Page 170 of When She Falls (The Fallen)
CHAPTER36
RAS
Knock,knock.
My head snaps up straight. I’m at the apartment, sitting on the ratty two-person couch, a basketball game playing on the TV.
It’s late.
Orrin knows better than to show up unannounced, so it can’t be him, and no one else is supposed to know I’m here. Have Garzolo’s men found me?
Fuck.
Was that him calling me from an unknown number? I had a feeling it was someone trying to bait me so they could get a hit on my location, so I let the calls ring out.
I reach for my gun, check it’s fully loaded, and move toward the door.
This might be my last stand.
Blood whooshes inside my ears as I turn the lock.
If I die here, at least I won’t have any regrets. I did what I thought was right. I went after what I wanted.
It’s too damn bad I still didn’t manage to get it though.
I crack the door open.
What the… “Gemma?”
She’s standing there bundled up in what looks like a man’s jacket, her cheeks slightly pink from the cold, and her arms wrapped around her.
I lower the gun and frown. “What are you doing here?”
Why is she here? Something bad must have happened for her to seek me out like this.
She swallows. “Um… I… needed to talk to you.”
My gaze drifts over her, hungrily committing every new detail to memory.
I’ve survived on a diet of short glimpses of her from a distance for over a week.
And now she’s right here, right in front of me. So vivid and real.
But I don’t like some of the things I see. Dark bags under her eyes. Pale skin. Has she lost some weight?
What the fuck have they been doing to her?
Tucking the gun into my waistband, I lean through the doorway and look down the hallway in both directions. “Where are your guards?”
“Not here.”
Frustration spikes inside of me. She’s here alone? Unprotected? “It’s almost midnight. Did you lose them somewhere?”
She looks down at her hands. “I…I don’t have guards anymore.”
Now, I’m really fucking irritated. “What? Why would Rafaele let you wander around on your own?”
Her teeth dig into her bottom lip, and she slowly lifts her gaze to me.
