Page 47 of Under His Embrace

“I’ve got a car ready. If you want to go?—”

“Yes. I’ll be out front in five minutes.” He disconnected the call as he jogged to me. “Wait for me.” He pulled me in close for a hard, fast kiss, and I sagged against the mirrored wall when he let me go.

“Wait. I?—”

Too late. He lifted a hand in a wave and darted out of the room.

I was left behind, stuck with all these trapped words and confessions stuck in my throat.

The idea of his rushing off to find Wes scared me. He’d kill him. There was not a chance in hell that Franco would let him live. While I didn’t want to think about the grisly details, I tried not to dwell on the fact that it would be happening. Soon. In a normal world, I should’ve been worried and alarmed, knowing about a murder waiting to happen. With what Wes did to me, stalking me and threatening me, though, I knew better than to wish for a different outcome.

That didn’t make me a bad person. I refused to accept that.

However, I felt like the scummiest coward and liar. Standing here all alone with my secrets, I hated myself a little more forstillnot coming clean about having Franco’s son and hiding him.

As soon as he’s back. Ihaveto tell him. No more excuses.

21

FRANCO

“It’s so close to where the Giovannis started up a fight,” I commented once I joined Liam in the car and left the mansion. I did another double-take at the address on the navigation, the location where Liam’s former military buddy lived in Brooklyn.

“Yeah. I noticed that too.” Liam concentrated on the road as he sped away. “But I don’t see how that’d be relevant.”

“Who is this friend again?” I asked. I felt like I should’ve known this.

“Ethan Koone. We served together overseas. He retired a few years ago and sort of started up his, uh, own business.”

“In what field or industry?”

Liam glanced at me. “Killing. He’s a contracted hitman.”

I raised my brows. “No shit.”

“Yeah.” He shrugged. “I spoke with him a little bit when I was debating whether I should join the Constella forces.”

I laughed once, wryly. “I’d say a hitman for hire would sway the black-and-white areas of your moral compass.”

He nodded. “He suggested that I work for him, actually, as partners. But that was right before I found out about Olivia, and I couldn’t do that then.”

“Of course not. And you’re one of us.” I checked my gun and slid it back into my holster. I didn’t take the time to shower after leaving Chloe so horny and needy in the gym. It killed me to leave her hanging like that—to give myself blue balls in walking away from her—but I had to. A lead on Wes Morrison was nothing to pass up on.

“I most certainly am. But Ethan’s a good guy. Older, but still fit and with it. He usually watches his grandson over longer breaks. I think the kid moved around a lot, but he got a pen pal through some program and they’re best friends. Ethan said he was at home with Brent, his grandson, and this friend who’s visiting, but if he were alone, he’d look into this nosy guy himself.”

“Will he have surveillance footage we could take a look at if this guy isn’t there when we arrive?” I checked the time on the dashboard, grimacing when I realized how many minutes had passed already. If Wes would be a hard guy to track down, we’d need to move fast before he hid again.

“Absolutely,” Liam answered.

On the drive there, I tried not to think back to the moment I’d been interrupted from having with Chloe. When she showed up, I thought it would be my chance to ask her about what she was hiding. After we shared those heated looks, though, we were both goners.

It was too damn easy to be tempted with her sexy body. One look was all it took. The moment we touched, the second we kissed, it was damn near impossible to resist each other.

But we had to talk. Not only according to me, either. She said she had something important on her mind to share with me, and I hated that we’d been interrupted. While it was hard to keep our hands and mouths off each other, we had a solid connection beyond raw, carnal sex.

It was the worst time to be interrupted, but catching Wes was crucial—for that shooting investigation and to go after Chloe’s biggest threat.

Before long, we pulled up to the apartment where Ethan lived.

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