“Drago!” Rowan yells from the truck. “Lev’s in. You breathing?”
I press my palm to my chest, right over the ache blooming under the vest. “Unfortunately.”
Lev leans out of the passenger side, his brown eyes full of fury. “I told you never to do that.”
He waves his finger at me, like he thinks he can lecture me and I’ll actually listen. Like, I didn’t just save his life without even blinking.
I stalk toward them, blood on my hands that isn’t mine. “You told me they were there.”
“That was a warning,” he snaps.
“That was you trusting me, old man,” I fire back.
That brings a grin to Lev’s face, and then he embraces me, just like a dad would.
“I owe you one now,” he whispers.
I clap his back. “You’re alive, that’s all that matters,” I tell him.
And I mean it.
Lev stares at me for a long moment. Something heavy passes between us. Old guilt. Old loyalty. Old sins that never stay buried.
“Get us out of here,” he says finally.
“You got it, boss.” I joke, jumping in the passenger seat.
Rowan slams the door and floors it.
As the truck tears away from the woods, I look back once.
Three bodies. No witnesses.
Lev is alive.
And I’d take that bullet again without hesitation. I pull up my phone and check in on Lily’s cameras. It’s late at home.
We’ve got a long fucking flight ahead of us, and now that Lev is safe, my focus is back on his daughter. Not that it ever stopped being there.
Charlotte is leading the torture of Madame Eve under the supervision of Declan. But, once they’re done, they’re doing some drive-bys of her home to make sure there isn’t anyone lurking around her house.
I’m not expecting Madame Eve to talk. But I expect that the fact we’re holding her hostage will bring more people out of the shadows.
Leaders don’t like their empires being destroyed. And that’s exactly what we’re doing.
State by State.
Day by day.
The end of the Preacher is coming.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Lily
I blow my hair away from my face as I finally come up for air from the mountain of paperwork swallowing my desk. With the looming trip to Monaco, I need this cleared so I can breathe while I’m away.
“Roxy!” I call, my voice tight from disuse.
