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“Did you say something?” she asked as she pushed up from the bed.
“Nope. Not a damn thing.”
I listened to her steps as she went into the bathroom. I could track everything she did and everything she touched as the toilet flushed and the faucet ran as she washed her hands. She stepped out, stopping on my side of the bed before the whisper of fabric came. Leale lifted his head as she rounded the foot and climbed back under the covers. But then she was mine, working her way across the bed to curl up against me.
I smiled at her careful movements as she adjusted her body to press against mine and settled. It didn’t take long before her breaths slowed and deepened. I let myself relax, let myself give into the moment for just a little while at least.
But as the darkness rose up and wrapped its claws around me, taking me deep into slumber, I felt the bed shift beside me…then I knew no more.
43
Anna
I shifted my weight and pressed against Fin. The touch was comforting, warm and relaxing. His hand slowly dropped from his abdomen to fall against my hip, and that’s where it stayed. My body was humming, flooded with adrenaline. Kat’s screams still resounded in my head, and the images of what that piece of shit had done to her…but it wasn’t only that.
It was Fin…
And Lazarus.
It was the way they'd set upon Damon with fists and fury. There was no stopping them, no changing the utter annihilation they were desperate to inflict. I’d seen violence, seen it from the very first day I'd stepped inside the Salvatore home. But I’d never seen it fromhim…not like that.
I closed my eyes as Damon’s screams filled my head again, piercing screams,howling screams.Something trembled inside me and what bloomed from the darkest depths wasn’t what I expected. I wasn’t horrified, I wasn’t scared, I wasresigned,and that scared me most of all.
That was the way they were. That was how they protected their own…and I was now one of those people.If Fin knew how bad Damon had hurt me, there would’ve been no stopping him. I wouldn’t be worried about a few broken bones. I’d be trying to figure out how to hide a goddamn body.
I turned my head and glanced over my shoulder. Fin lay with one arm curled under the pillow, his powerful muscles shimmering under the soft amber lights. His full lips parted with deep, easy breaths. His face lit up for a second and it took me far too long to realize why.
I rolled, making sure I didn’t disturb him, and grabbed my phone. One press of the button, and my pulse started to race.
Unknown number: What the fuck have you done, Anna?
I scowled, lifting my head from the pillow.What the fuck haveIdone?My mind raced. I’d missed the meet. I’d fucked up the schedule. I’d done a lot of things. Leale lifted his head, giving me a lowchuffas I slid my feet from under the covers and sat on the side of the bed.
My fingers flew across the keypad as I replied:What are you talking about?
I waited for an answer. Waited and waited and waited. Lightning flickered and danced in the distance. I pressed the screen over and over…waiting. But there was nothing. I typed:Answer me, what are you talking about?
The sky came alive, arcing and blazing, severing the darkness with a brilliant white glow. Still there was no reply. I tried to lie back down…tried to push the text from my mind. But sleep wouldn’t come. Instead, I lay there as both Fin and Leale started to snore…then I got back up, and tiptoed from the bedroom.
I made my way to the table, hit the button on my laptop, and the screen came alive.What have I done? What have I done? What have I done?I stared at the screen and the list of Zakharov accounts. An icy chill swept over me.He couldn’t mean…
I just stared at that list. “No…no, that can’t be the contact…”
The sheets shifted in the bedroom, drawing my gaze just as my phone lit up with a text.
Unknown: Your father is now a dead man.
A video symbol appeared. I gripped my phone tightly and pressed play, my heart in my damn throat as the stupid thing buffered and finally started. But there was nothing but darkness, nothing but shadows…until my father’s voice came through loud and clear.
“I’ll go back…do you hear me? I’ll go back to Dominic. We didn’t tell them anything about the Salvatores. I swear!”
“Dad,” I gasped, shoving up from the chair.
“Get in the fucking boat, Dillon.” My heart hammered. I knew that voice…I knew that voice…I knew that voice!
The video narrowed in, taken from somewhere in the distance. The shadows sharpened, showing the glint of lights against dark, choppy waters. It was a marina. One on Mauritius. It had to be. I caught the panicked face of my father, his hands cuffed behind him. But the camera narrowed in on the man next to him. The one dressed in black as he shoved my dad into a boat to take him god knows where.
As the man turned, giving me full view of his face, my blood ran cold, hard features, a stony stare. I knew his voice…of course I did. I lifted my gaze to Finley, still asleep in the bed. I knew his face because I’d seen it only today as Pavlov had stood at Finley’s side.
