Page 71 of Chase

Ten minutes later, Samantha reappears with a soft white towel wrapped around her torso, a matching one covering her hair. Long, slender legs cross the room back toward the bed. Her blue eyes flick to me, then to the floor.

“Are you okay?” I ask. She shrugs but doesn’t look at me as she sits down on the bed. “Talk to me; a lot has happened in the past few days.”

“You can say that again…” Her voice trails off, the confident, self-assured woman fading. “We killed a man.” The statement is blunt. Samantha’s directness is a quality I love. She doesn’t sugarcoat information to make it sting less. “Jasper is dead.”

“He won’t be the last man I kill or order to be disposed of,” I tell her, just as frank. “Men have died by mine or my friend’s hands before. But I truly believe every bastard deserved it. What he did to you deserved to be punished. His actions triggered his fate, not your vengeance.”

“You and I both know that’s untrue. My need for revenge poured the concrete into those buckets. I did that knowing full well he would be dumped in the River Thames.” She pauses, glances at me, then returns to looking at her feet. Her pearly white teeth sink into soft pink lips. “And I was happy about it.”

“How can I help? What do you want to know?” I ask her. I’ve spent enough time with Samantha to know when she’s holding back. When she’s desperate to ask a question but is unsure how to.

“Who put him into the river? And was he alive?”

I stare at the back of her head, but she doesn’t turn around. Moving beside her, I swing my legs out of the bed so we sit side by side.

“He was alive and awake. He was fully aware of what was happening and how it would end.” I keep my explanation clear and concise. She asked a direct question and deserves honesty in return. “Russ and I put him in together.” Her head snaps around, wide eyes fixing on my face.

“How did Russ manage that with a cast on?”

“Hunter helped me maneuver him to the edge, but Russ and I lowered him in. He saw the pair of us as he sank. We both executed the bastard on your behalf. We delivered his punishment together. Can you be with a man like that? Like us?” A familiar nervousness bubbles in my stomach. It appears every time I consider Samantha and my future.

“A man who would kill for me?” she asks.

“Yes. Could you be with a man like that?”

“I don’t think I could live without him. The darkness in you both is mirrored in me. I enjoyed seeing Jasper’s pain, and I want to inflict the same again. I want to make people pay who hurt others.”

I look at this beautiful woman I consider to be mine and wonder how much her life has changed since she met my family. Would this part of her have ever surfaced if it wasn’t for us? And are the hardened lines and thirst for revenge a good thing in her mind?

To me, she’s perfect. These changes only make her even more desirable. With each day, my reliance on her grows, and I’ve never felt more connected to anyone in my life.

***

Samantha

Varley Medical

The elevator doors slide open, and I walk out onto the fourth floor of Varley Medical. My fingers rise to my lanyard, securely hanging around my neck, in search of comfort. Today, I would rather be anywhere but here. The uneasy feeling in my stomach has grown since I left The Level. With every step I took toward work, the more certain I became that something will go terribly wrong today.

After trying to convince Russell to interfere in the upcoming transplant today and him refusing, I tried to convince Connor that he could somehow delay the process. Neither of them were willing to step in without more evidence. Russell wasn’t even willing to contact Dr. Rivera, who thinks the world of him, to ask any questions.

“I don’t want to open conversation with her,” he told me. “The last thing I want is to encourage any sort of communication between us.”

“But—” I challenged, and for once he silenced me with a look.

“No more discussions on the subject. Go to work, keep quiet, and learn what you can. Don’t put yourself in danger, and don’t ask questions that promote dangerous answers.” His shrewd eyes held mine. When I looked away, he growled for me to return to his stare. “I trust you, Trouble. But I don’t have faith in anyone else in that hospital. If what we believe is happening there is true, anyone could be involved. Keep your head down and mouth shut. We’ll intervene when necessary.”

“The girl, though, what if she’s innocent?” I continued, desperate for him to see my point of view. “If she’s vulnerable and they are taking advantage of her, I can’t stand by and watch that happen.”

“You must!” He’d lost control a little then, a glimpse of the unhinged man who followed me for months reappearing briefly. Russell has been so calm since his accident in so many ways; his emotional outburst was a surprise. He took my hands in his, holding them to his chest. “You, Trouble, are the most important fucking thing in my life. You have to put your own safety first. As I said, I trust you to be sensible. Prove me wrong, and I’ll lock you up in this penthouse and never let you out without supervision.” I smile to myself as I relive our conversation.

When I reach the reception desk, Bryan clears his throat, causing me to look up. He smirks, then returns to focusing on his computer screen.

“Good morning,” I say. “Why do I think you have something cheeky to say?”

“Me?” he replies without as much as a glance. “I would never tease.”

“Bullshit. Go on, spit it out.”

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