Page 41 of Mine to Fear
“This is over when I say it’s over.” Dex’s arm tightened around my waist, and I could feel his heart beating against my back, fast and erratic. “Did you really think you could trap me? Did you think I was that stupid?”
“You’re surrounded,” another agent called out. “There’s nowhere to run.”
“There’s always somewhere to run if you’re willing to pay the price.” The gun pressed harder against my temple, and I could smell his sweat, his desperation. “The question is whether your precious Willa is worth that price to them.”
I tried to stay calm, to think through my options, but being pressed against him brought back every memory of helplessness I fought so hard to overcome. The way he used to pin me against walls during arguments, the way he held me too tight when he was angry, the way his strength was always a weapon.
“You know what’s funny?” he whispered in my ear, his voice conversational despite the chaos around us. “He still hasn’t chosen you. Not really.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Your knight in shining armor. Even now, even after everything, he’s not here. He’s sitting safely in a van somewhere, letting other people risk their lives to save his precious girlfriend.”
“He’s not?—”
“I was there when he didn’t choose you the first time, Willa.” His words were like acid, burning through all the careful confidence I built up. “You forgot about that?”
The memory hit me like a physical blow. The morning after that kiss, I lay in bed staring at my phone, waiting for him to call. The days turned into weeks of hoping, of making excuses for why he didn’t reach out. The parade of sophisticated women who followed, each one a reminder that I was never enough for someone like Kieran Cross.
“Come on, we’ve been happily married,” Dex continued, his voice getting softer, more poisonous. “I was the one who saw your value when he couldn’t. I was the one who chose you first, who fought for you, who was willing to do anything to keep you.”
“By hitting me. By controlling me. By trying to kill me.”
“By loving you!” His voice exploded against my ear, making me wince. “Do you think your precious Kieran would have fought for you the way I did? Do you think he would have moved heaven and earth to get you back?”
“He saved my life.”
“He saved his guilt. There’s a difference.” The gun shifted against my temple as he gestured with his free hand. “But where is he now, Willa? When you’re in real danger, when you really need him, where is your hero?”
That was when I heard Kieran’s voice, close enough to make my heart stop.
“I’m right here.”
I turned my head as much as I could and saw him standing at the edge of the light—no vest, no weapon, no backup visible. Just him in an expensive suit, walking into a situation that could get him killed.
“Kieran, no,” I breathed.
“Let her go,” he said to Dex, his voice calm and steady and completely focused. “Your fight is with me, not her.”
Dex laughed, the sound vibrating through his chest. “Finally decided to join the party? I was starting to think you really were going to hide behind the FBI.”
“What do you want?” Kieran took another step closer, his hands visible and empty. “Money? Information? I’ll transfer everything to you right now.”
“What I want,” Dex said, his voice dropping to something cold and dangerous, “is for you to understand what you took from me. What I want is for you to know what it feels like to lose the thing that matters most.”
“Then take me instead.”
“No!” The word tore from my throat before I could stop it.
“Take me,” Kieran repeated, never taking his eyes off Dex. “I’m the one who interfered. I’m the one who took her from you. Let her go, and you can do whatever you want to me.”
“Whatever I want?” Dex’s grip loosened slightly as he considered this. “You’d really sacrifice yourself for her? After all this time of keeping her at arm’s length, of treating her like an obligation instead of a choice?”
“She was never an obligation. She was always the choice.”
The words hit me like lightning, cutting through the fear and doubt that Dex was weaving around me. Always the choice. Not just now, not just because of guilt or duty, but always.
“Touching,” Dex said. “But I don’t want to kill you, Kieran. I want you to live with the knowledge that you failed to protect her. I want you to carry that guilt for the rest of your life.”
