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“Little wildcat took out Hendrix’s dudes like they were nothin’,” Artie added with a chuckle.
Sara threw her hands up as she stared at me. “There was a miscalculation,” I said, a headache starting in my temples. “Lia is fine. She is not hurt.”
“More than fine,” Pasquale was said. “She’s basically a queen in that house, let me tell ya.”
“But if she fucked up a bunch of mobsters—Hendrix’s men.” Sara stared at a point beyond me. “I cannot imagine they’re going to just let it go that a woman kicked their asses. Now she’s even more of a target and—”
“They don’t know it was Lia,” I cut in, my head throbbing as I remembered the heavy weight of Jock’s corpse, the nausea in my stomach as I dumped the body on the back steps, and how I’d fumbled for a cigarette, hands shaking, before diving deep inside myself and turning around. Where I’d become the demon’s son, confirming Hendrix’s suspicions, as I showed my face and blew smoke at the camera like this shit didn’t faze me.
“How the fuck do you know?” Sara asked, yanking me back to the room, and my gut twisted as tears sprang to her eyes. “I cannot do this. I’m going to the cops.” The room went silent, and she shook her head at us. “I should’ve done it in the first place. Lia and I can go into the witness protection program, and you Michaelsons all can go fuck yourselves, and hey,hey!”
Sara let out a shriek as I hauled her up over my shoulder and strode to the bedroom. “Get rid of the furniture,” I called back to the shocked silence in the room. “And the bookshelves. Leave all the delicate shit to Sara, me and Artie, though.”
“Boss, uh…” Heavy said into the silence.
“She’s trying to piss me off,” I said as I spun around in the doorway and gave them a twisted grin. “She’s not going to the cops.”
“Like hell I’m not, you fucking dumbass gangster.”
I slammed the door shut and threw Sara down on the bed, then leaned over her, hands fisted in the blankets. “I know you’re not stupid,” I said. “Calm down.”
“How could you—”
I gently cupped my hand over her lips, and she glared at me, struggling, but I caught her hands and stared her down.
“Calm the fuck down,” I said. “Breathe. Lia is alive, she’s safe, and I didn’t tell you because I knew you’d freak out. But you also know Lia. You know that her mother trained her, that she’s smart, resilient, and stubborn.”
Tears leaked out of her eyes, and she shook her head. I lifted my hand with a sigh as Sara whispered, “You lied.You lied.You said that she’d be okay. You said that you had learned—you knew that you couldn’t be too careful, and yet all I see is an arrogant dumbass who made the wrong call.Again.”
“You don’t know shit, Sara,” I said in a low voice.
“You thought I worked for fucking gangster—your enemy, Hendrix or whatever,” she exploded, and my head started to throb. “You seduced me, interrogated me, and still wouldn’t believe me—kept me away from my best friend for a month to keep her safe, and now I find out that she almost died. That she’s a fucking target.”
“Hendrix is erratic,” I started. “He’s hard to pin down, you don’t—”
“I do. I do know. I know that you think no one can outsmart you, you think this guy got lucky because he’serratic.And I think you also think your cousin can keep Lia safe because he’s never felt this way about anyone else, right? I get it, I get how easy it is to love Lia and I’m not surprised she brought your cousin to his goddamn knees.”
I gaped at her, my heart roaring, and my temper flaring.
“But love cannot keep people safe,” Sara spat at me, and I jerked back. She scrambled upright, sitting on the edge of the bed, her eyes burning into mine. “Lust and love clearly made your cousin Ty lower his guard. And Lia almost paid the price. I can see it all over your face.”
“That’s because it’s not Ty’s fault,” I snarled. “It’s mine. Okay? It’smine.I underestimated Hendrix. He got in my head with the Ryan White shit. He had me looking in all the wrong places while he went on the offensive. I didn’t think he’d be that stupid.” I began to pace. “I also didn’t think he’d be able to pull it off. You haveno ideahow much I’ve been torturing myself, how many times I’ve woken up the past few weeks, having nightmares that everyone was dead, that Hendrix had Lia, had you—”
I broke off as Sara shook her head and stood up. “Let’s not kid ourselves—Lia shouldn’t be with your mobster cousin. He can’t keep her safe.Youcan’t keep her safe.”
“That’s too bad, Sara, because it’s too late,” I said. “They are together. She isn’t going anywhere—Ty gave her that option after the failed hit. He didn’t want her anywhere near him. She chose to stay. She could’ve run that night and she chose to stay—she chose him.”
“No,” Sara whispered.
“Yes.Lia is the brave one.” I hated myself but I kept going, even as Sara’s face went blank, and she tried to hide the rage and pain in her eyes. “Lia doesn’t hide away, she’s never stopped trying to live, no matter how much bad shit has happened toher. Meanwhile, what, you had one shitty ex in Denver and now you spend your whole life trying to hide in ivory towers with a million different security measures? You work at a security company—you of all people should know there’s no such thing as safety in this world. There’s no such thing as a sure thing.” I shook my head. “No wonder Lia didn’t want to live with you—she couldn’t bear to pretend that you’re not a fucking coward.”
Sara’s hands clenched and I thought she was going to hit me. But instead, she gave me a brittle smile, her eyes bright, and said, “Well, now that you’ve got me all figured out, I guess that’s that.” Her lip curled. “And here I thought you wanted my forgiveness. My mistake.”
Unable to stop myself, I bit out, “You said that last time, sweetheart. Confused about where we stand?”
Because same. You’re fucking with my head.
“I’m gonna finish packing,” she said. “Stay away from me.”
