Big Guy grunted. At that moment the other man—Shannon, maybe?—poked his head in.
“Time to go.” He produced a dirty looking coat and draped it over my shoulders. “Wear this; it’s cold outside.”
“What? Outside?” I squinted up at him. “Nah, I’m fine here, thanks.” I sniffed the jacket. “And this smells funny.”
“Wasn’t a suggestion. C’mon.”
Reluctantly, I rose and followed him on unsteady steps down the same dark hall we’d been in earlier. We bypassed Donegal’s office, heading toward the end of the hall, and alarm pulsed through my chest. This was it, then.
There was nowhere to run in these tight quarters, and even if I did make it outside, Donegal owned this city.
Big Guy led me through a door at the end of the hall and we emerged into an alley. The sun was starting to sink, and the alley was poorly lit. It was narrow and cluttered with potholes and oil stains in the pavement, along with the inevitable piles of refuse. Brodie was already there, standing between Kael and Donegal.
The look on his face made me stop just outside the door.
No.
He looked at me with apology silent on his lips, devastation in his eyes.
No.
We had lost, then. I sobered up swiftly. Wondered if they would do me first, or him. I hoped it was me. I couldn’t handle—
Donegal handed Brodie a gun and turned those piercing eyes on me. “Step forward, Emery Bishop. Kneel.” I looked from him to Brodie, to the weapon in his hand. His gaze had turned inward, giving me nothing. He couldn’t mean...
Behind me, Big Guy pushed on my shoulders, forcing me to the ground. The asphalt bit into my knees through the jeans I was wearing. “Brodie.” He wouldn’t look at me. “Brodie, damn you, look at me!”
He looked at me then, and I flinched at the truth I read on his face. He had gone from apologetic to distant to perfectly blank in the space of seconds. The man in front of me was a killer, and it wasn’t his own demise he was feeling guilt over.
It was mine.
Brodie was going to kill me.
The horror of it galvanized me. I tried to scramble to my feet, but Big Guy kept a hand firmly on the top of my head. My eyes darted from man to man in front of me, searching...for what, I didn’t know. All I knew was that I had given my heart to an assassin, and he wasn’t going to need to fire the gun in his hand to kill me. He had slain me already, ripped my heart out and left it bleeding in the space between us.
His best work yet.
Kael held a phone before him, recording my ignominy. Donegal merely looked on, cool and removed from the situation. I couldn’t believe this was happening. Couldn’t believe I had trusted Brodie. I glared up at him, vision blurring from the tears streaming down my face, and hiccupped. With jerky movements, I pulled the ring from my finger. I cocked my arm back to throw it, but couldn’t. It had been his mother’s. I set it carefully down in front of me and placed my hands on my knees to stop their trembling.
“Go ahead, then,” I whispered. “Get it done.”
Brodie squatted suddenly, curled a hand around the back of my neck, and kissed me. It was fierce and full of rage and everything his blank expression couldn’t say.
I clutched at him, returning his kiss like a fucking moron. “I’m so fucking mad at you,” I said. “But I forgive you.” I huffed out a teary laugh. “I’m going to haunt you, but I forgive you.”
I bit his lip sharply and he cursed, rising to stand once again.
“I don’t have all day,” Donegal complained, looking at his watch.
Brodie raised the gun with one hand, pointing it at my chest It shook in his hold, and some perverse part of me took pleasure in his obvious discomfort. “Christ,” he muttered, slapping his other hand around the grip to steady it.
He closed his eyes. Opened them.
And fired.
I felt it hit my chest; looked down to see blood blossoming on the jacket Big Guy had thrown around my shoulders. The pain was dull rather than sharp, different than I’d imagined being shot would feel. I felt floaty, removed from myself as I watched the blood bubble on my chest.
Looking up at Brodie, I smiled sadly, and let myself slip to the side as consciousness faded away.
