Guess nobody wanted the job. But they expected me to do it without complaints. And I’d never once doubted my purpose or the importance of one day leading the family.
I’d worked for tonight my whole life. And one woman had managed to throw all my plans out the window. Yet I found it hard to regret what I was about to do. And if Quinn thought I’d let her run away from me, she didn’t know me at all.
But I’d remedy that. She’d find out soon how far I’d go to get her back. But first we had to get through the next few hours.
Standing up, I indicated that the meeting was over. “Gabriel, you’re the best choice, and you know it. Jude is a wild card. He likes shooting things too much to be a serious leader. He’d have no allies left because he’d put a bullet in all of them as soon as they pissed him off.”
Walking to the door, I opened it, looking back at three stunned faces. “Let’s do this.”
Gabriel grumbled but followed me to the fleet of armored Range Rovers waiting for us in the driveway. We’d go in three different cars, five more following us, two in front. Some might think it was overkill, but I wasn’t taking any chances. Not when it came to our futures.
17
QUINN
I couldn’t rememberthe taxi ride. Or how the elevator took me up to Freya’s apartment. Or how I walked down the gleaming hallways and up to her front door.
A sob escaped me as soon as she answered my frantic knocks. “Freya.”
She held her arms out, and I collapsed into them, causing her to stumble back. She held me close, making shushing noises. I buried my face in her shoulder, my body trembling from the effort it took to get myself back under control.
The door closed, and she led me to the couch, sitting me down.
“Who do I need to kill?”
Brushing away a few errant tears, I sat up, ignoring the hiccups the crying had brought with it. “He’s engaged.”
At the thought of Liam marrying someone else, someone who wasn’t me, my eyes burned up again.
“Who’s engaged?”
“Liam.”
Freya’s jaw dropped, and she stilled.
“I didn’t mean for us to happen,” I added, as if that explained everything.
She caught herself and nodded. “Obviously, since you’re sitting on my couch bawling your eyes out.” She waved a hand up and down my body.
Freya stood up, then held out her hand to me. “This requires alcohol.” She dragged me to the kitchen, pushing me onto one of the barstools.
Rummaging in the cupboards, she came back with a bottle of vodka and another of cranberry juice. “We also have wine and beer, but I figured this would get us to where we want to be quicker.” She mixed them together in two tall glasses.
I accepted the drink she handed me but set it down on the bar. We had to clear the air first. “Are you mad at me?”
Freya set down her own drink where she was standing on the other side of the bar. “Not mad. Upset you didn’t confide in me, though.”
“I know. And I’m sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you. Especially if it was only a one-off thing.”
She fixed me with a stare. “This doesn’t look like a one-off.”
My head dropped forward. “That’s because it wasn’t. I’ve never felt anything even close to what I’m feeling for your brother for anyone else. He was everything to me.”
Still was, no matter what had happened. And I thought I hated myself most of all for the feelings I still had for him.
Standing up, she crossed her arms over her chest. “What did he do?”
“He’s engaged to someone else.” My voice wavered, but thankfully there were no tears this time.
