Page 9 of The Finish Line

“Tobias, what did you do?”

“I made sure he’ll never be a threat to you again.”

“You said you trusted me.”

“I do. I didn’t trust him. He’s as fucking corrupt as they come. Retaliation was in the works. I saw it for myself. I was tracking both his correspondence and calls closely. He’s always been a threat to you. If I had gotten a handle on things when I should have...” I clear my throat to stop myself, “I would have taken care of him a lot sooner.”

She flicks imploring eyes to mine. “What do you mean?”

Not yet. We’re not there yet, Tobias. One thing at a time.

“I got a confession before I buried him. He was the one who sent Miami. Do you want the details?”

She swallows and darts her eyes away. “No.”

“You are never to disappear on me again.” Her stare is a million miles away before it finally flits back to me, the toll of the first of my confessions heavy in her eyes.

I level out my voice, intent that through her anger she hears me. Adamant she knows what she’s in for should the situation ever present itself. “I will kill anyone who threatens you. Anyone. I will fucking end them, Cecelia. I won’t think twice, and I won’t lose sleep over it.”

She bites her lip, dragging her gaze over my body before turning her attention back to her flower bed. I crouch down next to her as the wind lifts some loose hair from her shoulder and I brush the rest away from her face.

“Does that scare you?”

“No.”

“That’s because you do know who I am. We are not strangers, Cecelia. Far from it.”

She doesn’t argue that. “Even so, you should know by now. I don’t do well with orders.”

“On this, I don’t give a fuck. Punish me, but never that way. Don’t run from my protection. I’ll make you promise me that one day and save it for a different fight that will be happening sooner rather than later. I can’t risk...” I resist the urge to rip her from the ground, shake some sense into her and demand she make the promise now, but I know better. It’s my selfish need, my own emotions that demand it. Aside from that, she’ll never be tamed. It’s part of my attraction to her, even if it scares the hell out of me.

A beat of silence passes. “How did you find me?”

“Sean. He knew where you were the whole time. After I exhausted every resource, I finally went to him to ask for help. He was expecting me.”

I see it the second she puts it together.

“There’s a tracking device on the Camaro.”

“He installed it before he gifted it to you. He had you followed and put two permanent birds on you the minute you landed here. He knew I was losing my shit, but he wanted to make sure I got my wake-up call. I sniffed out his bullshit when I asked him for help, and the smug bastard finally put me out of my misery when I told him of my plan.”

“Which was?”

“You.”

She shivers in her hoodie.

“Let’s go inside and talk. Your lips are turning blue.”

“I’m fine,” she harrumphs, wiping the loose dirt from her gloves. “You bastards—even when I did your bidding and kept your secrets, you never once believed I could take care of myself.”

“He was sincere about the gift, Cecelia. Dom would have wanted you to have it, but no matter how this works out between us, we’re always going to protect you. Always. That’s not debatable.”

“Yeah? Well, who’s going to protect me from you?”

Right hook.

I swallow. “You don’t need it. I’m at your mercy.”

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