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“What the fuck is going on?” I demanded, stepping inside.
The door closed behind me as Ben shook his head, then glanced over his shoulder. “It seems the hitman we spoke about heading out of the city wasn’t just any hitman. It was Cerberus.”
“Cerebus?” I repeated, that nagging voice in my head growing stone cold.
Cerberus wasn’t just any hitman. It was actually three…working for any ruthless bastard with deep enough pockets. Someone just like Hale.
From the corner of my eye, the door to the rear of the office building opened…
My heart was pounding as all four of them stepped out, moving toward me like a river of wrath. Three towered in front, crowded by a very pregnant young woman.
My mind raced, trying to figure out the implications of this. “You were supposed to stay gone.”
“Oh, yeah?” Tobias Banks glared, his lip curling in a sneer. “Tell that to the bastard who bombed our fucking house and abducted us.”
THIRTY-ONE
Vivienne
I hated this. Hated the way his arms were stretched high over his head, the muscles taut and the tendons strained. But it was the wide leather shackle wrapped over the already bruised, raw skin that was too much. My trapped breath burned as I focused on the buckle in front of me.
“Tighter,” he demanded, his voice a low, savage snarl.
My fingers trembled so hard I stopped. “I can’t.” I sat back on my heels next to him on the bed. “I’m sorry. I thought I could do this, but I can’t.”
He said nothing for a moment, just lowered his gaze. “I understand.”
I shook my head, jerking my gaze to his. “I can’t hurt you. It’s just not in me and this…this is hurting you.” I reached out, stroking his cheek. “You’ve been through too much already.”
A vein at his temple pulsed. He was sweating in January. But it was the flinch of agony I focused on. There was no ending for him, was there? No going back to the man he’d been. He was trapped in this tortured existence that occupied somewhere I couldn’t reach in his beautiful mind.
“I have to leave,” he finally whispered. “It’s not safe here.”
“What?” I murmured. “No.”
He met my stare, his helplessness was a void, a gaping, desolate hole inside him. “I can’t put you in danger. And me being here is exactly what that will do. The doc…the doc wants me admitted for some kind of psych workup. I’m going to find a place that’s as far from here as I can and I’m going to go.”
The room spun, taking my stomach with it. “No.” I shook my head. “No, Colt. I won’t let that happen. I can’t let that happen.”
Colt lowered his free arm, reaching for the one already trussed against the steel frame of the bed. “It’s the only way.”
“I’ll do it.” I grabbed his wrist, stopping him as he tugged at the bonds. “I’ll fucking strap you to this bed and draw the beast to the surface. I’ll make him a deal he can’t refuse. I’ll give him what he wants.”
He met my gaze. “Are you sure?”
“No,” I answered. “But we’ve run out of options, haven’t we?”
There was a savagery underneath the empty stare as he nodded. A beast that hovered too close to the surface, darkening his already deep blue eyes, until they were almost black. It was that beast I focused on now. That beast which made me lift his free hand to the railing on the bed. The thick leather strap hung loose, waiting for me to restrain the man I loved like a damn animal.
A low, throaty rumble came as I leaned across him. Colt dropped his head, pressed his face against my underarm, and inhaled. I tried to focus, cinching the strap softly.
“Tighter,” Colt urged, his tone throatier, not sounding like him at all.
I yanked harder, making my body jerk. His face nuzzled my breast, softly at first, then insistent, until his mouth sought my nipple.
“No.” He jerked away, shaking his head, trying to stop himself from being like that. “Gotta stay in control, gotta make him understand.”
But as I pulled away, I saw it was too late. The bulge in his gray sweatpants told me that. Hard, straining, his cock tented the fleece. I couldn’t stop myself from touching it.
