Page 152 of Vega

“That street is full of cameras, strangers, service entrances, valet workers, delivery drivers, and people Roman could pay before I even know he found us.”

“So, I’m supposed to stay up here forever?”

“No. It’s been a week.”

“A week after a month and a half locked up in your house, Vega.”

I looked at the city through the window behind her, then brought my attention back to her face. “I’m trying to keep you alive.”

“I know that.”

“Then stop fighting me on everything.”

“I’m fighting because I’m still me.” She stepped closer, and her eyes shined with anger and hurt. “I had a life before this.”

“I know.”

“Do you?!”

My nostrils flared. “After Lowe, you thought I was gonna get easier to deal with?”

“No. But I miss walking into a bookstore without five men watching the door. I miss getting coffee. I miss museums. I miss public transportation, and that is sad because public transportation is disgusting half the time.”

Despite myself, my mouth twitched.

“Don’t smile,” she snapped. “I’m mad.”

“I can see that.”

Her voice got smaller. “I miss deciding when I leave a room. I miss my life. It wasn’t perfect, but it was mine.”

The smile left my face. I crossed the space between us, and Sonnet backed up a step, still frowning, until her back met the wall near the suite door.

I put one hand on the wall beside her head and leaned in, close enough to see the tears sitting behind all that attitude. “Protecting you ain’t a contract I can walk away from anymore. It started that way. Then you became mine.”

She stared at me without blinking, with her lips slightly parted as if she was trying to remember how to breathe.

“Keeping you alive is my life’s mission now, even after Roman is handled, it’ll be my main priority. It will always be my main priority.”

Her tears spilled then. “I don’t need another prison,” she whispered.

The words cut through all the rage in me. I stepped back immediately. Then I reached beside us, grabbed the handle, and opened the suite door.

Sonnet froze. The hallway stretched beyond it, empty and quiet, with the elevator bank at the far end. I moved away from the door and gave her the space.

“It’s open. I never want you to feel trapped again, that’s why I’m doing everything I have to, to eliminate the threat. My fucking cousin almost got killed because I want so badly for you to be free. But I can’t take your tears anymore. So, if you don’t give a fuck about a killer hunting you down, then leave.”

She swallowed hard, lowering her gaze.

“But if you stay, you’re gonna have to tolerate a man who loves you enough to be unreasonable about losing you.”

She wiped under one eye and frowned at me. “That’s not fair. You can’t say stuff that sounds toxic and romantic at the same time.”

She stared at the open door for a few seconds. Then she looked back at me with her mouth trembling.

“I hate you,” she said weakly.

I smiled because we both knew she didn’t. “Come here.”