“Make yourself comfortable,” Ajay sneered, stepping in behind me. The two men remained in the hallway, blocking the exit. “You won’t be leaving until you learn your place.”
I spun to face him, my chest heaving. “You’re making a mistake,” I said, my voice low but steady. “Remo will find me. And when he does?—”
“And when he does come…” His smile was eerily sinister. “He’ll walk right into a trap he never saw coming. And you, my sweet Ishika, will be the bait.” He reached out, brushing a strand of hair from my face. I flinched away, but he caught my chin, forcing me to look at him. His eyes were dark, empty of everything but ambition. “Sleep well,” he whispered.
Then he turned and walked out. The door slammed shut, the lock clicking into place with a finality that echoed in my bones.
I stood there for a moment, trembling, listening to his footsteps fade down the hall. Then I rushed to the door, pounding on the wood, screaming until my voice was raw. But no one came.
I slid down to the floor, my back against the door, my arms wrapping around my stomach. “Hold on,” I whispered, tears blurring my vision. “Just hold on. He’s coming.”
Clinging to Dia’s last words, I repeated them like a prayer:I’m trying.
But the silence that answered was deafening.
sixty-nine
. . .
Remo– 36 years old
The silence in the room was heavier than the storm brewing outside. Three weeks. Twenty-one fucking days of tearing the city apart, of burning every lead until it turned to ash, of waking up with her name on my tongue and going to sleep with the ghost of her scent on my sheets.
And the baby. Always the baby.
I stood by the window, watching the waves crash against the shore, my phone clenched so tight in my hand the metal casing bit into my palm. I’d read the text a hundred times, maybe more.
Unknown: I’m okay. I just need a little time. Please trust me. – Ish.
Three sentences. No explanation. No location. No promise of return. Just those words, typed in the soft, careful way she always did when she was trying not to upset me. Trying to soothe the beast. She’d even used a fucking burner.
It arrived an hour after we landed on the island and it should have enraged me. It should have sent me into a frenzy of destruction. And it did, at first. But then… something else.A sliver of hope. A desperate, foolish belief that maybe she was protecting us. Maybe she knew something I didn’t. Maybe she was playing a game I couldn’t see.
It pacified me. Just for a moment. Just long enough to let my guard down.
From the other room, Lorenzo’s voice cut through the quiet, sharp and cold. “You’re wasting your fucking time. Remo will never walk away.”
I stepped into the living room; his harsh words directed into the phone he held against his ear. He stood by the window that looked out onto the south side of the private island, the same view I’d been staring at, the same restless energy humming in the air between us.
This place was supposed to be a sanctuary. A fortress. After D’Angelo’s men snuck up unannounced, looking for Rayden’s son about two years back, we’d tripled the security detail. But given Ajay’s determination to get rid of me, I knew that no amount of safekeeping would suffice. We needed a plan of action. Not words
Lorenzo turned away from the window, his jaw clenched, eyes meeting mine for a fraction of a second before returning to the call. “I don’t want a war either but if it comes down to that, then be prepared to fucking die.”
He cut the call, tossed his phone on one of the sofas and stood with his hands on his hips, watching me. The silence stretched, thick with everything we weren’t saying.
“You want me to apologize?” Despite the sarcasm dripping from my words, I managed a brittle smile.
“What would be the point? You’ll just find another way to fuck this up,” he snorted, moving to the bar. “I hope she’s worth it, Remo.”
“She is.” I didn’t have to second-guess my words. The conviction was a physical thing, rooted deep in my chest.
Dragging his hand through his hair, he uttered a soft laugh that held no humor and poured two fingers of whiskey. I was about to join him when my gaze drifted back to the window. Movement. A glint of silver in the tree line. My body reacted before my mind could process it.
“Didn’t think I’d witness the day my brother fell–”
“Get down!”
I lunged toward Lorenzo, tackling him to floor just as a spray of bullets shattered the glass behind us. The world exploded in noise and splintering crystal. We hit the hardwood, the impact knocking the air from my lungs, but I didn’t hesitate. I rolled, pulling him with me, keeping our bodies low, using the sofa as cover.
