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I blink at him. “What?” I get a sudden sickening feeling that I know where this conversation is headed and I don’t like it at all.
“It’s all yours, Hacker. You get into it right now, and you drive. Your new life awaits.”
“Just like that?” I snap.
“Just like that.” He turns to me and nods. “You will never get a better offer than this, Jessie. This is me offering you your freedom. No strings. No catch.”
“Except I don’t get to say goodbye? And I don’t see any of you ever again, right?”
“Well, that’s kind of the point of a new life, isn’t it? To leave the old one behind?” he frowns.
“Fuck you, Shane,” I snap as I start to walk away from him.
He grabs hold of my arm and pulls me to him, bending his head low so his face is close to mine. “Think about what you’re giving up here,” he snarls. “I am giving you everything you need to start over. I could just toss you out onto the street instead.”
“Your brothers wouldn’t let you.”
He laughs softly. It’s not a pleasant sound. It’s mocking and cruel, and it echoes around the concrete basement. “And how exactly do you see your future playing out with us, Hacker? We just go on passing your around between the four of us until we get bored? Until someone else with bigger tits and a smaller ass takes your place?”
I stumble back from him, reeling so hard he might as well have slapped me in the face. I try to wrench my arm free and move away from him, but he holds me firmly in place. “Why are you doing this?” I say as tears spring to my eyes. I hate myself for crying in front of him, but he's tearing out my heart.
“We’re no good for you. And you’re not good for us either. You distract us, Hacker. You make my brothers vulnerable, and that makes them weak.”
Blood pounds through my veins, thrumming beneath the skin on my wrist where he holds me tightly. I suck in a deep breath and wipe my tears away with my free hand. Planting my feet squarely on the ground, I look up at him, glaring into his fiery green eyes.
“You can say what you want about your brothers and me, Shane. But I love them. And despite what you think, they love me too. I feel it in every part of my being. You think that love makes you weak, and so you run from it. Men like you will never know true strength, because you are too afraid to feel. Love does not make you weak, you jackass. Don’t you see that it’s the most powerful force in the world? So, you can stick your car, and your money, and your new identity up your goddamn ass! Now take your hands off me and let me go back to my room.”
He stares at me, his jaw working overtime and that vein pulsing in his temple. Then he releases my wrist. I draw in a few shaky breaths and then I turn and walk back to the elevator and leave him standing alone.
Chapter
Forty-Three
JESSIE
Ipush open the door to Conor’s bedroom. The soft glow of the lamplight illuminates the vast space. He hates the dark.
As I look over at the bed and his sleeping form, a wave of disappointment washes over me. I was hoping to talk to him about his asshole big brother, but I shouldn’t wake him. I kick off my sneakers and begin to undress when I hear him groan in his sleep as he thrashes his arms.
“No,” he shouts and I rush over to him, sitting beside him on the bed. I place my hand on his cheek and he stirs. “Jessie,” he blinks at me.
“Sorry,” I whisper. “You were shouting in your sleep.”
He rolls his eyes. “Weird dreams.” Then he holds up the duvet. “Jump in, Angel.”
“Thanks,” I say with a smile as I hop in next to him and press myself against him. He wraps his arms around me and plants a kiss on the top of my head. He smells of expensive soap and fresh sweat and I feel the familiar fluttering in my abdomen as I inhale his scent and press my cheek against the skin of his hard chest.
“Everything okay?” he asks softly as he smooths my hair back from my face.
“No. Your brother is a complete asshole, do you know that?”
He laughs softly, and the sound rumbles through his chest and into me. “Did he test his little hacker?”
I look up at him. “Yes. How do you know?”
Conor shrugs. “He tests us all. I knew yours was coming. I could sense it in him. What did he do?”
“He offered me a brand new SUV, half a million dollars and a new identity if I left. He said it was my freedom.”
