“Cole wouldn’t have chased me; he would have just killed me. He knew that I took that envelope with the evidence that the feds wanted inside of it. I made sure that I had an insurance policy too. If I ended up dead, another envelope with more evidence that could put Cole away would be sent to the feds, and they’d be able to take him down.” She noticed the small, controlled shift in his demeanor, and Kimi just hoped that meant that he believed her.
“He doesn’t like loose ends,” she added.
“No,” he said. “He doesn’t.” Silence stretched between them again. “What’s the fed’s endgame?” he asked finally.
“To build a case big enough that it doesn’t disappear,” she said. “Cole’s just one piece of the puzzle.”
“And you?” he pressed. Kimi held his gaze.
“I was leverage.” The word tasted bitter on her tongue. Gorgon exhaled slowly, running a hand over his jaw as he seemed to process it all. When he looked back at her, there was no hesitation left, and she could tell that he had made his decision.
“You should’ve told me,” he said.
“I know,” she breathed. “I just needed your help, and I worried that if you knew the truth, you wouldn’t help me.”
“Whether or not we helped you wasn’t your call to make,” he said.
“I know,” she whispered.
He paused again, and she felt as though she was holding her breath, waiting for him to say something. “I don’t want you to leave,” he whispered.
Kimi blinked at him, not sure that she had heard him correctly. “What?”
“I don’t want you to leave,” he repeated, firmer this time. “Not now. Not with the feds being involved. And not while Cole is still breathing.”
Her heart stuttered. “After everything I just told you?—”
“That changes nothing,” he cut in. It should have. It absolutely should have. But the way he said it, as if nothing from her past mattered, knocked something loose inside her.
“You’re still under my protection,” he added.
Her chest tightened. “Gorgon—” she started.
“No one touches you here,” he said, echoing his words from earlier, but this time there was something else behind them. Not just a promise, but a claim.
“And the feds?” she asked quietly.
His expression turned cold again. “If they come after you, they’ll make themselves a problem, and I don’t have to remind you how I take care of problems, do I, Kimi?” She shook her head. The air shifted around them, and Kimi realized then that this wasn’t over. It wasn’t even close to being over—not with Cole, not with the feds, and not with whatever had just changed between Gorgon and her. The storm outside hadn’t stopped. It had only been waiting. And now, it was coming for them all.
Gorgon
Gorgon had always known it would come to this. Not the storm, not Cole, and not even the feds circling like vultures waiting for something to die. No, he knew that he’d someday be standing in the middle of his yard, watching men he’d bled with load weapons, check mags, and prepare for a war that wasn’t supposed to be theirs.
But it belonged to them now—because of her. Because he asked them to be a part of it, and they’d do anything for him. It was a heavy burden to carry, and one that he didn’t wish on any man. Gorgon knew that his request could get them all killed, but he had to make it—for Kimi.
“Talk to me,” Buck said, stepping up beside him.
Gorgon didn’t look away from the map spread across the hood of the truck. “Cole’s not running anymore.”
“No,” Buck agreed. “He’s digging in.”
“Good,” Gorgon breathed.
Buck glanced at him. “Good?”
Gorgon finally looked up, his eyes flat and certain. “Means we end it in one place—here. On our home turf.” There would be no more chasing, no more waiting, and no more letting someoneelse decide when this was over, because he planned on ending it himself.
Buck studied him for a second, then nodded. “And the feds?”
