Violet soon appeared behind me, wearing one of her girly dresses with her face freshly scrubbed.
“Grab the rest of your clothes,” I ordered. “We’ve got to go.”
I found my phone, calling the one person I knew would deal with this.
“What’s happened?”Roman answered on the first ring.
“My flat’s been compromised,” I explained, knowing Roman would understand that I’d need a cleanup. “There’s been a problem.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“I think it’s time we revisited one of your favourite hobbies, Rome.” I glanced at Violet, who was listening intently. “We need to find out everything Cedric knows.”
“I’m sending a team over now.”
“Good, I’ll leave Cedric tied to my bed just for you.”
“Is that really necessary?”Roman replied dryly.“Are you burning the line?”
“Yeah. I’ll torch this phone and call from a burner once I’ve got one set up.” I killed the call without waiting for a reply. The duffel swung over my shoulder, weighted with everything I couldn’t afford to lose.
I finally returned my attention to Violet, her chin lifting in defiance as if she hadn’t just fucked everything up.
“Let’s go.”
Chapter 26
Violet
The door clicking shut behind us was as loud as a siren, almost as loud as Ryder’s duffel hitting the floor. “There were no twin beds available,” he said, and it took me a moment to understand his comment.
The room was lovely, looking out over the city with a large floor-to-ceiling window. There was a living space made up of a small TV and two armchairs, broken up by a free-standing shelf that partially hid the unavoidable centrepiece. The bed.
But that wasn’t even my biggest problem.
I hated that I was forced to rely on Ryder. And now, with Cedric out of the picture and the price on his head possibly gone, I may have lost the only leverage I had over him.
If Ryder walked away, I had no idea what I’d do. The thought seeped deep in my chest, heavy and suffocating, desperation bleeding through me no matter how hard I tried to bury it under anger.
“I’m sorry,” I said quietly, but even that caused Ryder’s shoulders to stiffen. “I just needed help.”
“Oh, so we’re doing this right now?” He turned, hisbody remaining a thing of granite. “Please, give me your excuses on why you fucked everything up. I’m all ears.”
My eyes stung as I spoke. “I didn’t mean for you to get hurt. I didn’t realise Cedric?—”
“I don’t give a shit about Cedric,” he sneered, taking a step towards me. “I’m not angry that you went to the fucking police, despite my warning.” I steeled my spine, having to let my head fall back to maintain eye contact. “I’m not even pissed that you’re so impulsive, you invited a literal assassin into my home.”
“I didn’t invite him,” I bit out.
His jaw clenched, eyes flashing. “I’m pissed because I’ve lost all my fucking stuff.”
“You’re angry… over your stuff?” I blinked at him. “It’s just stuff.”
“It’s neverjuststuff,” he barked, his step forward driving me back. “Not when you grew up with nothing. It’ll never justbestuff, Violet.” Another step forward, forcing me to retreat like some deranged dance. “It was mine, and because you didn’t trust me, I’ve lost it.”
“Trust you?” I all but laughed, the words tearing out of me. “How the hell do you expect me to trust you?”
He loomed over me, those brown eyes blazing with rage as he kept pushing me back, step for step, until my spine hit the wall.
