Page 67 of Broken Love

Elijah raises a victorious brow at his twin. “See?”

“I’m going to take her sarcastic response as full agreement to my original point,” Lilah says. “As much as Dante wants to believe it, we can never live normal lives. I wish it were possible, I do, but…” She shakes her head. “He and Lucy are living on borrowed time and we all know it.”

Elijah falls silent and subtle agreement fills his eyes.

I raise my head up a little higher. “Who are Dante and Lucy?”

He sighs, firing a hard look at Lilah. “Nice going.”

“What difference does it make?” I ask. “You’re planning on killing me anyway, right?”

Lilah snorts with a sour expression. “I don’t kill anyone unless someone pays me to.”

“Then, who’s paying you to kill Fox?”

They both press their lips together and their eyes lock.

Elijah hops off the counter and wanders behind it to check the outside security feed. “I think that’s a good place to hit the pause button on this conversation, sis.”

Lilah shifts on her feet. “Fine.”

I watch them closely. The slight flare of their nostrils. The low twitch of their brows. The fear hidden deep in their eyes. The answer to my question isn’t a simple as I thought it’d be. There’s someone behind the scenes sliding a pointed finger along their throats to keep them quiet.

Lilah kneels next to my chair and pulls her pack in closer so she can stuff a few slinky dresses inside of it.

“No,” I say, breaking the awkward silence.

She looks up at me, preparing to shoot down any judgmental snark I might throw at her. “No, what?”

“Normal life doesn’t come easy,” I answer. “It sucks, actually. I’ve been here for two years and it’s still a struggle to even get out of bed in the morning.”

The tension slips from her shoulders. “Would you go back in, if you could?”

“Not sure. Depends, I suppose.”

“On what?”

“Whether or not anyone wanted me around at all.”

Her face falls a little more, but a quick blink brings her attention back to me. “What about your husband?” she asks.

I laugh softly. “If you can even call him that.”

“Honey…” She shifts into a side-eye. “We dropped your name once and he came running out here from fucking Massachusetts.”

A smile visits my mouth, but I hold it down. “I guess he did.”

She stands up and tosses her now stuffed bag onto a seat near the wall.

“Lilah, you don’t have to do this,” I say. “Just leave Fox alone and we can—”

“Don’t confuse my docile tone for weakness, Caleb,” she says quickly. “I came here to do a job and I intend on finishing it. It’s nothing personal.”

“Fox is like a brother to me.” I glance at Elijah. “Surely, you can imagine why I want to protect him.”

“I’m sorry.” She swallows. “But it’s your family or mine.”

I open my mouth to argue further but quickly realize there’s no point. Lilah and Elijah are trained killers. Appealing to their humanity isn’t going to get me very far. No amount of sisterly bonding over boutique dresses is going to change her mind.

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