“And you’re still listening.”
He doesn’t respond. Just floors the accelerator and lets the silence take over again, the engine snarling like it wants blood.
Outside, the city gives way to long stretches of forest and gated mansions. We turn onto a private drive that snakes through acres of manicured darkness, and my pulse finally ticks up.
We’re here.
The gates open before us like they’ve been expecting me. Like this place has teeth and I just stepped into its mouth.
The estate is sprawling. Stone and shadow. All sharp angles and quiet opulence, with more cameras than windows.
Nico pulls up to the front steps, kills the engine, and sits there for a second.
Then he turns to me.
“I hope you understand something, Mr. Cross.”
I arch a brow.
“If you’re lying to me…” He reaches across my body and opens my door from the inside. “… you won’t leave this house alive.”
I glance down at his hand still on the handle, at the glove, the strength beneath it.
Then I look him right in the eye.
“Noted.”
He leans in, close enough to smell the smoke on his breath.
“Good,” he murmurs. “Now get inside.”
CHAPTER 3 – THE ESTATE
NICO
It’s a dangerous move, bringing him here.
But danger doesn’t scare me. Being blind does. And right now, I don’t know enough to kill him.
He’s a loose thread I can’t afford to cut yet.
If I let him go, he disappears. If I put a bullet in his skull, I lose whatever intel he’s baiting me with.
So I do the only thing that makes sense:
I move the potential hitman into my home.
He’s either innocent, or playing a very good game.
Either way, I’m not taking my eyes off him.
If I had even a sliver of doubt that I couldn’t handle him, I’d put two in his chest and one in his head without flinching. But he’s not reckless, he’s calculated. Too smart to try anything stupid.
Which makes him more dangerous than a trigger-happy thug.
More dangerous than a man with a gun is a man with patience. And Julian Cross is the type to wait you out.
Still, he madeonemistake.
