Page 42 of Silver Lining (The Diamond Trilogy 3)
And maybe I keep him alive because I’m done being a killer.
There’s a final second of separation and then Holly is in my arms. It feels so good to have her there that I could die now and be happy. But no—I can’t die, because Holly is here, and her shoulders are shaking, and she needs me.
I’ll live forever. That’s what I’ll do. I’ll live forever so I never have to let her down.
It’s only when she tips her face to mine that I see she’s not crying. She’s shivering, probably from shock and cold, but her eyes are dry. Her hands work over my suit, touching and touching and touching like she doesn’t believe I’m here. I barely believe I’m here. She slips one hand around my neck and pulls me down for a kiss. It hurts to be touched but I’ll be damned before I let her stop. I’ll go all the way to hell and back before I let her stop. I’ve been there before. I can make it out again.
“You came for me.” Her voice trembles with love and I’ve never heard anything as lovely. Never in my life. There’s trust there, trust that I don’t deserve but will take as long as she gives it to me. “You came for me, Elijah.”
“I’ll always come for you, sweetheart.”
19
Elijah
The last time I drove Holly to her apartment she was minutes away from being shot.
This time, we take a car and I’m glad for it. Not because I think there will be someone waiting there to shoot her again, though that’s always a possibility in this life. But because I can keep her pressed tight against me in the back seat, my arms locked over her. As soon as we pull away from the curb she curls toward the backseat and rests her head on my shoulder.
The driver doesn’t say a word.
At the door to her apartment my feet stop working. A threat was on the other side of this door. Part of me will always be in that room, watching her pull the trigger, just like part of me will always be down in the bottom of a well, waiting until it’s safe to climb out again.
I can feel her watching me.
“Home sweet home,” she says. Her dark eyes reflect back my own exhaustion and relief.
I wait for her while she takes her key out of her purse and turns it in the lock.
It’s obvious as soon as she steps across the threshold that we’re not alone.
All the lights are on, like my brother wanted to be sure I’d see him. He stands in Holly’s living room, looking for all the world like he’s in a business meeting at North Security. He has his phone pressed to his ear, one hand in his pocket. His face says you’re late.
Holly stops next to me and tosses her purse—a flat, small thing—onto a table by the doorway.
Liam ends his call, his green eyes flashing with relief when he sees us. “What do I have to do to convince you to stop sending yourself on reckless, dangerous, pointless missions that are only going to get you killed?”
Heat crawls up the outside of my neck, spurred on by old anger. “There wasn’t time to do an extensive risk assessment, Liam. I wasn’t sitting on my ass in a cushy leather chair, giving out orders while other people are in the field.”
He growls. “If you had kept working for North Security this never would have happened.”
“And leave Holly on the run? No, thank you.”
Holly steps to my side and puts an arm around my waist. It hurts even more now that the adrenaline has ebbed away, but I wouldn’t stop her for the world.
“The point is,” Liam goes on, “you’re a loose cannon. Every time you go off on another one of these suicide raids, it makes it harder for me to do what I’m trying to do. What I’ve finally succeeded in doing, no thanks to you.”
“Yes, you made your piles of money all by yourself. Are you here for a reason or just to piss me off? I never asked for a share in North Security. I never asked for a fucking thing from you. Which is just as well, because you taught me what to expect from you early on, when you left. Nothing. Absolutely fucking nothing.”
Liam looks like he might strangle me. Well, he’s too late. The time for strangling is long past. “I’m trying to tell you that there were other options. I took one of them. I’ve been in contact with representatives from three other allied countries, and every single one is putting pressure on the government to expose the colonel as a traitor. Once his secrets are out, the senator’s won’t be far behind. The news breaks tonight.”
