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The bite was too hard, too brutal, especially for a man who’d been by my side for my entire life. A man who was more of a father than my own, a man I normally confided in like a friend. I ground my teeth and wrestled with my conscience. I was pushed to the wall here, my shirt still fisted in my father’s hold. There could be no middle ground with this, no matter how much I wished for more. So this was me making sure my allegiance was firmly fixed on the family’s side.
“I’ll get him,” Max said, his voice softening.
I couldn’t meet his gaze, couldn’t feel his tone. All I could do was give a nod and wait as my bodyguard made his way through the apartment. A soft knock sounded on the doorframe before he stepped into the room. Hushed voices, a quiet command, and the sound of someone rising from the bed.
Max returned a moment later, and we stood there as strangers. My skin was still raw, newly born in blood, pushed harder than ever before to change into the kind of man my father expected of me. Someone colder, someone dangerous, someone more like him.
“Fin,” Pavlov called in greeting, shrugging a holster over his creased shirt. “Ready when you are.”
“Max.” I stared at the floor, then slowly lifted my gaze.
He just gave a careful nod, concern lingering in his dark eyes as I turned and headed for the elevator with the heavy thud of Pavlov’s steps behind me. I said nothing even as my shadow stepped in beside me and rode the elevator all the way down to the foyer.
The doors opened and the cool night air rushed in, cooler than it had been before. “You have the swipe card?”
“I do,” Pavlov answered, sleep still lingering in his voice.
I was betting he knew what this was now. I was betting he was waking all the way up to the fucking shit I was about to do. This wasn’t just an invasion. It was a betrayal.A fucking piece of shit obeying his father.
I held out my hand and the card hit my palm. We walked in silence and I wanted it that way. I didn’t want comfort. I wanted to be numb.
I lifted my gaze to her building as it came closer. Darkness filled the apartment. There were no faint lights, not even the shine of the TV. Cold wrapped around me as I walked the path and slowed at the reader outside the electric doors. One swipe and they opened, triggering movement from inside. The guard rose from a seat, a scowl on his face. It was easier before…before Baldeon died, when I could’ve done this without being noticed.
But I was noticed now…
“Can I help you?” the guard asked, looking from me to Pavlov.
“No,” I answered. “He's going to keep you company.”
The guard’s eyes widened.
“Don’t be a hero,” Pavlov warned, stepping to the guard’s side before he met my gaze.
One nod said it all.Do what you came here to do.
Loyalty was a concrete block wrapped around my feet as I swiped the card and stepped into her elevator. This wasn't the first time I’d been here, but it was the first time I’d ever had to do anything like this. I pressed the button and closed my eyes.Piece of fucking shit.
I reached for that numbness as the doors started to close. Movement came from the guard, but Pavlov moved swiftly, placing one hand on his arm. Then they were gone and I was rising…like a demon coming from Hell.
Darkness waited for me as the doors opened. I waited, my heart climbing into the back of my throat, and slowly took a step into the faintly familiar layout. Soft, throaty snores reached me as I moved quietly ahead. I scanned the darkness, glimpsing a single glass on the counter, and scowled.Shouldn’t there be two?
A deep flare of annoyance burned as I made my way quietly to the first bedroom. It was dark, and quiet. I stepped into the doorway, my eyes adjusting to the gloom to find an empty bed.Kat had left her alone…again.
I clenched my jaw as that annoyance turned into something toxic and turned my head at the sound of her breaths. She hissed. I flinched at the sound, head cocked to the side, straining to listen before I moved. The sound came again, the sound long, riding an exhale before ending with the draw of her inward breath.
A flicker of longing rose inside me, but I shoved it down, moving quietly to her doorway. That tiny sound slipped from her lips once more. But I wasn’t here to be drawn deeper into her.
I was already sinking into her depths, swallowed down by the current of obedience.
For a second, I couldn’t move, frozen at the entrance to her bedroom. Her breath caught, and silence plunged through the room before she shifted under the sheets, turning her head from side to side.Was she dreaming?
The thought of that drew me closer. I took a step, breaching her privacy in a second.
A low moan tore from her lips, faint…desperate.
I glanced at the phone beside her and felt a flinch.
“Fin.”
