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I watched as Diggs drove one of his hands into his hair as he fell to a crouch, and something in my chest shattered at the sight because I knew—I knew—everything Detective Higgins was saying was correct.
We hadn’t been randomly chosen that night.
Mike hadn’t been murdered because we’d happened upon a horrific street gang.
And the man I’d fallen in love with had been behind it all...
“Mike.” His name escaped me on a twisted wheeze and ended on a pained cry when Higgins jerked my face up to meet his.
“Louder, Ms. Bennett.”
“Mike,” I repeated shakily, my eyes pricking with tears when Higgins’ fingers dug in harder in prompting. “Michael Larson.”
Maverick’s hushed “Shit” just barely made it to where we stood. But it was enough...and it nearly brought me to my knees.
“Now you know. Now they know exactly why Lachlan is so intrigued by you.” Straightening to his full height, he pulled me close against his chest and turned us toward Dare, my body limply moving where he forced it to.
“Willow, I can explain—”
“We’re leaving,” Higgins said over him. “Your wife will be released to you once we make it back to Richmond.”
“You’re not fucking taking her,” Diggs snapped from behind us.
“She deserves to know why,” Dare ground out as he spoke. “She deserves to know who he was.”
A rumbling sound left Higgins as he started pushing me toward Dare and the cars. “Maybe, but I’m bored.”
Dare lifted his gun when Higgins took another step forward with me, bringing us to a jarring halt.
“Thought we had an understanding,” Higgins drawled, seeming disappointed rather than terrified that a barrel of a gun was aimed right at him.
“Let Willow go. Give me my wife back. Or I’ll unleash Hell on Keane Street until there are none of you left.”
An irritated rumble sounded in Higgins’ chest and vibrated against the searing pain in my back. When he spoke, his words were barely more than a breath and almost too soft for me to hear.
“You leave with me now or watch another boyfriend die.”
Even with what I’d just learned, my chest heaved at the thought. My spirit thrashed inside me. But just as my lips parted with a cry, I felt the length of a blade at the base of my back again and hurried to choke out, “I’m leaving—I want to leave.” A sob managed to escape as I wildly shook my head.
“Tree—”
“They don’t lie about being monsters,” I bit out and closed my eyes against the stinging there. “They don’t pretend they’re anything other than what they are. And what does it matter?” I forced myself to look over my shoulder to meet Diggs’ frantic and pained gaze as he took a hesitant step closer. “You wanted me to go—you wanted me away from you.”
“No,” Diggs said adamantly, rage and regret battling for dominance in his voice as he took another step toward us. “Fuck, Tree, you don’t understand.”
“Just let me go.” The plea ended on a sharp cry as Higgins’ blade started another slow path up my back, stopping only when Diggs stumbled before retracing the steps he’d just taken.
“Cute name he has for you,” Higgins murmured sarcastically as he forced me another step toward the cars. But the next time he stopped had nothing to do with the gun Dare was still aiming at him and had another anguished sound ripping from me.
Because there he was. Red, stitched face glowing brightly against the humid night sky as he dragged Jessica forward by her neck.
Lachlan Keane...my nightmare in a neon mask.
But he would always be so much more than that.
He was the leader from that night. He was the one coming to finish it all. He was my ending.
And once again, I was just feet away from him.
