Page 41 of Devil’s Candy

But Angel senses it too and he drops me, spinning, his shoulders growing ridiculously broad as Killian slams into him.

Angel stumbles back even as I scramble out of the way. Harmony screams and jumps from the chair. Angel crashes onto the waxing bed which collapses to the floor, buckling under both their weight.

But Angel manages to catch Killian with a stiff uppercut, sending his head snapping back. He pushes Killian off and rolls away, just as Killian presses up onto his hands and knees shaking his head.

That’s when Axel appears in the door. “What the fuck?”

“Get Candy out of here,” Angel growls.

“You’re protecting her?” Killian spits. “Sver could hurt any one of our women. My wife. My future child.”

Angel pushes up, standing between Killian and me. “Candy is one of our women. At least for the Sinclairs. So if your game is to hurt her, get the fuck out. I made a vow to my wife. I will not sacrifice principles over money or power. Period.”

Killian wilts back to the floor. “That’s not what I’m doing.”

Angel starts to answer, but the shrill ring of a phone cuts him off. Killian pulls a flip phone from his pocket, picking up the call and spitting into the phone, “You are a fucking plague, you know that, don’t you?”

And then he presses a button for the phone to be placed on speaker. That’s when I hear Sver’s deep voice rumble through the phone, “I don’t have time for banter.”

“I just told your woman what you did to Rebecca.”

Silence.

My chest grows tight. I don’t know what all of this means, but I know it’s bad. That what is happening is about to reverberate through my life and Sver’s too.

“Vinnie Morelli is driving west on 114th Street and he’s about to turn north onto Claremont.”

“You’re lying.”

“He’s not,” Rock chimes in. “It’s true, but I still don’t know where he’s going. Sver⁠—”

“Triple-time it, Killian.”

“Sver!” Killian roars into the phone. “Promise me that you’ll protect her⁠—"

“I promise. Now go. Don’t waste another second.”

Killian is off the floor and gone before the words can even move past my lips. “What’s happening?”

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Sver

My hands clench the steering wheel as I press the accelerator. I’m banking on my car escaping notice as I move in closer.

“Where the fuck are they going?” Rock spits from the seat next to me.

“To Killian’s apartment.” The words burn in my throat. I saw Chloe at Angel’s wedding. A sweet-looking blonde, she had an angelic smile and a beautiful baby bump.

I know why Killian is coming at me hard.

Chloe is his entire world and he sees me, after what I did to Rebecca, as one of his greatest threats.

I know why he thinks it, but he’s wrong.

“Who’s Rebecca?” Rock asks.

I grit my teeth. “She is the one woman I killed in my tenure as an assassin.”