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Mari was so put out about needing to gather information that I had to laugh. “How about you worry about your own breaths instead of mine?”
Her grin was crooked and far too endearing to look at for long. “I’ve got an entire empire focused on keeping me alive. Who do you have?”
We stepped into the night air, enjoying the relative chill of early spring. Mari’s driver got out and waited to open the door.
“Be safe, Nate.”
“You too.”
She turned, smiling over her shoulder at me as she moved for her SUV, when an explosion rocked us.
Heat and force pulsed around me, and I reached for Mari instinctively, pulling her into my chest. Twisting so she was shielded from the debris, I felt her draw her gun. Dominic and Greyson took her other sides with guns drawn too. Mari’s bodyguards were nearby, shouting orders into their phones.
My ears were ringing, and my eyes stung from the smoke, but I didn’t care. Just like I didn’t care that memories were pressing themselves close, reminding me of other bombs in other places.
Focus, Nate.
“Are you okay?” I skimmed my hands up her arms to check her face and neck for injuries. Shrapnel could do serious damage, especially if it wasn’t found right away. I reminded myself to step back, but I couldn’t. She could’ve gotten hurt, she could’ve died, and that panic rode me hard. Thankfully, she didn’t seem injured. Dirty and pissed off, but fine.
Like she needed to reiterate it, she pulled away from me. “I’m fine, Nate.”
“What the fuck was that?” Dominic snapped, eyes darting everywhere, like he’d be able to catch the bomber. I let him do it, looking toward the flaming wreckage to find what was once…
“My car.” Son of a bitch.
Dominic whistled. “Bombing seems extreme. You got enemies we need to know about?”
“Not that I know of.” Not a lie. I wasn’t exactly sure who was still after me.
“My guess is retaliation,” Greyson said. “They know what you did for us. For Mari. You’re not safe on your own anymore.”
Mari grabbed my arm, turning me to face her. “Nate, I know you said you wanted to go it alone, but…”
But if I did, I’d be dead before sunrise.
“We can get you a new car,” she continued, rushing through like she knew I’d object. “Get you out of the city. New identity and everything. Or we could help you hole up somewhere until it’s over.”
She kept going, rambling this plan and that, until I couldn’t take anymore. It wasn’t like I really had that many options. It was either leave and hide or stay and hide. That was it.
Motherfucking shitballs. No matter what I do or where I go, I can’t catch a fucking break. I was being hunted one way or another and getting shoved at this woman whether I wanted it or not. Might as well appreciate the time I had with her.
“Mari.” The rambling was so cute, I almost hated to interrupt. “Still got that spare room?”
Chapter Fifteen
Mari
There came a point where the most even-keeled person lost their shit. I was at that point.
From the moment I’d found out Rey had died, the pressure in my chest had built. Every day, it got harder to breathe under it all. My responsibilities to my family, the future, the decisions I had to make soon. They weighed on me.
Then Cash came in and fucked things up even more. Grey and I had spent weeks digging through the city, searching every inch of it for him, and found nothing—only for him to show up and break into my place and attack my people? It was too much, and now the dam in me was breaking.
Guilt weighed heavier than joy, and I was bogged down with it. Thankfully, the rage helped push it away. Helped give me focus. Drive. Because while I was furious with Cash, I was even angrier at myself. I’d spent so much time trying to end things before a real war broke out that I’d left myself and my people vulnerable. In playing it safe, I’d left Nate vulnerable.
Never again.
Geneva barely had the car stopped when I slipped through the seats and out into the cool air. The men followed, doors slamming, but I didn’t wait for them. We’d wasted enough time.
