“What happened?” I asked as soon as I answered it.
“Relax,” Dante said with a sigh. “I just wanted to let you know the mark is on the move.”
I ground my teeth together to keep from yelling through the phone that his fucking name was Levi. “That’s impossible,” I said. “He’s scheduled to work until five tomorrow morning.”
“Okay, fine, but his doppelganger just left the store and got into a cab. From the direction it’s headed, I’m guessing he’s on his way to your house.”
“Stay with him,” I said as I jumped to my feet.
For Levi to leave work to come see me, it had to be something big.
I hung up the phone. “I have to go,” I said.
“Keep me posted.”
“Yeah,” I muttered, only half-listening as I hurried to the door.
“And Phoenix?”
I turned to face Memphis.
“Make sure he doesn’t go near that house again. Even if you have to tell him who you are. It won’t take much to push Ronan over the edge to where he’ll deal with it himself.”
I nodded in understanding. I wasn’t as confident as Memphis that he could get me a little more time, but I really had no choice. Ibarely managed to say my goodbyes to Brennan and Tristan as I rushed from the house.
The drive home seemingly took forever, but in truth, traffic was light and with my foot heavy on the gas pedal, I made it in fifteen minutes. I saw Dante’s car sitting by the curb and as soon as I pulled into my driveway, his headlights turned on and he drove away.
Leaving me with Levi.
I didn’t bother to put my car in the garage since I could see Levi sitting on my front stoop. His arms were wrapped around his legs and his forehead was pressed to his knees.
“Levi,” I said softly as I hurried to him. I dropped down in front of him when he didn’t raise his eyes. “Baby, can you look at me, please?”
He shook his head and I heard him choke back a sob. But then he lifted his face. Tears were running down his cheeks.
“Did something happen at work?” I asked. I wondered if maybe T had called and threatened him or something.
Levi dashed at his tears. “No…I called Betty and told her I wasn’t feeling well and that I needed to go home.” More tears fell as he whispered, “I’m falling in love with you.”
The admission was the last thing I expected to hear. My heart leapt to life in my chest. “That’s good, because I’m already completely in love with you.”
He began sobbing as he pushed into my arms. I held him close as his body shuddered against mine and I knew, just knew, he hadn’t come here just to tell me he loved me.
Though I wished he had. As badly as I needed to get the truth out of him about Seth, I needed this moment more. This moment where it was just him and me and nothing else existed.
“I need to tell you something,” Levi murmured against my ear when he’d calmed down a little.
“Do you want to go inside?” I asked.
He nodded. I forced myself to release him, but took his hand in mine and then went to the door to unlock it. Once inside, I led him to the living room and sat down on the couch. But instead of sitting down next to me, he moved to the farthest end of the couch. I didn’tlike that he felt the need to put so much distance between us, but I was glad when he shifted his body so that he was facing me.
“I told myself I would wait to tell you the truth, but I can’t. I need to let you go now because I may not be strong enough to do what I need to do otherwise…”
Before I could respond to his comment about letting me go, he lifted his eyes to meet mine and said, “It happened seven years ago and it was the worst night of my life.”
Chapter 19
Levi
