But why did she destroy it when Ryan told her its significance? When hunting for the assassin who killed her family, why delete her only bargaining chip?
It makes as much sense as her insistence that I accompany her to the lawyer’s office yesterday. She knew who I was and my reasons for being in Mount Gaines, so why bring me to the boardroom and risk her ruse when his second letter could have easily called her out?
Shemakes no sense, no matter how hard I try to mash puzzle pieces into place. So I shake my head and drive through the gates, only to watch them close again in my rearview mirror.
Bringing the car around a large circular driveway, I stop out front of Aster’s seventeen-million-dollar mansion. Not bad, considering Conroy left him broke just three decades ago.
Aster’s known to loathe the idea of more electronic cameras on his property than absolutely necessary, so he has soldiers standing guard instead. Already, they’ll have clocked my hands and pinpointed my weapons, but I’m here with an invitation. Aster, himself, extended it. So, I act the part, pushing the car door open and pocketing my keys. I scan the house with a fast sweep of my eyes, then across the expansive gardens and out to the watchtower where another two guards perch thirty feet off the ground, ready to annihilate any intruder who dares breach Aster’s boundaries.
I’m certain their aim will be pretty fucking accurate.
Hardening my expression and slamming the door, I start up the dozen concrete steps leading to the entrance. I’m not here to yank Nova to safety or force her into the life Ryan intended for her. Or at least, Aster won’t be made privy to my plans to doso. Instead, my role is to beat her into submission and extract a code I know for a damn fact she no longer has.
It’s my turn to become the true villain in her world.
My first attempt ended with her stealing my heart, destroying it just as easily as she did Ryan’s coin. I wanted to keep her safe, to put her in a car and send her away. But despite my efforts, she’s stillhere,trapped in a killer’s home, already hurt and terrified.
This time, I’ll try a different tack and hope for better results.
I can live withanyoutcome, including the one where she takes a new identity, crosses the country, and never speaks to me again. But I won’t accept her death, and I’ll set Aster’s world on fire ifanyonetakes Nova’s body the way Conroy did Arabella’s.
“Stop.” Two guards in black converge at the top of Aster’s stairs, hugging automatic weapons and burning me with twin glares. “State your business.”
“Aster’s expecting me.” I push through the pair and shove the massive front door open with a twist of the handle. “Richard?” I stand in the middle of his ornate foyer, stairs to my left and right, and an expensive potted fern in the middle, so large that the top leaves almost touch the three-story ceiling. Cupping my mouth, I fill my lungs and call again. “Richard!”
I know his motives now. Ryan’s resolve to give Nova intel and keep her safe has ruined Aster’s determination to keep these matters private. Ryan, no doubt, meant for his disclosures to make her aware of the danger she faced, when in the end, all it did was stoke her drive for… what? Curiosity? Revenge? To meet the man face to face, and talk the whole fucking ordeal through?
Frustrated when no one appears, and terrified because I have no clue whatherendgame is, I choose left and wander into a large sitting room with bookshelves lining the walls and couches spread out across lush rugs. “Richa?—”
“This way.” Tank barks from the right.
I turn and face the man I want with my whole heart and soul to smash against a brick wall. I want to destroy him because I know he took Nova, and I fuckingknowhe made her bleed. My hands flex, desperate to grab my gun and rearrange his features until his own mother wouldn’t recognize him. But I fake a tight smile and start in his direction.
“Where’s Richard?” I maintain my distance, forcing six feet between us, no matter how friendly he thinks we could be, and when hedoesn’tmove, I lift my chin in that universal way that says,let’s go. He looks stupid. Heisstupid. But at least he turns and strides into the hall ahead. “He called me here, but now he’s not greeting me at the door?”
Tank’s shoulders bunch and release with each stride he takes. His biceps, damn near bigger than my head, flex and ripple beneath extensive ink. “He’s with the girl.”
“With Nichols?” I keep my voice hard, my expression stony and unreadable. “She talking yet?”
“No.” He cuts right, stepping through a doorway and turning back to close it again when I pass. Still, I stay back and allow him to lead. “Her words are slurred, and her eyes can’t focus.” He glances back and smirks. “Must’ve hit her harder than I thought.”
“Ha.”Laugh it up, motherfucker.I think of the knife at my ankle and imagine sliding it across his throat. So gently. Soquietly. It’s all so fucking poetic in a way. “She must’ve given you trouble on the ride over?”
He only shrugs and leads me through a labyrinth I work hard to remember. To get out of here again, I need to know which way we came.
“Slept most of the way,” he rumbles. “That first hit took her to her knees. When she woke, she was speaking in tongues. Couldn’t lift her head for a bit. Seems she’s getting better now.”
“Aster wants a swing at her?” I slide my hands into my pockets, if only to hide my fists, and perk my ears as we pass guards. Maids. So many closed doors and countless snaking hallways. This isn’t just a house. Not even a mansion. It’s a fucking headquarters built to confuse an intruder and provide its occupants a million places to hide.
We’ll have one chance to run. One straight shot, and even then, I’ll be holding Nova’s hand in my left, and killing Aster’s guards with my right.
I don’t have the luxury of dying. Not until she’s out and her new life of safety has begun.
“He keeping her in a room?” Get him talking. Secure a layout of the house before we reach her. “Or in the basement?”
Tank shrugs and steps through another door. He doesn’t wait to close this one. “Kinda surprised you came back here. You know what happened to Harris when he biffed his mission.”
My lips curl back, revealing a feral sneer. “Harris was sent to recover a code. He T-boned his target instead and killed him. In public. He fucked up and risked the entire mission.”
