I knew this, right? I mean, he’d said as much before. He’d already taken a bullet for me.
So why, all of a sudden, did it all seem so much more real?
“No,” I whispered, shaking my head. “No. I’m not worth more than anyone else.”
“To me, you are.”
My eyes snapped up to Hiro’s, and we stared unblinkingly at each other, the silence in the room so thick it was loud.
Enzo strode back inside. “I’m having a wire sent over. You will put it on him so we can hear everything that’s said when he goes to the first address. As soon as I hear the address, I’ll have people en route to neutralize the threat.”
Hiro laughed. The hair on the back of my neck stood. “Rett is not going anywhere near that building.”
“It’s the fastest, easiest way to get what we want,” Enzo said.
“You mean whatyouwant.” Hiro corrected him.
“The second Kieran walks in, they’ll start shooting, andif they don’t kill Wyatt right away, they’ll take him and my product to a new location and we will be back to square one,” Enzo said.
“I don’t want Kieran to get hurt,” I said. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.
“Kieran can handle himself.” Hiro assured me.
Kieran cleared his throat.
We all turned.
“I smell betrayal,” Hiro said quietly.
Kieran’s eyes drilled into him. “It’s not, and you know it.”
“Yeah? Then what other reason would you have to side with that walking gel advertisement?” Hiro ground out.
Haz and I exchanged a look.
“Because if we don’t take these people off the board tonight, then you got a whole bunch of pissed-off, two-bit, wannabe mobsters with your address in their pocket.”
“I’m mad at you right now, but I still want to acknowledge that those were some top-tier insults,” Hiro cracked.
“Fuck you,” Kieran snarled. “You said it yourself, Maxfield. They had a tracker on that phone. They know where you are. WhereRettis.”
“What?” I said, the bottom falling out of my stomach.
“I took care of it, kitten.” Hiro tried to soothe me.
“Is that why the phone was in the sink this morning?” I wondered.
“Too little too late,” Enzo put in. “You were fucked the minute he walked into this house with it in his pocket.”
Guilt made my knees weak. And since the couch seemedso far away, I plopped down on the floor. Hiro was in front of me in seconds, his broad frame and dark eyes making up my entire world. A world I’d put in danger.
“Ahh, no. Don’t be doing that,” Hiro said, already swiping at the tears raining down my cheeks.
“I gave them our address,” I wailed. “I’m so stupid. I packed that phone without even knowing, and now?—”
His lips stopped the self-loathing from rolling off my tongue, and my breath shuddered out around them.
“Shhh,” he shushed, his lips still plastered on mine. “That’s enough. This is not your fault.”
