“He was going to grab her as payment for not delivering you. We need to move faster.”

“We can’t move faster. I don’t have everything in place.”

“You don’t have what in place?” I barked. I could see Monroe jump from the corner of my eye. She turned her wide eyes on me while her hand fluttered near her chest where her heart lay. I wondered what she saw when she looked at me.

“I need to make sure I have concrete evidence in place to put him away forever. I’ve already lost my career to this motherfucker. I want him to get a lethal dose of what it’s like to fuck with me.”

“If you want him dead, you should have just said so. I can end this now.” I was tempted to turn the car around and do just that. I had to protect Monroe. She was part of the stakes now.

What about your brother?

I forced myself to shake off the thoughts. Arthur had successfully planted a seed in my head that was spreading faster than a deadly disease. I had no reason to betray the man who’d given me a shot at life. It was Mario who had brought me home, and it was Mario who was there when I was released from juvie, ready to do anything I needed to exact my revenge against the bright-haired, blue-eyed drug sitting next to me.

There was no way I could double cross him.

But there was no way I could let my brother die when there was a way to save him.

“No,” he rushed out. Suspicion naturally perked up at his rejection, but I shook it off. “We don’t kill him.”

For some reason, I heard the unspoken ‘yet’ in his statement.

“Why not?”

“Because if we kill him then another will take his place. It won’t bring down his organization. We need to do this carefully. We need evidence, and we need Arthur vulnerable. If we flush out everyone, we can take his organization.”

“I don’t want to take anything. I want him dead or rotting in a jail cell. Either way, he suffers.”

“You know that’s not what I meant,” he laughed.

“Just fix it, Mario.” I hung up the phone and texted Q and Dash to meet me at my place. First, I needed to get her home.

“How did you find me?” Her small voice infiltrated my attempt to block her out.

“Would you believe me if I told you I was passing by?”

“No.”

“It’s true. I passed you on the way into town. I wasn’t going to follow you, but that lasted only a few miles. I had no clue where you were going, but—”

Hell, I had no clue what I was doing. I was prepared to track her all night if need be. This had to be the first time when my obsession with her came in handy.

“But what?” she pressed.

“But nothing. I’m just glad I did.”

“So if he knew how to find me, why did he come after me and not you? He said he wanted to take me as an alternative payment.”

I felt my blood boil and my knuckles whiten further as I gripped the steering wheel tighter. I was surprised it didn’t bend under the pressure.

“He was likely going to use you as leverage rather than payment. He still wants Mario, and as long as I can deliver him, he won’t do anything drastic.”

“You don’t call public kidnapping in broad daylight drastic?”

“He could have killed you.” I couldn’t resist meeting her gaze if only for a moment.

“I am done getting caught in the middle of your shit storm, Keiran.”

“I tried doing the right thing and letting you go. You are just as much to blame.” When she turned me in, she broke any resolve I managed to build to stay away from her, and now my biggest enemy knew about her. Of course, I had no idea who was feeding him information, so it was likely she would have been a target whether I stayed away or not. It all began when I decided I had to have her and used revenge as an excuse.

“You killed Trevor and Anya!” she shouted.

“You’re beginning to sound like a broken record.”

“What are we going to do about my car?” It only just occurred to me that it was left behind. I wasn’t even sure what station it was we had just left. From the corner of my eye, I watched her pull out her phone as she sent a text message.

“What were you going to dinner with Jesse for?” I asked instead of answering her question.

“I don’t know. What do people usually go to dinner for?”

“Have I ever told you that I find your sarcastic nature sexy?”

“Don’t make this about sex, Keiran.”

“It’s always about sex.”

“Yeah, well… I’m not your sex toy anymore so you’ll have to get reacquainted with your hand.”

“I’d rather get reacquainted with your pussy.”

I enjoyed the answering, lustful growl disguised as anger that passed through her lips.

Chapter Eighteen

Keiran

Ten Years Ago

We traveled for a long time, and in that time, I got to see a world outside of the compound. I’d only ever been in the compound, and any time they took me out to train, I was blindfolded. Mario wouldn’t tell me where he was taking me or why. He would only say it was for my own good.

After a long flight, we landed and then drove for what seemed like hours. This was the first time I’d been in a car without blindfolds, yet I couldn’t find any excitement over the scenery. Mario had never done anything to hurt me, but it didn’t mean he wouldn’t. After my father made me kill the lady he said was my mother, he had left. Alone and hungry, it was days before I found the courage to leave the house. I took the gun for protection just in case they came looking for me. Two days later, Mario found me on the street digging through garbage. The number he had left me to call him was tucked in my pocket, but without a way to call him, it was useless.

We pulled into a lot surrounded by partially built buildings and lots of dirt. There was a large truck already waiting and a man standing beside it. He was tall with dark hair like mine. My nervousness picked up when the car slowed to a stop in front of the man. Mario didn’t waste time exiting the car. He motioned for me to stay put and then approached the man. I waited for the customary handshake I was used to seeing men make when they met, but there was none between Mario and the strange man.

The man wore a deep frown on his face as he listened to whatever Mario was telling him. He looked toward the car suddenly, and I met his stare. It looked as if Mario was still speaking when the man stepped away and headed for the car. Mario made no move to stop him, though he wore a frown on his face. I was too guarded to keep my hand away from the knife inside my jacket.

Wearing a jacket was also a first. It felt constricting around me, but the good thing was it kept me warm from the harsh winter air.

The man’s hand reached for the door handle, and I quickly scrambled to the other side. Mario must have come to his senses because he moved toward the car and stopped the man. I could hear them arguing outside the car while I watched on.

Was I here to kill this man? I figured this had to be a test, and suddenly, I felt unwanted fear snake its way in.

When they finally stopped arguing the man stepped back, and Mario turned to open the door. He leaned down to peer inside. When he noticed the way my hand clutched the knife inside my jacket, he chuckled.

“It’s okay. No one is going to hurt you, and this isn’t a test,” he said, reading my mind.

After a few moments spent looking between him and the stranger waiting for me to exit the car, I finally got out. He stepped forward immediately, and I showed my teeth the way I often saw the guard dogs in the compound do when they felt threatened.

“Gabriel?” His shock was obvious. “Is that you?”

I watched the shell-shocked man approach me, hesitantly this time. I had no clue who he was, and he must have mistaken me for someone else.