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“We’re scattered without his guidance,” Milo said.
Her father was these men’s confidence. Their bedrock. Just having him in their midst would strengthen them.
“I gotta say,” Zip said, pushing back in his chair. “Seeing Ares felt like a weight off.”
“Damn straight,” Lowe said.
“Agreed,” Albany said.
Boze nodded. “He’s the backbone of the team.”
“If we get him with us. We’ll be unstoppable.”
That was a dangerous line of thought. No one was invincible.
The faction had so much admiration, so much respect, for the two men they’d stolen her from. Their deference was intriguing and enlightening. It gave her a clearer understanding of how important Harry and Daire were in the operation. How crucial they were.
Since they’d rejected her first guess, she asked, “What’s the plan?”
Garrick smiled. “You have to invite them to join us.”
Oh, she didn’t like that. The monolith of responsibility quickly eclipsed the weight of trepidation.
How could she be the one to summon them? It could be a trap with her as the lure. Still, these Olympus men could be their salvation. Either that or they were seducing her with talk of solutions while intending to erase both Harry and Daire.
Daire.
Her stomach clenched. There were so many questions, so many what ifs. She should have quizzed him instead of being concerned with his lies.
Anger was justified, given how he’d betrayed her. But he was a man whose entire world was subterfuge and politicking. He needed a mission. A focus. And he’d chosen her.
“No,” she said. “I won’t do it.”
Some corner of her psyche wanted to declare it wouldn’t matter. That even if she called up their hotel and got through to Daire or Harry that they would laugh in her face before walking into potential danger. But she wasn’t sure that was true. Potent hesitation held her back.
Garrick inhaled. “If you don’t ask them to come, weapons down, through the front door, they could kill every man in this room to get to you.”
Killing wasn’t necessary. If these men were going to be loyal to their mentor and equal, she didn’t want to be the reason one harmed the other.
“I can’t,” she said. “I won’t be the one to bring them here.”
“It’s your job,” Boze said. “You’re Pandora. Tempting is what you’re supposed to do.”
“Your words, not mine,” she said. “I’m not refusing because I don’t think they’ll come. I’m refusing because I don’t know any of you. I don’t trust any of you.”
“How can we change that?” Garrick asked. “We don’t have a lot of time.”
“Yeah, they’ll be tracking us already. If someone doesn’t make contact before they locate us…”
“What?” she asked when Lowe trailed off. “If someone doesn’t make contact before they locate us, what?”
“They’ll come in shooting,” Zip said.
“Or just blast us off the face of the Earth,” Milo added.
Responsibility. Another dose shot through her. She didn’t want to be responsible for these men losing their lives and didn’t want to decide Harry and Daire’s fate.
“Let me go to them,” she said. “I’ll go to the hotel and explain what I’ve seen here.”
