AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You love her.”
His heart twisted. “Tasha, you know that no one will ever replace you.”
“You do things with her,” she said. “Naughty things. You’ve never done naughty things with me.”
“And I never will.” He leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead. “Rest,” he said. “I must go take care of something. I’ll be back soon.”
She said nothing, and he left the room, his thoughts turning to Caris and the thousand ways he would hurt her.
The phone buzzed and he snatched it up without looking at the display, expecting Slater. “What have you got?”
“Your balls in a sling, you son of a bitch.” Ryan Doyle’s gruff voice filtered through the phone. “What kind of games are you playing with her?”
The fury that had been aimed at Caris took a sharp turn, as the image of Luke’s fist intersecting with Doyle’s face filled his mind in a most satisfying way. “I don’t know what parasite is infecting your brain, Doyle, but if you have something to say to me, you can damn well say it to my face. Or are you too much of a coward?”
“You couldn’t keep me away.”
Luke clenched his fists at his side, forcing calm. “After so many insults between us, what the hell has happened now sufficient to have you ringing me up to chat?”
“Sara.”
“What’s happened to her?” Luke demanded, his voice tight with fear.
“You did, you shit. She drank your goddamn blood.”
“She did,” Luke admitted, “though it’s no business of yours.”
“It’s my business when you mess with the prosecutor’s head.”
“I offered her protection.”
Doyle barked out a laugh. “The fuck you say. Whatever game you’re playing, Dragos, it isn’t going to work. You’re not sliding out from this murder charge, and you’re sure as hell not hurting that girl. I won’t see you destroy her the way you destroyed my life, my woman.” Pain filled his voice, the words bringing to the forefront the events that had shredded the bonds between them. Luke clenched his fists. Now was not the time.
“I should have killed you then,” Doyle continued.
“We all have to live with regret.”
“I’m warning you,” Doyle spat.
“And yet your words mean nothing. You want to finish this, then get your ass here and we will. But don’t come unless you mean it, because if you land the first blow, I will kill you. With no thought to our past friendship or the debt that I may owe you. I will kill you. So if it’s death you seek, then bring it on now.”
“I’ll be there in an hour,” Doyle said, and before Luke could respond, he clicked off and the phone went dead.
* * *
Sara had nicknamed her assigned guard Guido. Not only because he looked the part, but also because she couldn’t for the life of her pronounce his real name.
“I’m not going to be long,” she said, opening the door. She’d reported the doll incident to Leviathan, Doyle, and the team, and they’d all agreed that Stemmons was taunting her. And that he could turn dangerous at any moment.
“You stay,” Guido said, grabbing her by the shoulders and lifting her over the threshold. He plunked her down by the door, closed it, then pointed a warning finger. “No move.” And then he disappeared for a rundown of the entire apartment. Since it was a studio, that didn’t take long, and he was back with an efficient nod before her arms had even stopped aching from his clutch.
“Right,” she said as he stationed himself in front of her door, as immobile as a Buckingham Palace guard.
She hurried to her dresser and shoved some yoga pants and a few T-shirts into a duffel bag. She added a few work outfits, an extra pair of shoes, and the last of her father’s journals. She paused for a moment at the bedside, then reached for the gun. After a second’s hesitation, she chambered a round, then put it into her purse. If she was worried enough to have Guido following her around, then she was worried enough to be armed.
Out of habit, she hooked the portable panic button onto her waistband, then ran into the bathroom for essentials. Once she had everything she needed, she headed back into the living room to meet up with Guido, still standing perfectly still at her door.
She checked her watch and smiled—ten minutes past midnight. She’d managed to pack for a trip to a man’s house in less than fifteen minutes. That had to be a female record. “Ready,” she said.
