Her last grain of hope fell to the floor. There were two men in this room tonight who wanted her gone. One she’d accidentally unmasked as a criminal earlier this week, and the other whose heart she’d destroyed yearsago.
5
His fucking heartwas hammering in his chest like he was a goddamn sledgehammer on steroids. It took every ounce of willpower Cole Fury possessed not to tear down that staircase and scoop Tomi into his arms. The utter terror on her beautiful face tugged at every single fiber inside his body. She’d begged him with her eyes, and he'd almost taken a step to her. Almost. He'd turned at the last minute, forcing himself away so he didn't blow his cover and get them bothkilled.
He rushed Adam back to their table, needing the curtains to hide his slipping poker face. Damn, she was so fuckingscared.
“No one has thrown up an alarm. We may be good,” Adam said in a hushed voice as Cole took Chaplinsky’s seat at thetable.
Their butler stepped through the curtains, “May I refill yourscotch?”
“Yes, and a whiskey for my man.” Adam pointed at Cole, flicking his wrist in an offhanded movement as if his bodyguard were an afterthought. The butler nodded in understanding and melted from the small space. Cole hunched forward, coiling his body tight so he wouldn’texplode.
“We don’t have a choice. And don’t you dare let anyone outbid us. Did you see that Frenchman looking at her?” Cole had barely restrained himself from charging into the man and wrapping his hands around histhroat.
“Couldn’t miss it. We’ll have to bid against him, and he knowsLuis.”
“We know money. And money talks,” Cole said carelessly, his anger outweighing his logic. He would never talk like this in front of anyone else, but Adam was one of the few men besides his brothers he felt comfortable enough to express his true feelingsaround.
“Yeah, as long as you don’t screw it up. You look like you’re ready to go all Hulk on me. She doesn’t need you to lose your cool. Not tonight,man.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Cole whispered harshly and shoved his forearms on the table, trying to clamp down his muscles and relieve some of thetension.
“I think your head knows it, but not your heart. You need to shut that shit down now. If you don’t, we are alldead.”
Cole took a deep breath and closed his eyes, reaching for that box inside, the one he’d always been able to so effortlessly close himself into before tonight. His brothers always joked he was a machine—someone with no discernible emotions or feelings—but dammit, seeing Tomi like this had ripped the lid right off that box. “I know. I’mtrying,”
“Try harder,” Adam said without an ounce of sympathy in his voice. “It’s not just her life that depends on you tonight. Tara and the other women are at risktoo.”
“Shit, I know,” he said, running a hand through his short hair. “I just wasn’t prepared to see her. Not likethis.”
“I’ve never heard you even mention an ex, who isshe?”
“Just a teenagecrush.”
“Bullshit, teenage crushes don’t get this kind ofreaction.”
Cole should’ve known better than to try hiding something from Adam. The man was a master at reading minds. But he hadn’t talked about Tomi since the breakup. Didn’t know how to talk about her. “I thought she was theone.”
“You don’t strike me as a man who changes his mind easily, Cole. Why aren’t you married with a handful of babies? She couldn’t handle the militarylife?”
Cole let out an unexpected harsh burst of laughter. “Wrote me a Dear John and ghosted. Never saw her again.” It was the first time he’d ever talked about it, and the words burned just like he’d known theywould.
“Damn, she dumped you when you weredeployed?”
Adam sounded just as surprised as Cole had felt the day Tomi had told him the truth. “Yep. Had about six months left on tour. Wasn’t a damn thing I could do to stop her.” Cole shrugged, feeling stupid about the whole thing all these years later. “I didn’t see itcoming.”
“And you want to save her?” Adam askedquietly.
Hell, yes, his insides screamed. Cole controlled it, knowing Adam was watching him closely. “We were both young.” He didn’t even have to think about it. No woman deserved this-this was the kind of evil he’d spent his entire career fightingagainst.
Adam let out a long sigh. “She’d better be worth us risking this entiremission.”
Sheis.
Shit, he was losing hismind.
Cole decided it was better to change the subject than continue down this path. Adam would see through his façade in a second. “I’m surprised we haven’t heard Chaplinsky yellingyet.”
