Page 220 of Heart of Frost and Scars

Monty looks as stunned as I am. At least he has enough sense to remember her safety.

“You’re taking guards.” He directs four of them to board her cruiser.

“Yeah. I am.” She meets his eyes, and something achy and lovesick passes between them.

That. That right there is why I want her away from him.

He’ll steal her. He’s been trying to steal her for five months.

She climbs into her boat and frees the lines.

“Explain this to me.” Leo grips the taffrail as if he can stop the cruiser from leaving the dock. “He kissed you. Why are you punishing us for it?”

“I’m not punishing you. I’m punishing myself.” Dewy rain clings to her face as she starts the engine.

“Why?” The heat of his frantic fury radiates off him as he yells at her over the motor. “What do you want?”

“I want the impossible.” Her shoulders slump, and her eyes pool with tears. “I’m sorry.”

She steers the cruiser into the drizzling fog, her four guards standing at attention around her.

Rain-soaked and numb, I watch her go, willing her to look back.

She doesn’t.

Too soon, she fades into the dark mist. Gone.

In the stillness, the silence of her absence settles over the island, and I know that the bond among us all has been irrevocably shattered.

“Let’s go.” Leo boards one of our yachts.

Yachts that Monty gave us.

Monty stands alone in the gloom, wearing only a pair of sweatpants, feet bare, seemingly impervious to the cold night. But he’s not bulletproof.

In the silent language of his remote expression, there’s a complexity that affects me, a deep vulnerability he tries to conceal behind a veneer of stoicism. So many layers make up the man I’ve come to know as my brother, and right now, I know he’s breaking inside.

He loves her, possibly as much as I do, and he’s already lost her once.

Montgomery Strakh is a strong and powerful man, but I don’t think he can survive without Frankie.

Our eyes connect, and I find something there I don’t expect. Love. Concern. For Leo and me.

He blinks and quickly looks away to direct more guards to go with us.

Then he pivots and stalks back to the house.

Leo and I could stay. Monty’s not making us leave. But none of us want Frankie out there alone.

Sending guards with her isn’t enough.

Monty knows I’ll keep an eye on her. Stalk her. It’s what I do.

As Leo and I leave the island behind, the future feels more uncertain than ever.

49

Frankie

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