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“Sir.”
“Jason, come see our guest out.”
Guess he didn’t quite manage to hide his disgust and irritation this time because Jason chuckled. “On my way.”
A few seconds later, the office door opened and Jason stepped in. Cesar took it for the invitation it was and got the fuck out after casting a backward glance at Mathieu. When the door closed behind them, Mathieu sat back with a sigh, rubbing the top of his head. He couldn’t stop thinking about the way he’d left things with Win.
He picked up his phone then put it right back down. “Fuck,” he muttered to himself. It seemed no matter what he did, he always ended up hurting Win. Losing him. It was the last thing he wanted, but what else could he do when Jairo made the first move? To not answer would’ve made Mathieu a sitting duck to his own people and to anyone lurking around waiting to take what he had. There was always someone out there looking for a come-up, looking to make a name for themselves, and he’d worked too hard and too long, had given up and lost way too much, to lose what he had to anyone.
This business was his legacy, his from birth, and he would do whatever was necessary to protect it, to hold on to it.
Win wasn’t a business; he was a person with a heart Mathieu had already broken. Maybe they’d run their course, he and Win. Maybe what they’d had before was all they were supposed to have. Maybe they were done for good this time. He couldn’t blame Win for not wanting him, for not being able to trust him. Going to war with Jairo was the final nail in the coffin for them and Mathieu had to find a way to be okay with that.
He wasn’t. Probably would never be, but he could fake it. Pretend it didn’t hurt, pretend he didn’t miss Win, and feel his absence like a phantom limb. Pretend his chest didn’t ache for what they had and what they could have had if Mathieu hadn’t fucked up. If he hadn’t lost himself.
His door opened and Jason entered with a smirk. “He’s gone.”
Mathieu blew out a breath, rolling his eyes. “He doesn’t get an audience with me without an appointment. Make sure the others know that.” Cesar acted like the entitled motherfucker he was and it wouldn’t be long before Mathieu would have to put him in his place. He looked forward to that day.
Jason nodded and dropped into the chair opposite Mathieu. “What’s on your mind?”
“I want Win protected.” Okay, that had not been on his mind, but he went with it. Jason was the only one who knew Win’s true identity. All the others only knew him by his codename. “Shit is only gonna get more hectic from here on out and I want him protected.”
“Doesn’t he already have a bodyguard?” Jason regarded him with mild curiosity, head cocked.
Mathieu scoffed. “I don’t trust anyone hired by Jairo to put Win first.” Yes, he’d made sure that Linc guy knew what the deal was, but Mathieu knew that at the end of the day, when push came to shove, motherfuckers had a tendency to protect their own asses. “Five men deep,” he told Jason. “You know the requirements.” He wanted men around Win who would die protecting him. Without hesitation.
“I’ll get on it.”
Jason left soon after and Mathieu got to his feet, staring out the window. Win would have a fit if he knew about the bodyguards, but Mathieu wasn’t going to compromise on that. This war with him and Jairo had been a long time coming. If he had his way, it would have arrived way sooner than this moment. He’d been prepared to raze Miami and watch Jairo burn when Mathieu first learned about Win being with Jairo. It took a lot of talking from Lee for him to step back, but the hurt never left him. He’d tried burying it in Bishop, in countless faces and bodies, but it never went away.
He wondered not for the millionth time if this was what he’d done to Win, if this was the way he’d felt when he’d learned about Mathieu cheating. Because the pain in Mathieu’s chest now was excruciating and it didn’t ever seem to abate. If anything, it only built and built until it hurt to breathe. If this was how he’d made Win feel then yes, Mathieu deserved to feel it too. And he didn’t deserve a second chance.
A shout made him whirl around. Running feet had him reaching for the gun he kept strapped to his hip. The office door burst open and Jason stood there with the most terrified expression on his face.
“What happened?”
Jason’s lips parted but Linc, Win’s bodyguard, came into view right then. Blood on his face, on his clothes, but it was the body he carried in his straining arms that knocked Mathieu on his ass.
“Win!” It felt as if his soul left his body as he rushed forward, just in time to catch Win from hitting the floor when Linc’s body gave out. Linc dropped to his knees, but Mathieu only had eyes for the limp body in his arms. He took in Win’s blood-soaked clothes and pale features with terror seizing his lungs. “Call the doctor.” That couldn’t be his voice, laced with agony. “Call the fucking doctor!” he roared.
“Already did,” Jason answered. “She’s on her way up.”
Mathieu went to the floor. Right knee first. “Win.” Left knee. “Win.” Win didn’t budge, didn’t open his eyes. And Mathieu didn’t know— He couldn’t tell if Win was breathing. He laid him down on the floor carefully, tentatively checking for a pulse. He held his breath until he felt that beat under his fingertips then gulped air as he swung around to face Linc. “What happened?”
Linc seemed incapable of answering, shaking his head instead.
Mathieu pulled his gun and pressed it to the other man’s head. “Speak.” The order thundered through the room, bouncing against the walls and reverberating through Mathieu’s body. “Now.”
“Jairo shot him.”
Mathieu blinked.“Ki kakka sa?”What kind of shit is this? That didn’t— It wasn’t what he expected to hear. “Jairo did this?” He could barely utter the words. That shit made zero sense. “Why?”
Linc shrugged. “I don’t know. I—”
The doctor came rushing in, a maroon-colored hijab covering her hair, black bag in hand. Their eyes met before she turned her gaze to Win on the floor.
“Fix him.” It was an order and a plea. Mathieu was too raw to censor himself and he laid himself bare for all in the room to witness. “Make sure he doesn’t die,” he told the doc, “and I’ll give you your freedom.”
