I smoothed out the furrow between her brows, not wanting to dwell on that tonight. I wanted to focus on the love of my life and the beautiful gift she’d given me. “So when I took their lives, I took the name too. I saw it as poetic justice. I reclaimed it as mine, just like I reclaimed my life.”
Her fingers shook as they trailed over my cheek. I rested my face on her warm hand, my skin beginning to chill with the night air.
Anne was never far from my mind. But ever since the fire, since Giana was almost trapped up there because we left her, I hadn’t been able to shake the icy talons of fear that gripped me anytime she was in danger.
“Watching you slay our enemies is one of my favorite things, you know that, right, sugar?”
“Yes?” She lifted her brow, her amber eyes daring me to continue. She should know by now I never backed down from a challenge.
“But this—with Angelo—I can’t lose you.” I knew she was doing this because she wanted me to have a purpose outside of her, but I couldn’t live; I wouldn’t be able to breathe if she were taken from me.
“Spade.” She sighed.
I almost wished I could take back the words, but she had a right to know what was on my mind. I couldn’t stop seeing those elevator doors rolling closed, shuttering me from the chance at getting to my sugar.
“You helped me find the strength I’d forgotten for so long. You helped me become the person I always wanted to be, the woman who didn’t let anyone walk on her. Not anymore.”
I squeezed my eyelids shut, trying to hold on to that. It was the reason I fell for her the second I saw her, the steel in those amber eyes as she tried to hide it away under a mask of civility. She wouldn’t be my Giana if she stayed behind, and I knew it. But it didn’t stop the thought of her being hurt or killed from tearing my heart in two.
Silence settled over us as we gazed up at the night sky and I grappled with the love of my life throwing herself into the lion’s den once more. Because this couldn’t continue on much longer. Either Angelo would make the final move, or we would.
“The monument would be perfect here.” I broke through the silence, filled with a sense of rightness I only ever felt in her presence.
“I thought so.” She smiled, making my pulse race with just one look. “She deserves to be honored, and I need you to rememberwhy you need to keep fighting and why it’s so important that anyone in a vulnerable situation can defend themselves.”
“Thank you, sugar.” I captured her lips with mine, letting our kiss surround us in a bubble of warmth. I loved the gesture, but she was crazy if she thought I could ever move on if she were taken from me. I would follow her to the depths of hell and bring her back kicking and screaming if I had to. She was mine forever, and I was never going to let her go. Even death itself couldn’t take her from me.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Giana
Thecrackofabranch pulled me from the peaceful moment as I jerked in Spade’s hold. His eyes narrowed to slits, his body tensed and on high alert like a predator stalking its prey. The snap was too loud to be caused by a critter, and judging by the violence sparkling in Spade’s gaze like stars in the sky, I knew we were on the same page.
We moved at once, like we were sharing one mind. We both leaped off the hood of the car and bounded into the line of trees at the edge of the parking lot just as a shot boomed through the air, followed by the crack and tinkle of glass splintering.
It took me a moment to discern his form as the black-clad man melded with the shadows, but Spade and I were both racing into the forest the instant I locked our attacker. Spade pulled his gunfrom his hip and fired off a shot before the mercenary could get off another round.
He stumbled back, a cry tearing from his lips as he clutched the arm the bullet had embedded into, his gun dropping to the forest floor.
“Ah ah ah, if you try reaching for that gun, my next shot will be right between your eyes,” Spade said in a sing-song tone that made my toes curl.
I slid my knife from its sheath on my thigh, a wide grin curling on my lips as the man lifted his hands in the air. This was exactly what I needed.
I prowled toward him, my long strides eating up the distance as Spade followed at my side. He tore off the man’s black ski mask, revealing his utterly unremarkable face. Where was Angelo getting these guys from, Mercenaries-R-US?
“Now you’re going to tell me who sent you, and what you were supposed to accomplish,” Spade purred, sending a shiver of desire up my spine.
We already knew all of that, but I used the opportunity to strip the man of his weapons, not missing the way his mouth tightened as I plucked each knife and gun from its holsters. He was definitely planning on catching him off guard before Spade had the chance to finish him off.
Just as I pulled the last one from its holster and tossed it into the pile of weaponry I’d made a few feet away, his leather-gloved hand banded around my ankle and tugged, attempting to throw me off balance. But I was prepared for him. My pink blade sank into his other shoulder, and he immediately released me as his pained cries echoed off the towering tree trunks.
“I love it when you make them scream, sugar,” Spade said before pistol-whipping the man across the face. His wails cut off as Spade placed the barrel back against his forehead, reminding him that his life was in our hands. “Now are you going to answermy questions, or is my woman going to get to show off her knife skills?”
I ran the tip of the blade down the side of his throat, pausing to nick the base, right above his collarbone. “I’ve barely gotten to use my present ever since he gifted me with my pretty blades. So I’m hoping you keep stalling. I haven’t cut out a tongue in a while—now that would be fun.”
Spade beamed back at me, and I could only imagine how chilling the scene of us grinning maniacally at each other while we played with our prey would look to an outsider.
Electricity rocketed through my limbs as he let loose a pained hiss. I needed more, and thankfully I’d get it because there was no way we were letting this man walk out of here alive.
