Page 71 of Guarding her Gangster Girl

I shake my head. “I have no idea what she’s talking about.”

“Put the gun down, Dominika.” Eva is still eerily calm. “You don’t need to stay in character any longer. The play is done.”

“Nik?” Brie sounds wary now. “What does she mean?”

But the second SUV has just pulled up, and my blood runs cold as the occupants step out. Frank Colombo, Larry Caruso, and Vince Sabatelli.

They seem to have found a new alliance, rather like I did with the Syndicate women. And now I know what’s going on.

They’re here for Brie.

I swing my sights toward the Colombos, and Leon swings his toward me. Eva repeats much more sharply, “Put the gundown, Dominika.”

“Everyoneshould put their guns down,” Brie says, stepping forward.

Her voice is steady, her chin held high. I’m ashamed I ever called her a wannabe gangster girl. I was wrong,sowrong. Brie Colombo is every inch an underworld queen, power radiating from her just like it does from Eva.

And I’m terrified I’m about to lose her.

CHAPTER 32

Brie

“Come on home with us,now, Mrs. Colombo,” Frank calls over. “Let’s not make this any more difficult than it has to be.”

Nik turns her gun toward them. “Not a chance in hell.”

Things are going to get out of control fast. I step to the side quickly, putting myself between Nik’s gun and the Colombos.

“Get out of the way,” she says urgently, but drops the gun as soon as I turn and put my hand over her wrist. “What are you doing?”

“I’m going with them,” I tell her.

“Brie, come on! You don’treallythink I put a tracker signal out to?—”

“Nik,” I say with a tiny smile, “I’m not an idiot. But for some reason, they really want me tothinkthat you’ve betrayed me. For now, I’m going to play along.”

“If you go with them, they’ll kill you,” she hisses.

“And if I don’t, they’ll kill all of us.”

“They can try and fail,” Lyssa says in a low voice. “You’ve got backup. If you want it.”

“You heard her,” Nik says. “We can take these fuckers—you just need to trust me.”

“No,” I say softly. “Youneed to trustme. You’ve put yourself in harm’s way for me countless times, Nik. But this time, I need to step up. I will not run away from this any longer.”

“But—”

“I’ll ask you again, Nik.Areyou willing to obey me?”

She remembers. I can see it in her face, she remembers standing there with Eva Novak at my husband’s funeral, remembers me grinning at her when I asked her that question the first time.

This time her response is much faster. Much firmer.

“Yes,” she says simply, and throws her gun to the side, capitulating utterly.

“You need to take care of Holden,” I tell her quickly, quietly. “And Holden, you need to?—”

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