Page 60 of Three of a Kind

Bless tosses the bins down by the barstools and strides over. “Our timetable has moved up significantly.”

“I don’t understand,” Brooklyn whispers.

“We need to talk.” Bless plants her hands on her hips. “I was trying to give you time to come to terms with things, but that time has run out.”

Brooklyn freezes.

I don’t even think she’s breathing, but she finally shudders out a heavy breath.

“Tell me what’s going on,” she says firmly as she climbs from my lap.

Maverick grimaces, dropping the plastic totes he’s been carrying next to the others.

Bless tosses her long hair behind her shoulder, walks over, and pulls Brooklyn in for a hug. “I don’t want to stress you out with the details, but Brook, I don’t think we can put it off any longer.”

“Is Avan trying to kill me?” Brooklyn asks.

Bless hugs her tighter, and her eyes meet mine over Brooklyn’s shoulder.

The look on her face says it all.

My fists clench as I shove myself off the couch to pace.

“I don’t know,” Bless says finally. “But I’m not taking any chances. I wanted to wait until Ivanov made a move to take the city back. I thought it would give us the best chance to get you out amidst the chaos. Or I wanted to wait until the wedding. If nothing else, it felt like the next best distraction, but we can’t wait any longer.”

My head tilts.

We have a direct line to Ivanov’s former top enforcer.

Soren Nikolov worked for Ivanov for years. There were rumors that Soren would replace Ivanov when the time came.

Only, Ivanov’s daughter, Keeley, was kidnapped by Avan and married off to some old fuck that Soren killed.

The world thinks Soren is dead.

But Maverick and I know better.

Soren got Keeley back, they fell in love, and ended up packed up with two of our close friends.

Merrick and Steele now live in North Carolina with Soren and Keeley.

If anyone could appeal to Ivanov to move up his timeline…

It would be Soren.

Or maybe Keeley.

Merrick is already looking into the camera feeds to see if he can find a license plate number or anything else we can use to track down the assholes trying to take out Brooklyn and Libby.

Maverick catches my gaze, scratching his beard. His hair is a mess from running his hands through it or maybe from wearing his hat earlier.

The look on his face tells me he followed my train of thought. That’s one of the few benefits of being partnered up for as long as we have.

“He’s sending me to some dress shop to get Libby fitted for his wedding,” Brooklyn says, shaking her head as she pulls back from the hug with Bless. “I almost feel like he’s taunting me.”

Bless sighs. “I don’t know what he’s doing, but I need to talk to these guys. Why don’t you go take a nap while Libby is sleeping?”

“No, she could be up any time, and I always feel worse after a nap,” Brooklyn says, rubbing her eyes.

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