Page 72 of As the World Falls

Her attention is jerked to him as he makes a scene, and she looks down now as if the life was sucked straight from her. I should kill him for that act alone, but for her sake, I won’t make another scene.

“Well, I have to run,” I tell her, pulling her gaze back to me.

“Oh, right. Okay,” she nods. If I’m not mistaken, it sounds as if she’s disappointed.

I gently smile down at her, lifting her chin with my finger. “You keep this up today, babe.” I look back down at her coffee cup and grimace again, drawing another laugh from her before I leave, feeling more fucked up than I did before coming here.

My mission today failed, and after seeing her, I knew I could never stay away from her again.

I stayed at my home in Boston to feel close to her. I wouldn’t bother her again for a while, knowing she needed her space asmuch as I did so I could figure out just what the hell I was going to do about this little predicament of ours.

I had to have her. There was no other option. But how do I have her without endangering her life? As if the thoughts in my head needed to become a reality, a knock at my door sounded through the house, and I walked out of my workout room, where I’d spent most of my time since I’d been home, and answered the door.

Tobias is on the other side, slamming my ledger against my chest as he walks into the house.

“You found it?” I ask, surprised.

“I found it last week,” he tells me.

“Last week? Why am I just now getting it back?”

“I wanted to make sure nothing was messed with inside it. I went through every page, and it looks fine.”

“Where did you find it?”

He bites his lip. “I was also using that time to figure out how to tell you that bit.”

I walk toward him carefully, narrowing my gaze on him. “Whys that?”

“Hodge had it and was about to deliver it to Chuck before I intercepted it.”

Rage blasts through me, but I try to remain calm. I needed to stay calm so I could figure out how the fuck that happened and who I needed to kill for letting the likes of them get their hands on it.

“How?” I bite out.

He sighs. “I’m not going to lie to you, but if you have a problem, you can take it up with me. I’m the one you take it out on.”

“Tobias,” I snap. “How?”

He lets out a sharp breath. “Cecilia stole it from my car the night of the launch event. She was in cahoots with Hodge andgave it to him. She did it because he promised her that he could help me.”

Fucking Cecilia.

Just when I think she can’t surprise me anymore, she does. How the hell did she get into contact with Hodge? If I had to guess, the creep probably sought her out and told her everything she wanted to hear.

My sweet, gullible Cecilia.

“Does she know you got it back?”

He nods. “She was actually with me when I got it back.” I furrow my brows in confusion, and he waves a tired hand, walking toward my living room. “It’s a long story.”

He drops onto my sofa, and I sit down in the chair opposite him, anxiety beginning to churn my insides. “If she was with you, then Hodge knows she betrayed him. He could retaliate.”

Tobias nods like he already suspected this. “That’s why I’m back in Boston for a while. I want to keep an eye on her.” Irritation prickles at me because it is the same reason I am here, but that would be hard now that he is on the lookout, too. He groans, dropping his head to the back of the couch as I say nothing, attempting to remain indifferent when, in reality, I just wanted to kill Hodge and Chuck tonight to eliminate the threat to her altogether. “This is exactly why I didn’t want her involved,” Tobias grumbles.

“At least you don’t have to lie to her anymore,” I say, but I don’t think it’s the right thing.

His head swings up off the couch as he looks at me. “I would rather lie to her the rest of my life if it meant she was safe.”

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