And the worst part?
I didn’t want her to go.
I wanted tokeepher.
Fuck. What the hell was happening to me?
I knew better. Iknewbetter. There was too much shit going down right now for me to be distracted—least of all by a girl who’d already cost me my self-control. She was a liability. A hostage situation waiting to happen. A weapon Delgado or the feds oranyonecould use to cut my throat.
My father would’ve slapped me across the face for eventhinkingabout keeping her close. If his beatings had taught me anything, it was—never let anyone affect my thinking. Never let anyone inside.
Anastasia was the only exception, had been since birth. But that was different. We’d been twins on the same battlefield, raised by the same monsters. Loving her wasn’t a choice—it was a matter of survival.
But this?
This was something else.
Allowing someone like Lacey into my heart…it could be my fucking undoing. The death of everything I’d built. The death ofhertoo.
That was why men like my father didn’t love their wives. Theyownedthem. Displayed them like property. Expected them to bear children and keep quiet. Women in this world were accessories. Hostages. Leverage. Never a man’s equal. Never safe.
My phone lit up beside me.
Anastasia.
Of course.
She’d always had a sixth sense—said it was our twin connection, like she could feel the moment I was ready to jump off a ledge.
I answered, “Hey, little sis.”
Technically it was true—I’d been born twenty-two minutes before her. Not that she would ever accept that meant I was in charge.
“What’s up?” I asked, dragging my hand through my hair.
“I was just going to ask you the same thing,” she said in a worried tone. “The news is all over a story about the nightclub that got torched. Did you have anything to do with it?”
I chuckled under my breath. “Yeah, it was me. A long story, but it’s being twisted by the media and the mayor. The mayor, it seems, has decided to cozy up with the El Salvadoran dictator and his sex-trafficking gangsters.”
“Of course he has,” she muttered.
“I may need your help setting up a young woman with a new identity. I’d like to know that you’ll keep an eye on her.”
A pause.
“Hmm. Nik, if I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re turning soft in your old age,” she said in a teasing voice. “Helping Braxton with Dasha, and now you’ve got another woman to protect?”
“Old?” I snorted. “I wouldn’t call twenty-sevenold. But Idofeel ancient most days.”
She laughed softly. “So, who is she?”
I let out a breath, rubbing the back of my neck. “Someone who didn’t deserve to be sold off in Ciro Delgado’s meat market.”
“Jesus,” she whispered.
“Delgado’s gotten overconfident. The little dictator he’s working for is too cozy with politicians around here. This is turning into a serious situation. If we don’t take him out now, he’s only going to get stronger and more brazen. But don’tworry, Luca and I—and the families on the East Coast—we have Delgado in our sights.”
“Any time you tell me not to worry, I know there’s more to the story than you’re willing to share.”
