Jacques continued to hug me to his side. He kissed my forehead. “What do you want me to do with them?”
It was my call? Oh god. “I—”
“Two options,” Artemis said. “Because it’s overwhelming. One, we take them out. Or two, we keep them here, and maybe they bleed out. Maybe they get arrested. Maybe this next car reports them.”
The flash of headlights from the car approaching were forcing me to decide. I couldn’t decide to kill them. “Leave them here,” I said. “I just wanna go home.”
23. JACQUES
There was no greater pain than seeing Ezra hurt, and I didn’t want to be the one who’d hurt him. I’d forced him to witness me shooting three people—it had all happened so quickly. I’d made the decision, knowing it was the fastest route to safety, even if it would mentally pain him.
I knew a lot about making the brain happy. Dopamine hits and serotonin rushes. They were all things I could get him, or at least deliver. The first part being a suggestion from Maya. Once we were at his apartment, he was already happier to see his place. Then I got him with the sugar, and lots of it. I helped him to a soda, followed by pancakes with syrup.
And then came a knock at the door.
Through the peephole, I saw the FBI agent, Dina.
“Mr. Cross,” she called out.
Ezra was in the bedroom, and unaware this was happening.
I opened the door, still in the guard’s outfit, my hand on the gun at my waist. “What do you need?”
“I’m just here to make sure Ezra’s okay,” she said. “We heard there was a shooting in the underground parking bay.”
“Okay, he’s fine,” I told her. “And where were you today?”
“We were there,” she said, smirking at me as if she’d gotten one over me. “It’s our job to go unnoticed at those things. But we’re pleased with the outcome. We were also investigating a case of police misconduct, a bribery case relating to Victor Pemberton.”
“And?”
“Well, we lost our lead agent on that case. Kalen O’Ryan,” she said. “He up and left the agency. Not heard from him since.”
Shacking up with one of the Bianchi brothers. Now I had one over on her. “Very sad,” I grumbled. “Ezra is fine. I’m fine. We’re getting ready to leave the country. Is there anything else you need from us?”
She shook her head. “You know, you’re still—”
“On the no fly list?” I asked. “I had that record removed.” Thanks to Runa. “And we’re going private.”
“One day, I’m going to figure out what you have over people,” she said. “People seem to drop at their knees and overturn decisions for you.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that most of it was illegal, and the men who dropped to their knees did so willingly—and there would only be one man on his knees for me now.
“Everything okay?” Ezra asked, standing by the post that separated the living space from the kitchen with a view to the front door. “If she needs to take my statement...”
“That’s everything,” she said. “Have a nice vacation.”
Once the door was closed, I could take a sigh of relief. I reassured Ezra, and then told him to pack. I hadn’t planned much, but I knew I could make that call to Mercy and have a private jet ready at almost any airport or airfield in the state.
I walked up behind Enzo as he was packing a suitcase. He turned before I had the chance to grab him, his wide eyes, staring at me.
“I want to ask you something, and you can say no.”
“Okay.” His soft voice trembled slightly.
“Stay with me,” I said. “I don’t have a ring or a plan. I just know that three months ago—four months, whatever—you were a stranger, and now I can’t imagine a world where you’re not mine.”
He smiled. “Yours?”
