“I’m your older brother. It’s my job to protect you from scumbags. But now you’re shacking up with a goddamn murderer!” His voice booms off the walls of his office. “You don’t justdatea man like that. He’s not somebody you can ghost if you change your mind. This is aconnectedman. I told you, once you’re in that world, you don’t just step out, as you learned today.”
“I’m not an idiot, Kyle.”
“I know you’re not an idiot, but you’re in over your head. That much is clear.” He sighs. “Listen. Stay here where you’ll be safe. I’ll look into the attack. You can start your life where you left off. But without him.”
“I’m already a target. At least with him, I’ll be safe.”
He shakes his head. “You have no way of being certain about that. For all you know, he might’ve sent those guys after you to scare you into going back to him.”
“No. He wouldn’t do that.” The words come out of my mouth without thinking, but I know they’re true.
“You’re being naïve. God, Amalie, you watch too many bad mov?—”
A knock at the door interrupts him. Kyle moves over to the window, peering through the blinds. “Oh, comeon…” Frustration hangs off his words.
Before I can ask him who it is, he opens the door. Max.
Shit.
He looks at Kyle, then at me, a worried expression on his face. Though with him, I can never tell if it’s a put-on or not.
“Kyle, Mal,” he says, stepping into the office. “I came as soon as I heard what happened.” He looks me over. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.”I mutter the words without looking at him.
He sighs. “Look, I know we’re not on the best of terms right now, but I still care about whether or not you’re safe.”
“Oh? Is that why you were spying on me at the mall?”
Kyle cocks his head to the side. “What are you talking about?”
“I tracked them from Barinov’s house a few days ago. Followed them to the mall. I approached her when she was alone.”
“Why?” Kyle asks.
Max doesn’t look regretful in the slightest. “Bro, you know who she’s been hanging around with. I wanted to meet with her and talk, see what was going on. What if she was prisoner and had no way out?”
Kyle nods slowly, as if it makes perfect sense to him. “Yeah. Maybe that was a good call.”
I snort in total frustration. “So those are my options? I go with Roman, or I consent to being stalked by you two?”
“You’re not being stalked,” Max says. “I was just keeping an eye on you, making sure you were safe. And you got fucking attacked anyway!”
Kyle sits on the edge of his desk, his arms crossed. I know that look—he’s thinking it over. I hate this. Despite my history with Max, he and Kyle are on the same team. “Blue backs blue,” as Kyle has always said.
Until the texts, however. When I showed those to Kyle, his opinion of Max changed. A hell of a lot.
“I don’t need or want anything from you,” I say to Max. “Not a goddamn thing.”
Max scoffs and shakes his head. “Bro,” he says, turning to Kyle. “We gotta?—”
Kyle raises his hand. “Don’t bro me. Whatever’s going on now with Barinov, you and I aren’t even close to cool after how things ended with you and my sister.”
Max rolls his eyes as if Kyle is being totally unreasonable. “Man, are you serious? God, you twoarerelated with how big of babies you’re both being about this. All I said to her was?—”
“I know what you said to her,” Kyle cuts him off. “You don’t need to repeat it.”
“I wasn’t making fun of her,” Max goes on. “I was trying to help her.”
