“I think we should kill my uncle,” I blurt as I stand in the water near the rocks. The waterfall behind me almost drowns out the words, but when the relaxed expressions of my mountain men morph into tight jaws and tense lips, I don’t have to question if they heard every word.
“And if he’s already left Hearth?” Thorin asks.
“Then we follow him back to the States. Kill him there.”
Khalil and Thorin glower at me. I can’t see Zeke’s face, but I feel and hear him push through the water to stand a little closer behind me. “You know we can’t do that,” Khalil says bitingly.
“We have to. My uncle will never stop, which means I can never stop. Next time, he won’t send more men. He’ll get more creative than that. My death was always meant to look like a tragic accident, and I’m not wild about all the ways he can make that happen. We need to go on the offensive.”
“It’s not safe for us to return home. Isaac could still be looking for Zeke.”
“So we kill Isaac first.” I shrug.
Khalil gives me a weird look before shaking his head and staring at the water. “Weed makes you bloodthirsty,” he grumbles. I bet he’s regretting talking me into trying it now. It took me an hour to stop giggling and another two before I was no longer convinced the woodland animals were rising up against me.
“I’ve actually been thinking about this since the death squad showed up on our doorstep,” I correct. “So that’s the plan then? We kill Zeke’s brother and then my uncle? Any more family members we should put on the chopping block?”
Thorin flashes a condescending smile. “If it were that easy to kill Isaac, we would have done it by now.”
“It’s been ten years. Do you even know if he’s still alive? A man like that has to have enemies. Also, karma.Also, what he’s doing to people is incredibly illegal. Who’s to say he’s not in prison by now?”
“He’s not,” Khalil confirms. When I give him an inquisitive look, he matches Thorin’s condescending look. “You really think we’d let ourselves stay in one place for so long without keeping tabs on him?”
“How?”
“A friend from back home. Someone Isaac would have no reason to connect us to.”
“So call him. Get the four-one-one so we can one-eight-seven his ass.”
“It doesn’t work like that. Quentin will only send us a message if we have a problem. No message, no problem. It’s safer this way.”
It’s quiet for a while, and then I let my intrusive thoughts win. “What if Quentin’s dead?”
Khalil gives me a blank look. “Then someone he trusts will let us know.”
“Right, okay, sure. I still think murder is the only way.” Thorin, Khalil, and Zeke visibly clench their teeth, and I spot at least one twitchy palm.
“Aurelia may be right,” Zeke says, weighing in for the first time. “We’re too exposed here now.”
“There is another solution. We can leave,” Thorin says with his dominating gaze locked on mine. It’s all I can do not to squirm and agree to whatever he says. “Disappear again.”
“Like…forever?”
“I wouldn’t mind somewhere warm and tropical this time,” Thorin says as he tips his warm beer to his lips and takes a swig. “Aruba, maybe.”
“But like…forever?”
The three of them stare at me, but Khalil is the first one to break the stony silence. “You agreed to this, Aurelia.”
“No. I agreed to a life with you. I’m just trying to offer an alternate reality of what that looks like. You have more reason to go back than any of us. Don’t youwantto see your family again?” It was a redundant question because I’d glimpsed Khalil’s sadness when he thought no one was looking. Of the three, he had given up the most, leaving his old life behind—arising career, a chance at marriage and kids with someone not in love with his best friends, and his family.
“Of course I do,” he snaps back. “But I’m not willing to risk any of you to make it happen.”
“It doesn’t have to be your burden alone. If we could just be on the same page for once, we could do this together.Sharethe risktogether. We wouldn’t have to spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders. We could be free.”
“And is this what you need?” Zeke asks. I turn in the water to face him, and for a moment my focus is locked on the troubled pinch between his brows. “To be happy…with us?”
“No,” I answer easily, and the furrow clears. “Killing my uncle and your brother will just be the cherry on top. I think it’s what weallneed to finally feel safe, and I don’t think we should have to choose between one or the other. We can and should have both.”
