighed. I understood his conflict—he owed his loyalty to me, but he still had a job. “Miles, sixteen girls—sixteen, Miles—were fucking kidnapped three days ago. Weknowthey took them. Those girls areyoung, Miles. So fucking young. I’m talking about six to fucking seventeen. And they’re going to be sold, drugged, and raped.” I swallowed vomit. “We’vegotto help them. We can’t sit back and let this happen—especially not this close to home, Miles. I have a daughter this could happen to one day.”
I gritted my teeth. I knew that as well. Hell, Isabelle was like my own damn daughter, she was around so much. Hayley had loved doting on her and letting her and William have playdates until she’d fallen so ill.
“Fuck,” I muttered. I paced away from him for a moment, staring out over the backyard. I turned when I heard Hayley’s throat clear.
“Hey, girly,” Quinn greeted her, giving her a warm hug. He looked down at her. “You look like hell.”
She scowled. “Gee, thanks.”
He just grinned at her and kissed the top of her head. I held my hand out to her, and when her hand was clasped in mine, I gently pulled her to me, wrapping my arms around her. I kissed the tip of her nose. “How are you feeling?”
“Okay right now,” she assured me. She pressed a kiss to my chest. “I overheard your conversation.” She glanced between the two of us, and instantly, I knew she was going to suggest something outrageous and stupid. “I can go as bait.”
I growled. “Like fucking hell.” And Quinn voiced the same damn thing, thankfully. She had to be out of her fucking mind to think I’d ever let her do something so stupid.
She stepped back from me and planted her hands on her thinning, narrow hips. “What the fuck do you meanlike hell?” she snapped at me. And there was that fire I loved—just not for something like this. “Those girls need help, Miles. That could have been me. I was terrified enough thinking of it happening.” I clenched my jaw, remembering the time she’d been kidnapped. Thankfully, Damien had been tracking her, and he’d saved her in time. But she was right. Itcouldhave been her. “Imagine how those girls are feeling, and they’re alreadythere. They’ve already been kidnapped and ripped from their homes.”
I shook my head. “No. It’s not fucking happening,” I retorted. “Not only am I fucking against it one hundred percent, but Damien would come back from the dead and fucking bring you to heel and kill me if I eventhoughtabout you doing this. It’s not happening.”
She glared at me. “Guess what, Miles? Damiencan’tcome back from the dead.” I clenched my jaw at the raw agony in her eyes. I knew losing him would never hurt her any less, and I fucking hated it. I hated seeing her in pain, and his death hurt her more than anything she’d ever gone through in her life. “Either you let me do this and you make sure I’m safe as I do, or I’ll go out and do it myself without your permission. Because either way, Iknowyou’ll come after me, which means you’ll save those girls, too.”
I narrowed my eyes at her, but she just evenly met my gaze, not even flinching. I shook my head. “I’d like to see you try.”
She arched a brow at me. “You making a threat, Miles? I’m good at disappearing; don’t forget that.”
I stepped closer to her. “You’re my wife, and I’m fucking forbidding this.”
She grabbed my upper arms, her eyes turning pleading.Fuck. “Miles, I’m begging you. Don’t let those girls suffer.Please,” she pleaded, her tone softening at the end, a soft pout to her lips.
I was cracking. “Baby, you’re still always so sick,” I tried.
She shrugged. “I’ll deal with being sick,” she told me. “But we can do it on a good day for me.”
Fuck.
Damien, how did you deal with her like this?
I squeezed my eyes shut. Terror struck through my heart, but I knew I was going to give in. When she looked at me like that, when she was passionate about something—fuck, I was no match for her. She was theonlyperson in this world who held this kind of power over me.
“Fine,” I rasped. I opened my eyes and looked down at her. “But we do this my way, you hear me?”
