Sam just shook his head, his brows hitched high with feigned innocence. “Kai, I seriously don’t know what you think I’ve done or what that whore told you—”
His denials were cut short when my fist crashed into his face, knocking him halfway out of the chair.
Jae and Cyryl both winced, but Mo gave a shake of her head.
“Bad move, Sam,” she muttered. “Read the fucking room, dude.”
“Come on, Sam!” I roared, grabbing the front of his shirt to right him back in the chair. “Why don’t you tell the team about the fucking hit you put out on Danny? Huh?”
Sam paled to the color of a sheet and dread curled through my gut. I had been holding onto the faint hope that I was mistaken, that maybe it was all just a weird coincidence. But that reaction said it all.
“Sam, what the fuck?” Jae whispered in horror. “You did that?”
“You knew Kai was with her,” Cyryl added, focusing on the direct impact to our team.
Mo gave a long sigh, running her hand through her hair. “And you know how he feels about Danny. What the fuck were you even thinking, Sam?”
The accused member of my team just licked his lips, realizing he had no allies left. So he tilted his chin back and met my gaze with stubborn determination. “Yeah, Kai. I fucking put a hit on that bitch, because she killed Mauricio. Remember him? He didn’t deserve to die for her, so she needs to fucking pay.”
My hands clenched and flexed at my sides, and it was taking a whole lot of effort not to rip his head off his shoulders. But it wasn’t that simple. Sam was more than just my friend, he was family. This fucked up little band of misfits that we formed a decade ago, bonding over our mutual hatred of the mercenary Guild… We all had our own reasons to hate the organization Danny worked for. But she was off limits.
“She didn’t kill Mauricio,” Jae argued, his expression tight.
Sam’s lip curled. “She didn’t fire the gun, but she still killed him.”
“It’s a hazard of our work, brother,” Cyryl said in a sad voice. “We all miss Mauricio, we’re all grieving him. But these are the risks we take. Not everyone survives.”
That wasn’t what Sam wanted to hear, though, and he launched out of his chair with murder all over his face. The whole team was against him now, though. Swallowing hard against the betrayal, I pulled my gun and clicked the safety off, aiming it at Sam to stop him getting up again.
“Sam. You had to know you couldn’t get away with this.” My voice was ice cold, and my jaw tight with disappointment.
“What, killing some cheap pussy that caught your eye?” Sam spluttered with indignation. “You’re acting like I put a hit on one of you. She’s nothing to us. Just because Kai suddenly overcame his performance issues doesn’t mean she’s one of us.”
Jae muttered some curses in Korean under his breath, and Cyryl gave a mournful head shake.
“Jesus, you don’t know when to shut up, do you?” Mo asked, resigned. “You fucked up, Sam. Now you’re just making it worse.”
“A blind man could see what she means to Kai,” Eli agreed, having silently joined us. “You see it, too. You just decided revenge was more important than our leader’s happiness.”
“No!” Sam roared back, enraged. “No, Kai decided his happiness was more important than vengeance for Mauricio’s death. That’s what’s happening here, isn’t it? You’re choosing her over us. After everything this team has been through together, and you’re ready to kill me to save her.”
His eyes locked on mine, hurt and accusing, and indecision clawed at my chest. Because he was right. He’d put me in the position where I had to choose, and my gut instinct had been to choose her.
“Kai,” Mo said softly. “We should discuss this.”
I shook my head, not taking my eyes from Sam’s. There was nothing to discuss, because he was right. If I had to choose between my family and my future… there was no contest.
30
After all Kai’s possessive alpha male bullshit, I never expected him to sneak out in the night without so much as threatening to hunt me down if I disappeared or some crap. When I woke to find his handwritten note on the pillow, I was genuinely disappointed.
He’d written that he had something urgent to take care of with his team and that he would take care of the nuisance hit on me at the same time. But that was it. No mention of where he was going or how long he would be gone. Just one line that gave me a dangerous spark of hope.
I’m not leaving you, Siren. Not ever. I’ll be missing you every second we’re apart, so trust that I will return.
He signed the note off with a simple endnote: Dream of me.
Like it was ever an option not to.
Before I could feel sorry for myself—having been left alone by both my love interests—my phone pinged with a new message.
6279: I miss you too, mon cœur.
The smile those few words brought to my face was ridiculous. Here I was feeling all sad and abandoned by Kai, and Leon was sweeping in to pick up the pieces without even knowing it. He was replying to my text message from a day ago, and I quietly hoped that meant he was finished with whatever he’d been doing.
A small twinge of guilt plucked at my chest, knowing I should be telling him about Kai. As far as Leon knew, I was alone. Technically that was true now. But I could imagine he might have an issue with the fact that I was currently aching and covered in dried cum from another man.
“Shit,” I muttered, tossing my phone onto the vanity and hopping into the shower. I at least needed to clean myself up before having that chat with Leon.
It was harder than I’d have liked, not to think about my dirty shower with Kai just a day earlier… or my one with Leon back in London, both of which had involved me washing blood off my hands. Wow, maybe I really did have a type.
Wrapping myself up in my towel, I went back into the bedroom to search out some clean clothes. It made me realize that I was running really low on clothing, and I should really address that problem while I had some free time between attempts on my life and wild, exhausting sex sessions.
I hunted out a clean tank top and panties, then rescued a bra and yoga pants that weren’t too dirty. It was good enough to see me through another gym session, then I could take a trip into town for a restock of supplies and disguises. I meant clothes. Same thing.
Refusing to let my guilt hold me hostage any longer, I dialed Leon’s number and brought the phone to my ear as I made my way downstairs.
“DeLuna,” he practically purred down the phone at me. “Is everything okay?”
I bit my lip, loving the concern in his voice. Leon trusted that I could handle the hitmen coming after me, but he would also happily bathe in their blood to defend my honor, too.
“Yeah, all good,” I replied, pushing open the gym doors. “I had another attack come at me right after we spoke the other night, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle.”
Leon gave a small growl, like he wanted to get his hands on my attacker himself. “I bet you handled it beautifully, too,” he murmured. “Describe it to me?”
Grinning, I made myself comfortable on the padded mats and gave Leon all the gory details of my torture. I even admitted that it’d taken me twenty-two minutes to get the answers I was looking for, and he teased me about how I was supposed to be better than that.