She grinned. “Thank you. And please… be careful.” Her brows crinkled with worry.
“Always. Good luck.” Rocky nodded and left the room.
The office started to empty out but Viv remained seated with her back ramrod straight, her jaw clenched tight and her hands fisted together.
“You ready?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yes, I’m ready. It’s time we end this.” She stood abruptly. “I have to change.”
I frowned. My mind instantly wondered why she wanted to look good for this asshole. “What?”
“If I’m dressed how he likes, he’ll relax, thinking he’s won.” She turned and left the office, and I got to my feet, following on her heels back to the room she was staying in.
“I don’t like it, but I get it,” I told her once we were alone in the room. “I’m going to be there, Viv. If you need me, just run your fingers through your hair. I’ll be close enough to see you. I promise.”
“I believe you,” she said as she tucked a pale pink blouse into a pair of tailored gray pants. She wore her hair pinned up in a twist. “He hated when I wore my hair loose, if I need your help, I’ll take out the clip and pretend I’m fixing it.” She turned to face me. “How do I look?”
“Corporate, but gorgeous as fuck,” I assured her, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her close. “You’re so much stronger than you realize. You gotta remember that, okay?” Before she could tell me that I was wrong, I cupped her face and kissed her like it was our last kiss on earth. I kissed her like it was the beginning of forever because there was a part of me, a big fucking part, that hoped it was true. “You got this.”
She smiled. “We’re about to find out,” she sighed.
After a lingering goodbye with our son, Viv walked out of the clubhouse and slid behind the wheel of a waiting sedan.
It killed me to let her drive by herself but the only way the plan had a chance in hell of working was if James thought he was getting what he wanted.
Viv.
Over my dead fucking body.
***
My whole fucking body was on edge as I watched Viv inside the car at the overflow lot near the restaurant, white knuckling the steering wheel and taking deep breaths. She was nervous as fuck and all I wanted to do was go to her and tell her she could do this.
But I couldn’t so I stood by and watched as she took one final breath and stepped from the car, smoothing her professional clothes and straightening her spine. We told her to expect to find James already there and her feigned surprise when she saw him was expertly executed.
“James!”
“Vivian.” His smile lit up his whole face, asshole looked genuinely happy to see her. He pushed off the hood of his shiny red sports car wearing a shit-eating grin, the perfect accessory to match his khaki pants and golf shirt. “You look beautiful. A few pounds heavier but we’ll fix that quickly.” He stepped forward with his arms open as if the delusional fucker really thought she was going to greet him with a hug.
Viv frowned and folded her arms as a visible barrier between them. “Still a charmer, I see.”
His smile dimmed for a second but then he puffed up again, even more confident than before. “I tried charm with you the first time around. It didn’t work.”
She laughed. “Was that charm? It felt a lot more like control.”
His anger flashed for a hot minute before he banked it and relaxed his limbs.
Something wasn’t right.
Everything I knew about him said he led with his ego but now he was being almost passive. “Something ain’t right,” I whispered to Hawk, who stood beside me, watching through his rifle scope. “He’s too fucking calm.”
James kept moving towards Vivian, smiling as she inched away from him.
Then suddenly, bright headlights flashed from a black SUV. Four doors opened simultaneously and then I heard it. Gunfire.
The Russians opened fire, forcing us to shoot back but I kept my eyes on Viv. Even in the chaos I watched her as she ducked and then hit the ground without regard for her fancy doctor’s clothes.
“I’ve got your back, Falcon. Go get your woman,” Hawk shouted as he lined up a shot and pulled the trigger. Again and again, he performed the same moves while I searched the smoke for Vivian.
