Page 14

But not Lousia. She grabbed her purse after logging and seemed more eager to leave than she had last night.

Impatient to get home to your son?

Ready to get away from that asshole boss?

I watched her progress as she walked down the hall. Windows were more limited in the wall for a continuous sight of her, but I spotted her black curls in the window near the elevator bay.

I moved, sticking my gun back in its holster as I closed up the small scope. Exiting this vacant room didn’t take me long, but I wanted to hurry anyway.

In a couple of minutes, she’d reach the doors that led out to the back of the building, near an alleyway. If she was a creature of comfort and would again prefer the more-lit avenue around this block, like she had last night, I’d be right to anticipate her making her way to the corner and then crossing that intersection.

Just as I slipped out of the building I’d been spying on her from, she walked out of Pickering Inc.

Head down, hair tumbling over her shoulders. She clutched the strap of her purse with both hands like she needed the security of holding something. If her boss had been giving her a hard time, I bet she would be impatient to decompress at home.

I fell into step behind her, but I wasn’t the only one after her.

The further I trailed her down the block, ignoring the distant sounds of parties and revelers and crowds of people likely heading to a nearby bar or club, I picked up on the presence of a man on the other side of the street.

Then again, I noticed him.

Advancing parallel to her.

Moving in sync with how slow or fast she walked on her hurried route home.

What the hell?

I kept to the shadows, not letting Louisa or this other stalker realize I was following anyone.

I’m not the only one on her tail.

Someone else is… I narrowed my eyes, trying to see who was racing after her.

Fuck.

Someone else is after her.

It wasn’t just anyone. It was a Konstantin, a sniper who had been on our radar before.

Fuck this.

If one of Gregori’s operatives was determined to take her out, that had to mean she was a threat of some kind. To him.

In a flash of a second, I understood that I had to keep her alive, no matter what. Louisa had to know something—or have something—for anyone else to want to eliminate her.

She was now worth more to me alive than dead. Just for the sake of someone else wanting her dead, it had to be in our best interests to prevent that from happening.

I stuck to her, not deviating from the path she rushed along.

But as I made sure that no one else was about to sneak up on me, and that no one else was going to be able to ambush her on her way home, I had to guess just what she might know or possess to warrant a trained assassin from another Bratva to target her tonight.

Two hitmen from different families had her on their kill lists?

At the same time?

You’re something awfully special, aren’t you, Louisa Emerson?

I furrowed my brow, determined not to lose her as I continued to follow her home.