AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He is?” I shoot Dom a look as her words process. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Dom opens his mouth but Thalia’s words seem to come out of it. “Maybe you’re deaf, too. I can test you,” she offers.
“Maybe later.”
I strain to sweep the binos across the windows opposite, but every one of them is painted black. “You said she was coming out.”
“Fucking stalker,” Dom grumps, flexing his shoulders. “We’re too old for this shit, Boss.”
I turn over an idea that sprang to mind after my not-talk with Roman. “I want you to head up the Hernandez operation after I get Willow back.”
I don’t have to look at him to know his face is full of incredulity.
“The fuck is wrong with you? She wants out because you’re controlling and now you want to take away the foothold she’s gained? I should have let Thalia punch you.”
I grin. “To hold it in place for Roman and train him to lead his people.”
“Oh.” Dom tips his head to one side on my periphery while I strain to find my wife behind the imposing building. “That’s probably a good idea.”
“Why me?” Thalia pipes up again, way too loud. Dom shushes her.
“Because you can communicate with him. I have a doctor. I’m not sure they do. And I trust both of you to keep the kid alive.” Keeping Roman happy gets me back in Willow’s good graces.
Happy wife, happy life, and all that fucked-up jazz.
Spin it any direction, I’ll do what it takes to get her back.
Two cars enter the street at opposite ends. I take in the car Willow was in and swing my attention back the other way, not recognizing the drivers.
“I thought you said she was inside,” I rasp at Dom. “She’s going to get herself fucking killed.”
Another car pulls into the street behind the one opposite Willow’s, and I recognize Konnor.
“Fucking bastard,” I mutter under my breath. “We need to get down there.”
“You need to stay here. Both of you.” Dom gives my back a hard tap and pats Thalia on the head. “Do you understand me?”
I glare at him. Thalia shoots him the bird.
Dom stalks away, muttering curses under his breath.
“So sweet,” Thalia calls after him, her voice cracking with so much use.
She had been nonverbal for a while, like Roman, but came back to us when Dom made some fairly romantic, bloody gestures, and promised her things I wasn’t sure we could actually get. But it kept her on our side of the line, and I couldn’t afford to lose anyone else. My last thought before Dom steps out of the building we perch on, just as gunfire rings out.
Willow sits frozen in the passenger seat of her car for a too-long moment. The window splits in slow motion, like I’m watching a Guy Ritchie film, waiting for the final moment. Spiderwebs appear in the glass, and Diego’s hand slaps her head down. Blood spurts, but she isn’t in the bullet’s way. It pierces his arm instead, and his mouth opens in a curse I can’t hear.
The car swings around in a one eighty, and roars away. That is enough to move my feet, but before I get anywhere, Dom reappears, puffing like hell.
“We have to go,” he says in a strained voice. I only realize belatedly he holds a hand to his ribs. Thalia darts between us, lifting his hand away.
Blood glistens darkly against his black shirt, but his eyes never leave mine. “I know where Singleton is.” Thalia jerks back, the name of the man who trafficked her dying unspoken on her lips. Dom’s attention was fixed on me, though he slides a hand behind her neck, holding the tiny healer in place. “She’s safe, Rafe. But I have to follow this lead now. If you stay, those bastards down there will end you, and her.”
“That’s a shitty choice,” I grouse. “I don’t care if I die for her.”
Dom’s eyes glow. “You will if they kill her after. Diego has her and he’s loyal, Boss. Let her go for now.”
I close my eyes, and follow him off the rooftop away from my wife without knowing her fate a second time. Halfway along the fire escape, I freeze, yanking out my cracked phone, and send a message her way.
