“Don’t- you know, don’t be mean.” Pulling my hands free, I stand up, moving to another corner of the room. We’ve watched movies together here. I got him to eat popcorn on the pristine surface of his expensive linen couch once while we watched an old Hitchcock film. It felt like a warm space before now. I wish he hadn’t told me in here.
Get it together, Afton.
“I knew he despised me. Wanting me dead is new. I don’t want you and Sam to be stained with- with whatever this would be. Killing him.”
“It has to be me,” Mason says, staying where he is, giving me space. I want that. Space to think. I also wish he’d come overhere and wrap those long arms around me. “I have a team pulled together. We’re leaving in sixty minutes. Your brother told me exactly where to find him.”
When I don’t say anything, he finally rises, walking over to me. “It has to be me, wife. Your sister, your mother, they won’t be safe until he’s gone, either. The people you care about in your father’s syndicate.”
“You’re risking your life,” I shake my head angrily. “He isn’t worth it.”
“I will never let him hurt you again,” he says. “And I will not let him endanger your family and disrupt this alliance.”
The alliance. Well, he said it in third place in the order of importance. That’s something.
“What are you going to do?”
“Your father- Cavendish is currently gloating over the drones he stole, attempting to sell them to a third party who's been a thorn in our sides.”
“Three birds, one stone, huh?” He doesn’t laugh. That’s okay. None of this is funny.
Mason checks his watch. “I have to leave. Kai and Logan are collecting the weapons and my father’s pulling together the reinforcements, but this is my plan. Talon and Vincent are here with you, and knowing Arabella and Luna, they’ll be loping across the green and hammering on the door by the time our flight takes off. I’m certain my mother will be calling, too.” He looks at me more closely, taking my cold hands again. My skin is as chilly as his is for a change. “Wife. Are you going into shock? I can’t tell.”
“I don’t think so.” I feel like I’m walking underwater. “Where’s Sam now?”
“He’s already on his way back to Seattle, he’ll be home by the time we-”
“Plausible deniability, huh?” I nod.
“Don’t call your mother or sister. Don’t say a word to anyone outside of the family.” He’s pulling me toward the door. “I have to go. I’ll contact you as soon as I can.”
Is this the last time I’m going to see him? My husband, towering over me with his jade green eyes and beautiful, remote face, his scarred hands and the riot of vivid tattoos hidden under his suit.
“I cannot tell you,” I say slowly, as precisely as he likes to speak, “I cannot tell you howangryI’m going to be if you let a useless sack of shit like my father kill you.”
A smile flickers over his lips and is gone as he kisses my forehead. “It will be all right.”
He’s out the door, closing it gently behind him before I can say goodbye.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
In which revenge is cluttered with MacTavishes.
Mason…
When I arrive at the jet, it’s more crowded than I expected.
My Uncle Cameron and Ethan are there too, along with Michael and Duncan, several of our men and an insane number of guns.
“I see my father’s been busy,” I say, watching Kai and Logan haul another crate of rifles onto the jet.
“It’s best to be prepared for anything, aye?” Dad says, brushing past me with a grin and what looks like a case of C4.
“We already have people at the site,” Uncle Cameron says, shaking my hand. “Your brother-in-law's intel was correct. Cavendish is in Belfast, heading for the warehouse along with the Kelly Gang.”
“I’d like to return to that for a moment,” I snarl. “How many fucking times can wenotkill someone?” I point at Kai and Logan. “You said it was a clean sweep the first time we went after the Kellys,’ remember?” Then pointing at Michael, “After the shootout in the parking garage where my wife was endangered, you said, ‘Oh, this time we got them all.’ Remember that?”
“Mistakes were made,” Michael says haughtily. “Third time’s the charm.”
