Page 4 of Conquered Betrayal
3
JOLYN
“If she hadany more freckles, her skin would be brown instead of invisible.”
The words halted my feet, my shoulders climbing up to my ears. The group of boys laughed, all of them—Tom Akins and his gang of friends. They were total assholes. Everyone knew it, but no one did anything, including the teachers and parents because his father was on the city council.
I should have kept walking, but my feet wouldn’t move.
“A regular carrot top.”
I’d heard it all before, but when it came from such an older, bigger boy, my whole face heated.
“Now she’s a beet. Maybe we should cook her up for vegetable soup, tasty like.” Tom smacked his lips together.
I fisted my hands. Why was everyone so scared of this guy?
“Is that what you want to be when you grow up? A vegetable in a wheelchair like your mom?”
The words stabbed so bad, I didn’t think. I spun around and launched myself at him, my hands going for his throat.
* * *
Howling, Emerson’s hired goon fell to his knees, his free hand covering his wound, blood seeping through his fingers. My heart beat incredibly fast in my chest. Landon stared at me with wide eyes, his hands still up in the air.
Could this day get any worse?
Shooting a real person was so very different from the dummies and paper targets of basic training. My bullets had done their job; he’d dropped his gun and was more concerned about his injury than shooting Landon in the head. Butfucking hell. If the goon didn’t quiet down, he’d bring all of Detroit to our location.
Ignoring all the questions swirling in Landon’s dark brown eyes, I inhaled a deep breath, trying to calm myself. No one else came rushing into the alley, attracted by the noise.For the moment.I prayed Marley was already checking for video cameras. If I were recorded shooting someone, it would make this situation a whole lot worse, but at least the recording would show I’d been threatened first.
Squatting, I crouched beside the thug and reached inside my leather satchel for the hypodermic needle Alina had insisted I take with me. Looked like she was right.
“It’s a flesh wound. You’ll be fine.” The goon tried to stop me, but I sunk the needle into his thigh and pushed the plunger. He fell forward, face to pavement, a moment later.
I snatched up his weapon and stood, tossing both guns in my satchel. Blessed quiet surrounded Landon and I as we stared at each other in an alley that stank of week-old food.
Holy hell, it had been four years, and how could he have become sexier? Neatly trimmed facial hair dusted his sharp jawline and upper lip, the hair topping his head just long enough to hint at his natural wave. Full lips, the cleft in his chin, everything was familiar but not. He’d hardened over the past four years. So had I.
The last time I’d seen Landon, he’d been a fresh upstart, the world at his feet, his business on the verge of exploding into an international contender. Now he was the epitome of a suave CEO. It looked good on him.
And there wasn’t a guy on earth who could wear a suit like he could. Most men couldn’t pull off black-on-black without resembling a gangster or a funeral home director, but not Landon. The top three buttons of his dress shirt were unbuttoned, revealing a light dusting of chest hair in the exposed triangle of skin. If I leaned in and pressed my face to the special spot at the base of his throat, would he smell the same?
I shook myself, snapping out it. This was not the time to reminisce about our year together—because Landon had stepped into a heap of shit so big, an elephant would get lost in it.
The urge to scream climbed my throat.So fucked up.After weeks of planning, finally on my way to exposing my brother and his under the radar sicko operation, Landon showed up and wrecked everything. I wouldn’t have another chance to crack the servers hidden under the MBI building. The futility of it all made me question my choices over the past few days.
Scenarios ran through my head, ones where I left him here on his own. I did have another needle filled with the knockout drug. I had to figure out how to ditch him as quickly as possible. But each of those scenarios ended with him at Emerson’s mercy with no clue as to what was going on. And that… I swallowed. No matter what I’d done to Landon in the past, that wasn’t acceptable. Not when I knew what my brother was capable of.
I clenched my hands, trying not to dwell on the opportunity I’d missed. By afternoon, Emerson would have the whole building locked down tighter than a Regency virgin the night before her wedding.
“Jolyn,” Landon said with a nod, lowering his hands to straighten his suit jacket like he hadn’t been witness to me knocking out one guy, then shooting and drugging another.
“Landon.” My voice came out tentative and I wanted to kick myself for it. But I had to admit, he was taking this way better than a guy who spent his days in a boardroom should.
His next words undermined his calm exterior. “What the hell have you done?”
A breath huffed out of me, the urge to laugh coming out of nowhere. There wasn’t time to even start to explain. “We need to go.” I cast one quick glance at the goons on the ground. They’d probably already called for backup. We needed to get the hell out of Dodge before they arrived.
