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“Leander!”
At least he was warm. Just to be on the safe side, I settled his head in my lap and checked for a pulse anyway. It was there. Thank God.
His eyelashes fluttered, but he didn’t open his eyes.
“My love.” I cradled him gently, grabbing one of his hands and folding it over his chest to make it easier to hold. “Wake up. Please, wake up.”
He squeezed my hand weakly.
A wave of relief crashed over me. Tears stung my eyes as I pressed my lips to his, trying to keep myself from bawling like a baby.
He tried to kiss me back, but his breathing was more of a wheeze. Our lips touched for no more than a second before he pulled back with a grimace.
Helping him into a sitting position, I wrapped my arms around him, guiding him backward to lean against me. “Are you ok? Tell me what hurts.” I tried to rake through his dark curls to see if there were any serious head wounds to tend to, but they were even more unruly than usual thanks to dried blood and dirt.
He pressed a hand to his head and sucked in a pained hiss.
“Talk to me!” This wasnotthe time to be stoic about anything. If we were going to make it out of his warehouse, I needed to know what kind of condition he was in.
“I’ll live,” he replied, his voice raw.
“Not for much longer,” a female voice said, accompanied by the sound of high heels tapping across the floor.
Easing away from Leander, I made sure he could sit upright on his own before I got to my feet slowly, assessing this newest threat.
The woman in front of me was none other than Gianna Scardato, flanked by Paulie and two of her other goons. Our game of cat and mouse had come to an end at last. Unfortunately for us, it was on her turf, which put us at a serious disadvantage.
She strolled forward with a smirk, her platform heels grinding on the concrete with each exaggerated step. Her hands were tucked inside her fur coat, more than likely pointing a gun right at me. She would have been an idiot if she came to this little meet-and-greet unarmed.
“I can’t believe it,” she said with a laugh. “The infamous Bennett Reeve. In the flesh.” One hand slipped out of her pocket, empty, and caressed the side of my face. “Finally.”
At six feet, I wasn’t the tallest person but I easily dwarfed the Italian princess. Seizing her wrist, I dragged her a step closer, bending down so she could hear me clearly. “Touch me again and I’ll break your fucking arm.” I sent her staggering backward with one shove and immediately squared off against the goon who rushed forward.
Leander appeared at my side, somewhat evening the odds, even though he didn’t look like he was in the best fighting shape.
Regaining her footing, Gianna laughed and waved off her dogs. “Easy boys. You’ll have your fun soon enough.”
“If you’re going to kill us, just kill us. You’ve been trying for months, so get it over with,” I spat, looking Paulie up and down. He was a meaty fellow. He wouldn’t go down easily. “Otherwise, quit wasting our fucking time.”
“Not if, sweetie.When.” Gianna flashed a smile, all bright-white teeth and matte, burgundy lips. “I wanna talk to you first.”
“Aw, shucks. I’m not in the mood.”
“I think I can help with that.” She turned to Paulie, pointing a long nail at Leander. “Start with that one.”
“No!” It was my thought, but not my voice. In fact, the scream came from the last person I ever thought I’d hear.
Lorelei fucking Clayton.
Appearing from the direction of the office, her eyes were wide, her breathing rapid either from the sprint or a sudden dose of panic. Probably both.
“That wasn’t the deal!” she said to Gianna, swallowing thickly.
Excuse me, what? Did that bitch just saydeal? I stole a glance at Leander. He gave me a nearly imperceptible shrug. Great. This obviously wasn’t something he cooked up behind my back, which meant neither of us knew how it was going to play out.
“He wasn’t supposed to get hurt. Remember? You said he was bait and that you’d let him go.” Lorelei’s voice may have lowered, but I heard enough. She used my husband as fuckingbaitto get tome. I might have admired her tenacity if I wasn’t two seconds away from ripping her throat out.
“He was. Two for the price of one,” Gianna replied with a sickeningly sweet smile. “Thanks Doc. You turned out to be a real catch. I’m glad Paulie here did a deep dive into Reeve’s background, otherwise we probably wouldn’t have found your man over there. Or, ex-man I guess.”
