Page 136 of Vega

I stared at the money because it was easier than staring at men who were reading emotions that were new to me. “I am. I’ve never felt this way about a woman. I kept her because I couldn’t hand her over to die. But somewhere in all that madness, she got under my skin.”

I noticed Legend watching me closely, but he stayed quiet.

“I’m trying to do it right. That’s the part fucking me up. I know how to take. I know how to own. I know how to make somebody fear what happens if they cross me. But with her, I’m trying to be careful.”

Reek nodded once. “That’s when it gets worse.”

I let out a hard breath, remembering the feeling of that perfect pussy hugging my dick. Now that I’d felt it, there wasn’t an option for her to be anyone else’s but mine.

“I can’t even imagine not having that woman for the rest of my life.” I knew I was gone when I was okay with admitting that to a room full of killers.

I watched their expressions. Most were understanding. Some were humorous, as if I didn’t know what I was getting myself into.

“That sound crazy?” I asked.

“No,” Icon said. “It sounds familiar.”

I dragged a hand over my beard. “How is a man supposed to remain rational when the thought of losing her makes me want to erase everybody attached to this?”

Saint gave a dry laugh. “You’re asking the wrong men.”

Reek pointed at him. “Exactly.”

“Every Cartier in this room has wanted to burn down the city over his woman. Some of us damn near did.”

Icon pushed the duffel aside and rested his elbows on the table. “You want Roman dead because that feels final. I get it. But there’s another way to hit him harder.”

My brow rose. “How?”

“His wife. Tell her the truth. Show her the proof. Let her know Roman killed Donovan himself and blamed the Bellamys. Once she knows, Sonnet isn’t the only person that knows the truth anymore, and she’s no longer a threat to Roman.”

Saint nodded. “Truth gets out, Roman loses control of the story.”

I stared at the table, thinking through it.

My head was consumed with thoughts of Sonnet; the way she slept beside me now as if she were molded to me, the way she changed the rhythm of my heartbeat.

“I hear y’all, but I want him dead. I don’t want Sonnet safe only because Roman is busy doing damage control. I want her safe because the man hunting her is in the ground. I want her to walk into a bookstore, a museum, a coffee shop, wherever the hell her nerdy ass wants to go, and not feel hunted. I want her to sleep through the night without jumping at sounds. I want her to know I ended the reason she’s scared. And she won’t truly feel like that until he’s dead.”

Saint nodded slowly. “Understood.”

“Jamir can start tonight,” Icon told me. “Don’t get so hungry for Roman that you get reckless. Because if revenge makes you lose control and that girl gets hurt behind it, you’ll hate yourself for it.”

“That won’t happen,” I replied.

But I knew it already had.

I had only stopped by Crown After Dark to handle business. Two bottle girls were arguing over section money, and one of the managers had texted me about liquor inventory not matching what had been sold.

I sat behind the desk in my office, going over numbers on the tablet while the music from the main floor thumped through the walls, when the door opened without a knock.

I looked up and Elana walked in wearing a black fishnet dress, heels, and a smile she had used on me too many times before.

I leaned back in my chair. “You lost?”

She closed the door behind her, saying, “No.”

“Then you forgot how to knock?”