Was it better to have him for a finite amount of time?Or should she cut her losses now so he could continue his suicidal mission to eliminate Colm Sheridan?Doing so might honor his dead mother’s memory, but it would be a death sentence for Jude.
No.I won’t allow it.
She sighed.He’d been willing to give them the length of her pregnancy to figure things out.But now?Would things change once he woke up?
Make sure they don’t.
Fight for him.
There was only one way to reach him, the one thing they had in common beyond a shadow of a doubt.She turned back to the bed, padding across the carpet on silent feet.
His dark eyes opened the second her knee touched the bed.“What’s got that look on your face?”
“Don’t leave.”The words came out low, fierce.“Stay with me.Live.Be a father to our baby and bemyman.”
His eyebrows rose.“I think I must be dreaming.”
“You’re not.”She climbed onto the bed and knelt between his thighs.“I’ll do whatever it takes, Jude.If you go after Colm, you’ll die.”Her breath came out in a sob.“Don’t you see?This never ends.They hurt you, you hurt them, and round and round it goes until the world ends.”
He reached for her, but she grabbed his hand and pressed it against her stomach.“Thisis what matters.Not them.Not the past.Not a war that will start another war and another and another.Us.”
She held her breath as he looked at her, giving nothing away.“It won’t stop.Even if I was willing to leave it all behind—and I’m getting to that point—there is another element in play.”
The pieces clicked together in her head.“Dmitri Romanov.”
He hesitated, and then said, “If I don’t honor the deal I made with him to take out Colm, he’ll just kill him—and Callista—anyway.And set me up to take the fall.It won’t take much to create a convincing frame job.Everyone will think it was me anyway.”
“No.”Horror wrapped around her, making her sick to her stomach.“He can’t do that.”She didn’t know how she was going to stop him, but she’d find a way.
“Fuck, you’re killing me.”He pulled her down and kissed her until her head spun.“I want to believe the fairy tale.I want to think that we can take off to some far corner of the world and they’ll leave us the fuck alone.But even if the Sheridans don’t know I exist, your family won’t stop coming after us.They think you’re brainwashed and that I’m your captor.Do you believe for one goddamn second that your brother will sit back and let you disappear?”
No, not when he put it like that.Teague would feel responsible that he didn’t protect her enough and he’d hunt her to the ends of the earth, thinking he was saving her.
She closed her eyes, but she couldn’t block out the truth.No easy answers, no easy outs.
Jude was right.But she was right, too.She didn’t think for a second that she could deal with the Romanov threat…but he could.That wouldn’t take care of the problem ofherfamily, though.
She rubbed a hand over her face, hating the conclusion that arose.“We have to go back to Boston.”
“What?”
“You have to stop Dmitri.”She didn’t like him putting himself in danger, but if anyone could deal with that threat, it was Jude.And Carrigan would help…maybe.Which left the O’Malleys to her.“I’ll talk to Teague and Aiden.If I do that of my own free will, neither one of them can argue that you’re keeping me trapped.”As much as she’d like to keep the conversation to just her and Teague, she knew Aiden was looking for her, too.
Jude’s arms tightened around her.“What the fuck makes you think that your brothers will let you walk out of Boston once you’re back there?”
It was a gamble and, to be perfectly honest, not even a good one.If Teague didn’t lock her in a room and throw away the key, Aiden certainly would.“It’s worth the risk.And, really,you’rethe one in more danger.”She didn’t like thinking about that.They were between a rock and a hard place, and were out of good options.
“I don’t fucking think so.”
She pressed her face against his neck and inhaled deeply.He smelled crisp and clean like the sea, something she could live her entire life with and never get tired of.“We can’t live on the run indefinitely, Jude.They will catch up to us again and, this time, someone might die.Youmight die.”It made her shake simply thinking about it.“We can’t let Dmitri hurt Callie.If you think Teague is after us now, imagine what will happen if he thinks you killed his wife and unborn child.”
Jude cursed long and hard.“You crossed the country to get away from your family and now you’re willing to walk back into that vipers’ nest—”
“For you.”She lifted her head and met his gaze.“For us.”
***
Us.
