“I’ve got a secret for you.”
A slew of curses blazed through my mind at the familiar voice. When I attempted to move, Slate shoved me back down, pain ricocheting through my body.
What the hell washedoing back in Copper Cove?
“Micah?” Lexi didn’t leave my side, but her muscles twitched as if her instincts propelled her to him. “Where have you been?”
He gave her a charming smile, and fuck, if I didn’t want to throttle him. “I had some business to take care of.” His attention swiveled to me, the softness in his expression evaporating. “Did you really think I’d stay gone forever?”
“You should have, Preston,” I snarled. “Bass put a target on your back.”
He gave a lazy shrug. “Now, he’ll have one too.”
He lifted his phone and tapped the screen to play a recording of a sobbing girl.
“You k-killed her. You killed Alicia.” Her voice reverberated through the empty, hollow space.
“Shut up, whore, or you’ll end up dead like your friend.”
That wasdefinitelyBass.
Lexi’s head whipped in my direction as the puzzle pieces fit together. “That’s from the night of the masquerade party.”
“Bass didn’t know that Alicia’s friend, Torri, recorded the incident. She wanted to release a sex tape with the infamous Sebastian Davenport, but things didn’t go as planned.” Micah shoved his phone back into his pocket and pushed his glasses up his nose. “While I was in hiding, I managed to do a lot of digging. You’re not the only one with connections, Killian.”
Micah had balls of steel and was way more ruthless than I’d thought. That also meant he was capable of killing Lexi if he had to. I made the right choice in sending the fucker away. It wasn’tonlybecause he had eyes for my girl.
“I was planning to use this as blackmail to find out what happened to my friend, Susanna, but protecting Lexi is more important.”
Great. Now the prick would be her knight in shining armor.
Micah flashed a cold, humorless smile at Slate and me. “Since I’m doing this for you, perhaps you can help me find out what happened to my friend.”
Slate nodded. “Yeah, sure. Just make the damn deal and get Killian to a hospital.” Worry lines deepened across his face as he noticed how much blood surrounded the concrete beneath me. I was swimming in it.
And I was fucking cold. So cold.
Even I knew that was a bad sign.
The warehouse dimmed as Declan and Micah shook hands, and my lids grew heavy. A shiver wriggled over my spine.
A warm hand wrapped around mine, squeezing it.
“No! Killian, stay with me.” The panic in Lexi’s voice had my chest aching more than the gunshot wound. “Don’t leave me again.Please.” That last word broke.
And it broke my heart.
“I’ll never leave you,” I muttered and tried to reach for her. “I promise.”
But the darkness grew, and she slipped out of my grasp. Or I’d slipped from hers.
Time passed while I was in and out of consciousness, everything either a blur or just black. When my brain finally floated to the surface, I had trouble piecing reality back together.
What the hell was that incessant beeping, and why did it feel like my chest had been ripped open and I’d been fed through a meat grinder?
More importantly, where the fuck was Red?
I’d promised her I wouldn’t leave, and here I was in the dark without her. Had something happened to her?
