snarled. “You think I wanted to stay away for five years? You think I just went into hiding and worked for sick fuckers for kicks? They threatened anyone I ever cared about. They locked me up. The only reason I got out now was because I drugged my guard. They’re going to find me and punish me. They’re going to assign me some hacking job where I have to make trains collide, or they’re going to make me hack into a health database and find out what rich fuckers have sick children and offer a cure in exchange for ransom. ’Cause, oh yeah, these people have the cure to every disease imaginable and like to hoard it to themselves. I stumbled upon a lab they owned where they create new diseases.”
Alessandro’s brows raised in shock. “You know what else?” I continued, all the sins spilling from my mouth like vomit. “Maybe they’ll make me order a hit. Maybe they’ll make me steal a young college student’s entire savings. Or order a house to be burned down with the owners inside. I am a fucking puppet, and they are the Ringleaders. I do what they say or else.” Alessandro ran his hand through his hair. “I could kill myself. You know that’s something I’ve considered? But they’d just find someone else with only half a conscience and still punish the people I love. I fight where I can. I protect who I must. You have no fucking clue what you’re up against. This is an elite group that runs the world. Not even Gavriel Moretti could stop them. They’ll burn down entire countries for sport.”
I spat at the ground and threw my hands up. I knew I’d said too much, but there was no stopping the truth now. I was losing my fucking mind. Losing control. Losing myself to the whims of this evil organization I couldn’t escape. I paced. The anger buried in my chest came alive with Alessandro’s kiss. I wanted more from my life. I wanted freedom from these evil people. “Nix,” Alessandro growled. “Nix, listen to me.”
I didn’t stop my pacing for even a minute. I couldn’t. I had all this fury and nowhere to put it.
“Stop fucking losing your mind for one goddamn minute so we can talk!” he yelled at me before grabbing me for a big hug. I collapsed against him and cried against his chest. My pain felt like weakness. I was so fucking tired of not feeling in control of my own life. Alessandro patted my back as I let go of my agony and let it fall down my cheeks. “Let’s go to the hotel. We can figure out our next steps there. But you are not going back. Do you understand me?”
Anguish consumed my mind. He still didn’t get it. Maybe if I knocked him out and ran?
“Nix, stop thinking of ways to get away,” Alessandro begged.
“I’m thinking of ways to save you.”
“You saved me all those years ago,” he whispered. “It’s my turn now. Hell, you’ve spent your entire life saving people. Me. Sunshine. Grace. The Bullets. It’s time to relinquish a bit of control. It’s time to trust someone else to be strong. I know you’re scared. I know you think you’re doing what’s best, but it’s time to come home.”
He was right. I knew it. But hoping to escape the Ringleaders was dangerous. I wasn’t sure I could do it. But now that I’d seen Alessandro, I wasn’t sure if I was strong enough to run away again. We had to try.
“Okay,” I replied weakly. I hated how much these people had stolen from me. I used to be the levelheaded one. I used to be the one who pulled the strings. Not anymore.
Alessandro pressed his hand against my back and started leading me back down the windy streets of Sydney. I was sweating through my sweatshirt, and my entire body ached. I felt completely drained. “Just a little further,” Alessandro promised while guiding me. I stole glances at him, noting the ways he’d changed and how he was still the same. He was a protector. He was the level head to my eccentricities. He had a couple of wrinkles around his eyes, and his scruff didn’t look as sharp and trimmed as it used to. He wasn’t wearing a perfectly tailored suit, either.
But he was still the same. Still tall and proud. His olive skin looked beautiful in the Sydney sunshine, and I loved the way