“So you were eavesdropping,” Jared said in a cold voice that made her heart race.
“And you overheard half of a conversation and filled in the blanks,” North added.
“Well, I heard enough!”
“Enough that you thought you needed to run?” Jared whispered. “That you could leave without a word? What if we were only keeping you at the house to keep you safe from Beltran? Don’t you think it was extra foolish to leave the house alone? Without telling anyone what you were doing or where you were going?”
“I didn’t think you would let me leave,” she said in a quiet voice.
“Of course we wouldn’t have!” Jared told her sharply. “Because it’s dangerous out there. Someone is cutting off theheads of people close to me and you thought it would be smart to go out without a guard. Were you wanting him to get to you?”
“Heads?” she asked. “There’s only one head, right?”
Jared stared down at her for a long moment. “We got word soon after we got to the hospital that another box appeared at the front gate.”
“Oh my God.” She was going to vomit.
“Thankfully, the head was fresh,” North said.
“How is that good?” she asked.
North raised an eyebrow at her. As though it was obvious. “Well, it means that he was killed fairly recently. Which means that Beltran was busy and not looking for you. Or his hitman. I don’t think he’d do his dirty work himself. I’m trying to figure out whose MO it is to cut off heads and send them in boxes.”
“I don’t feel so good.” The memory of Rex’s head filled her mind.
She wasn’t sure she could deal with knowing who had lost their life this time.
“Here, baby girl,” Jared held the straw to her mouth again, raising the back of the bed so she was sitting up slightly.
Pain shot through her and she had to take some deep breaths before taking a couple of sips of water.
“Fuck, sorry, baby girl. Are you better now?”
“I, um, well, the need to vomit is gone. Who was it?”
“It was Antony,” North said. “Curious choice when he was already flagged for death.”
“But Beltran didn’t know that,” Jared replied as he arranged some pillows behind her.
She hid her wince of pain.
God, she hated to think how she’d feel without all of these drugs being pumped into her.
“No, I suppose not. But why him? Why not one of the guards at the house? The killer obviously knows where you live.”
“My guess is it was because Antony was on his own somewhere, same as Rex,” Jared said. “Less risk of getting caught for the same impact. Maybe they saw him coming and going from the house the other day. We need to tighten security everywhere in the family. Especially around the women and children.”
“Already on it.” North peered down at her. “And what about our woman? What are we going to do to ensure she doesn’t run from us again?”
Our woman?
Had North really just said that?
Was she really their woman? Their words still rattled around in her head.
North was so difficult to read.
But on the other hand he showed that he cared about her in small ways.
