Page 26 of Redemption
“I don’t even want to think about what that means. Where are you going?”
There’s a beat of silence.
“You know I can’t say. I just called to keep you informed so you wouldn’t worry about the change in timeline. You have everything you need for much longer than you’ll be there. I’ll be back as soon as I possibly can.”
I release a long breath, my shoulders drooping as I drop onto the sofa. “Is this really necessary?”
“Would I leave you alone for longer than I planned if it wasn’t?”
It’s a rhetorical question, as I already know the answer.
“For the record, I don’t like this. You’re not taking precautions. Things are getting dangerous—even for you.”
“I know, and I’m sorry, Hellion. So fucking sorry. This isn’t the life I want for us anymore. Just … give me some time to handle business, and I’ll be home.”
I’ve never begrudged Mount his business. I’ve always known what I was getting with him. It’s not like our relationship started out in any normal fashion. I know exactly who I fell in love with.
I grind my teeth together. “My patience is wearing thin, but I trust you. Do whatever you need to do and then come home to me and our daughter. Otherwise, I’ll be the one you need to fear. Do you understand me?”
“My fierce, beautiful wife. What did I do to deserve you?”
“You blackmailed and extorted me.”
He laughs. “Someday, I’ll make that up to you.”
“You already have. Go do what you need to do and then get your ass back here. We have a lot to talk about after this.”
“I’ll be there as soon as I can. I promise, Hellion. I love you. Give my baby girl a kiss from me.”
“I will. I love you too.” As soon as I finish whispering the words, the call ends.
I yank my knees up to my chest and wrap my arms around them. Slowly and carefully, I breathe in and out, focusing on the predictable, even movements of my lungs and nothing else for as long as I can manage.
What am I going to do with him? What is happening to our life?
“I’m so freaking tired of people trying to kill my husband,” I say to the seafoam-green walls of the safe house before closing my eyes and dropping my forehead onto my knees. “What kind of life is this for Rory? How can we keep doing this?”
With another deep breath and long exhalation, I center myself. You knew what you signed up for, Ke-ke, I remind myself. But that doesn’t change the fact that I don’t like it at all right now. Not at all. Not one single little bit.
Chapter Twelve
Mount
“A strong room?” My brother looks around the room, lit with only a single bare bulb hanging from the ceiling, as he nods at the chair in the center. “I don’t want to know what you’ve used this for in the past, do I?”
I drop the kid’s feet as my brother holds his struggling body upright.
“Don’t think too hard about it. You might give yourself nightmares,” I reply and then pause, remembering what he did at the cemetery. “Then again, maybe not. You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?”
He smiles like the Sphinx, but the dark sunglasses still block his eyes. I pat the kid down before we sit him in the chair. The bulge in his back pocket gives away just what an amateur he truly is.
I yank the wallet free, locate his cell phone in his front pocket, and help settle him on the chair. “What kind of assassin brings his wallet to a job? Idiot.”
With the roll of duct tape in hand, I stick the end to his lap and wrap it around and around until there’s no way he’s getting off this chair, bolted to the concrete, until he’s dead or I’m ready—whichever comes first. I give his torso the same treatment before pulling a knife from my pocket. With a single press of a button on its side, the blade springs free, and I slice the zip ties from his wrists. Once each one is secured to a metal arm of the chair, I reach for the end of the duct tape covering his eyes.
“This is going to hurt,” I tell him, mercy completely absent from my tone. He’s getting all the mercy he deserves in the fact that I haven’t killed him yet.
Are you going to kill him? A kid? Who clearly is terrible at his job? The questions float in my mind, but I ignore them. All I can do is flow with the situation, however it develops.
