“Fuck,” North said. “We should move. Take on new identities and leave the country.”
“Yeah, right.” She let out a small laugh. “I didn’t know you joked like that. If we go anywhere, can it be warm, and have a beach where I can swim in the water with turtles?”
That had always been her dream.
Then she realized that neither of them were smiling. In fact, they looked very serious as they stared at each other.
“Turtles?” North asked.
“Yeah, I love whales but I don’t want to swim with them. However I once watched this travel show where they swum with turtles and it looked magical.”
“I wish we could,” Jared said. “But if I leave, who will take over? Antony is dead, there would be a power vacuum and it could be someone far worse than him.”
“She has an assassin for a friend,” North said. “She’s not safe.”
“And I have a mafia kingpin and his assistant for boyfriends,” she said hotly. “The Fox isn’t a bad person. I’m safe from him.”
“She’s right, North. We don’t have any reason to suspect he’s a danger to her.”
North started to pace. He really didn’t like this, did he?
At all.
“North? Are you all right?” she asked.
“He got close to you. I knew there weren’t enough guards on the doors. I should have stayed here. I should have protected you both.”
She sent Jared a look, but he seemed as worried as she felt.
“It’s not your job to keep me safe,” she said.
“But it is!” he yelled.
Oh God.
North definitely wasn’t all right. She took in a breath and let it out slowly.
“North,” Jared said quietly, walking over to him. “North. Everything is fine.”
“It is not. I failed. He could have killed her.”
“But he didn’t.” Jared wrapped his hand around the back of North’s head.
Quicker than she could even see what had happened, North had a knife pointed at Jared’s throat.
She whimpered.
What was going on here?
“It’s all right, baby,” Jared said soothingly. “North just needs a bit of a reset.”
“Don’t be fucking condescending to me.”
North’s cheeks were flushed. He was trembling. What was going on? Whatever it was, it was freaking her out.
“I didn’t mean to be,” Jared told him. “But you need to calm down.”
“Fuck. You.”
