I don’t know how long it’s been before there’s a knock at the door. A coded knock—three short, one long.
Anthony.
I exhale once, reluctantly shifting her just enough so she can remain asleep. I pull on joggers and unlock the door, stepping into the dark hallway and closing it softly behind me.
Anthony stands there, his jaw tight. His voice is low.“I’ve got more information.”
My stomach turns cold. “You’d better come in.”
We go into my office and close the door. He hands me a thin folder. “Your mother, Elena, was in a relationship with Mick Rowe.”
Everything inside me goes still. Mick.Leoni’s father.Suddenly, it begins to click into place.
“How long?” I mutter, gripping the worktop.
“I think it lasted almost two years, give or take.” Anthony’s voice is grim. “It wasn’t just some fling. Hecaredabout her. And she cared about him. She was going to leave your father.”
My chest goes tight.
“Did he know?”
“About the affair? Yes. But about Mick, no. He only found that out recently.”
“Makes sense. That’s why he hired Leoni. That’s why he ended Isaac.”
“Seems that way. He’s known about the informant shit for years and was happy to sit on that knowledge, Mick’s been hiding in seg for so long, your father obviously decided to wait it out. But this, this he won’t forgive. This he wants blood for.”
“He won’t stop until he’s finished him,” I mutter, rubbing at my brow. Heat coils through me, rage burning in my stomach. My pulse slams behind my ribs. “My father killed her,” I state firmly. This information has confirmed what I already knew in my gut. “And now he’s killing Mick’s family, slowly, deliberately, to drag him out of protective custody. To finish the job.”
Anthony nods once. “So, what’s the next move?”
I glance back towards my bedroom, and the decision comes instantly. “We stop playing his game,” I say. “And we start building our own.”
I am the son my father raised, and he’s about to find out how much he underestimated me.
She’s still asleep when I dress. Curled in the sheets like she’s finally relaxed. I kneel beside the bed and brush my fingers lightly down her arm. “Leoni,” I murmur.
She stirs, her eyes fluttering open, hazy and soft. “Warren?”
“I have to go to the office.” Her expression dips. Panic or disappointment? I can’t tell. I shake my head, slow, reassuring. “Just a few hours. That’s all.”
She exhales, shoulders sinking. “Right. Work.”
My hand cups her jaw. “You stay here. Rest. Eat. Shower. Don’t leave the apartment, Leoni.”
Her eyes search mine. “Why?”
Because you’re not safe. Because my father is hunting your family. Because if Erik gets near you, I’ll kill him, and I’m not ready to start that war today.
I settle for something she’ll accept, and something true. “Because I said so.” And I add a smile to appease her.
She nods.
I press a warm, lingering kiss to her forehead, one I don’t think about, don’t plan, it just comes easy, like breathing. Then I leave before I lose the ability to.
The Baxter Corporation building feels colder today. Empty, like everything I’ve poured into this place is tainted now, built on lies.
The main receptionist looks up as I stride past, just like she does every morning, with a longing in her eyes that tells me I could fuck her right over her desk in front of everyone, and she wouldn’t be the least bit embarrassed.
