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”Sam doesn't even like flowers,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. ”He always says they're impossible to keep alive.”
Grayson looked at me meaningfully, but I ignored him. He was right--probably--but this wasn't the time to talk to him about that.
”It might not mean anything,” Sofia said. She sounded like she wanted to convince herself. ”I need to speak to him.”
She turned to walk out of his apartment. She had disentangled herself from me at one point, but I reached out to grab her by the wrist so I could stop her. She tried to wrench herself out of my grasp, but it was pointless; I was bigger, stronger, and I could just pull her toward me if I needed to.
”Sofia,” I said softly. ”This isn't a good idea.”
”I need to speak to him. Before you go making any wild accusations, I need to talk to Sam.”
I shook my head, pulling her close to me so I could wrap my arms around her waist. ”No,” I growled into her ear. ”You're staying with us. This is dangerous, Sofia.”
She banged her fists against my chest. ”Fuck you,” she said. ”You don't get to tell me what to do. Aren't you supposed to be fucking dangerous?”
I eased up on my hold of her, just to give her some space. I'd seen her upset before, but never like this. ”We're not...”
”Killers? Like my brother? You might not do the dirty work yourself, but you know, that only makes you worse, right?” she asked in a shouting whisper, through gritted teeth. ”You're starting to lose control, Teo. You might have been able to tell your men what to do before, but Grayson's gone rogue, and you're just standing there stopping me from seeing the one person in the world who cares about me.”
”I...” I trailed off before I told her that I cared about her. This was not the time.
”Grayson keeps finding bodies,” she said, her tone cool, full of venom. ”Maybe your bestie is the killer. Did you ever think about that?”
”Back off, Sofia,” I said, taking a step toward her so I could tower over her. ”You have no idea what you're talking about. Leave him alone.”
”You're all so fucking bloodthirsty,” she replied, looking up at me, her eyes hardening as tears welled up in her eyes. ”Maybe look in the mirror first.”
”Look, I--”
”You don't get to stop me from doing this,” she snapped, her face contorted with rage. ”You don't want to see what happens if you try to hold me hostage again.”
She spun around and walked away from me. I watched her back until she slammed the door behind her. My body felt tight with frustration, and I wanted to chase after her, but I knew that would be a mistake.
We both watched her leave, then Grayson turned to me, raising an eyebrow.
”Yeah, that went well,” I said, then set my gaze on Grayson. ”You should have waited for me.”
”I was just trying to protect her.”
”Don’t lie to me,” I replied. ”If you were trying to protect her, you would’ve listened.”
He rolled his shoulders back, sighing deeply. ”Fine. I just thought I would be able to catch the killer. I didn’t expect you to bring her here.”
”What the fuck were you thinking?” I asked, shaking my head. ”Grayson, we don’t mess with thepolice.”
”We don’t normally mess with the police,” he said. ”But we have the chance to now. You have to admit that it’s a little fun.”
”It’s not fun,” I said. ”You’re putting all of us in danger.”
”Not if we get to them first.”
I groaned. I took a step forward, the handle of my blade in my hand.He didn’t seem remotely concerned.
Which is why he wasn’t expecting it when I struck him in the face with a closed fist.
He staggered backward with a grunt, trying to get his feet under him–and Grayson was fast, but I was faster. Before he could react, I had him pinned against a wall, my forearm pressed hard against his throat.
”You listen to me,” I growled, my voice low and dangerous. ”This is not a game. People are dying, and Sofia is in danger. You need to stop acting like a reckless idiot and start thinking clearly. We need to find out who did this and protect the people we care about. That's all that matters.”
