“Well, don’t you think highly of your?—”
BOOM!
An explosion strong enough that it threw the two of us back several feet detonated up ahead, where Theo’s car had been idling. The force shook the entire block and blew out the windows of buildings close by.
Screaming bystanders ran in any and all directions as flames licked up into the clear blue sky, and I immediately turned to where Theo had been standing beside me, seeing him laid out flat on the sidewalk.
I reached out to grab his arm, then rolled to my side to check he was okay, that he was alive. The second I made contact, I heard a low groan, and he shifted to sit up, a cut on his forehead dripping blood down his temple.
“What the fuck was that?” he said, blinking through the swirls of dust and debris, trying to gather his bearings.
I, on the other hand, was busy getting to my feet now that I knew he was safe, more than aware of what the fuck thathad been. Someone had planted a bomb in Theo’s car. Some motherfucker had just made an attempt on his life.
“Did they just blow up mycar?” Theo asked as he got to his feet. When he took several steps forward to get a better look, I grabbed hold of his arm, halting him.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m trying to see who thefuckjust tried to kill me.” Theo yanked his arm free and turned back to the fireball in front of us. A couple of unlucky people lay moaning in the street, but everyone else had scattered, which was exactly what I wanted the fuck to do.
But Theo seemed to have other ideas.
“Theo,” I growled as he continued toward what was left of the car. I could hear sirens in the distance, already coming for the casualties, and the last thing I needed was his being whisked off to some local hospital when someone was out here trying to off him. I needed to get him out of here and back to the hotel, where I could check him out and make sure he didn’t have any other injuries.
Though, judging by his determination to get closer to what was almost his—and my—very own cremation, I was starting to think he had sustained more damage to his head than he was letting on.
A flash of movement caught my attention just beyond the flames at the same time it did Theo’s, someone running from the scene. Before I could tell Theo we needed to get the fuck out of there, he took after the person, leaving me cursing up a storm behind him.
What the fuck?
It was obvious whoever had just bolted wasn’t injured in any way. But they also weren’t leaving the scene like some traumatized victim, either. Was this the person sending theemails? The texts? The videos? Was this them making good on their threat to kill Theo?
They were hightailing it out of there like they were. Like someone might find them.Find them and make them pay.
Unfortunately for them, they were right.
Theo was on their ass, the impact of the explosion clearly not having had any adverse affect on his motor skills. It was moments like this that I was reminded of just how deceptive the Prince of Monaco could be.
In public, as the face of the Monaco royal family, he was all polite, suave sophistication. But when he was presented with a challenge, when he was hunting down a potential threat—that fucker was a merciless hunter with rockets in his goddamn feet.
He’d taken off at a pace I couldn’t keep up with, he was just that fast. Where I was more conscious of our surroundings, Theo zeroed in on his target like the predator I knew he could turn into on a dime.
Fuck, this was the last thing we needed, Theo’s going rogue and chasing down this wannabe assassin. If anything, I wanted to catch the asshole and bring him to King. After I punched the fuckwad in the face a few times, of course, and found out what his deal with Theo was.
But the truth of the matter was, if Theo got to him first…
I rounded the side alley I’d just seen Theo bolt down and spotted him just before he launched himself at the fleeing man. He crash-tackled the guy from behind, plowing him into the side of the brick building with the strength of a man twice his size. But that’s what was so surprising about Theo: he was muscle on muscle, and so quick you rarely saw him coming.
It seemed this guy was ready for the fight, though. He’d brought his knife—but that was his third mistake of the night. His first had been letting Theo live. His second had been letting Theo see him.
“You really don’t want to do that,” Theo warned as the dumbass lunged forward, swiping the knife through the air. I didn’t recognize the man’s face at all, his features nondescript and able to blend in with a crowd easily. Something about him didn’t seem like a criminal mastermind, more like a gun for hire. I moved in from the other side, caging him in so his back was against the wall.
“Who do you work for?” I said, my gun trained on his chest.
He spat in my direction and tried to use that as a distraction to throw his knife at me. My reflexes were sharp, and I moved fast enough that the blade only grazed the sleeve of my jacket instead of nailing me in the arm.
That fucker. He’d just made mistake number four. As I started toward him, keeping my aim steady, Theo exploded with rage, tackling his ass to the ground. His fists connected with the guy’s face with blow after blow, and he was only seconds away from knocking the man unconscious or worse if I didn’t stop him.
“Theo, stop,” I said, and when he didn’t let up, I crouched down to meet him at eye level. “Ask him who he works for.”
