“Koen?” He’s staring at me. I canseehim staring at me, but I can’t hear anything.
I check the phone, thinking maybe we got disconnected, but we didn’t.
“Who?”
I flinch at the dangerous edge in his voice.
I swallow. “Giovanni… and some Russians, he said. I swear, Koen, I didn’t know. I didn’t know what they were going to do.” The image of Remi and Lily in that rifle sight flickers back through my mind, and tears soak my cheeks.He has to go. He has to save Liam. But he’s not moving… He’s just staring at me.
“How does Giovanni know about the drop tonight, Briar?”
I suck in a breath, my lip trembling, my heart shattering into a million pieces.
“Because I told him.”
Silence.
Deafening, cataclysmic, screaming—silence. I meet his eyes, and with each second he looks at me, I feel the knife of his gaze cut through me. He looks torn between going to save his brother and coming down here to strangle me.
“I’m sorr?—”
“Don’t.” My words seem to snap something inside of him.
“Koen…”
“Oh, little Rose,” he purrs; his voice soundsstrange, darker, borderline unhinged. “You don’t know, do you? You’re already dead.”
Tears stream down my cheeks, and he backs away, moving toward the doors behind him, but still his eyes never leave mine.
“Don’t cry.Run. Run, little Rose,I dare you, because when I find you… I will show no mercy. I will take my time, and I will make sure you know exactly who the fuck you betrayed.”
He disappears, and the line goes dead, and I fall to my knees.
66
DO IT. I DARE YOU.
BRIAR
I go home.
I go home because I have a child, and I can’t just head for the fucking hills after the Irish Devil King threatens my life.
“We have to go!” I shout, nearly incoherent, into the phone as I lose time navigating the fucking subway system. I’d get a rideshare, but I don’t have any money.
I don’t have any money.
“What happened?” Lily asks on the other end of the phone, her tone instantly serious.
“He knows,” I half sob. “Koen knows about Gio.”
“Fuck,” Lily breathes.
“Pack what you can; I’ll be home in ten.”
Bolting through the door fifteen minutes later, I quickly secure the locks and race for my room.
I rip the backpack out from under my bed, and start tearing through drawers, stuffing the bag with what I think are the essentials.Underwear, right? I’ll need clean underwear for my life on the run from a fucking mob boss.
