“You and Brooke are going to drive north, back to Vancouver.”
“What? But—”
“It’s safer that way.”
Cord.
The plane accident.
He didn’t want to risk us.
Fine. On that matter. But something else remained.
“I told you I would help with my father. Remember?”
He lifted his head back to the window. His jaw clenched. “We talked about this.”
“Wha—”
“You.” He rounded back to me. “Us. That changed everything.” He pointed to the bed.
I fell quiet. How could my heart plunge in one second and soar in the next?
“He knows I’m alive. I want to see him.”
“I’ll bring him to you.”
“Why are you going to Milwaukee?” I pulled out of his arms and faced him, folding my arms over my chest. The sheet rustled as I adjusted it.
“That’s family business.”
Which meant it wasn’t my business. But I knew better.
“You’re going to deal with my father, aren’t you?”
He began to move away, but I grabbed his pants.
“You can’t do that without me. It’s my right.”
“I said I would bring him to you.”
He didn’t get it. Or maybe he did. Suddenly, it felt so important to be there, to see him, to be the one to walk into a room when he wasn’t expecting me. I wanted to make him feel unbalanced, to have him feel a small portion of the fear he’d put me through, put us through.
“Why are you doing this?” I choked out.
Kai’s hand came to my arm, but I shrugged him off, stepping out of reach.
His tone was apologetic. “There are too many factors up in the air. I need Brooke away from Milwaukee. I need you away from Milwaukee. Your father knows about you. He’s already tried once to get you. I can’t run the risk—”
I shook my head. “This is total bullshit. You never said a word, but I know you caught the guy, whoever he’d embedded in your organization. You wouldn’t have come back to me if you hadn’t. It’s safe for me again. You have a million guards. Your security team is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. You think twenty steps ahead. Don’t tell me it’s unsafe for me there, that you can’t risk me—”
“Because it’s the truth!” He got in my face, backing me up. “I cannot risk you. I won’t. I’ve had my mother taken from me. My brother. I won’t risk anyone else, and I won’t apologize for that. I care about you. Whether it’s rational or not, I won’t chance losing you.”
That stopped me cold.
I was angry, determined, I wanted to fight to go with him, to have my own vengeance, but hearing this, hearing him—I blinked back sudden tears.
He gentled his tone. “If there’s even a chance he could get to you, do you know what I would do?” He moved closer, his hands finding my arms, circling to my back. He pulled me to his chest and tucked my head under his chin. I felt his voice vibrate through his chest. “I would rain hell over everyone connected to your father.”
A shiver went down my back.
“I am not the good guy here. I am everything you’ve ever called me. I’m a murderer. I’m a bastard. I’m ruthless. I’m calculating. I will kill everyone your father holds dear, everyone who has helped your father, and I will relish it.” He pulled back, tipping my head to meet his gaze.
What I saw there doubled my shiver.
Death.
He was promising it to me.
“I will not gamble with the lives of those I care about, and you’re one of them now.” He stepped back, his hands leaving me, and I was suddenly chilled to the bone.
His head lowered, and his eyes locked with mine. “You are not coming with me.”
Got it? I felt the sentiment, but he didn’t say the words.
He didn’t say anything else as he went to the closet and pulled on a shirt, then a sweatshirt. He didn’t say a word as he finished dressing and picked up the phone by the bed.
“I’m ready,” he said into the phone.
He paused, looking at me.
I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t fight him. He wasn’t going to budge on this matter.
The door clicked shut behind him, soft but final.
• • •
The door opened again ten minutes later, but it was Brooke who slipped through.
I tightened my hold on the sheets. “Wha—”
“We have one hour, literally one hour.”
“What are you talking about?”
She moved inside, and I was able to see her better—hair pulled into a low ponytail, dressed all in black,