Page 135 of Hold Me Before You Go

“I’m not making a deal with the fucking Mafia,” Grayson said.

Collin looked at him, his lips twitching as he tilted his head to the side slowly. Goosebumps scattered across my skin. “Grayson, don’t—”

“—I’m not here for him, Carrie. I’m here on behalf of Karina,” Collin said, cutting me off before he looked back to Grayson. “My wife.”

“I know who she is,” Grayson shot back.

Collin chuckled. “So you do.”

“This is out of my hands,” James cut in, reminding everyone of the dark truth.

“And I’m getting back in your hands,” Collin assured. A second later, a cell phone ringing sounded throughout the room, and James fished his device out of his pocket. He looked down to the screen and then to Collin. “What did you do?”

“What was necessary,” the Mafia leader answered simply as he looked at me again.

He assessed me for a moment as James answered the phone, stepping away. “Yes, sir.”

“Stop looking at her,” Grayson growled, baring his teeth, the oxygen mask off his head now as he sat up.

A feral, maddening grin stretched across Collin’s face then as he looked at my bounty hunter, a chuckle coming from him. “I like that, Grayson.”

“What’s that?” he shot back.

“You’d burn the fucking world for her, wouldn’t you?”

“All she has to do is hand me the fucking match,” Grayson returned, not breaking the Mafia leader’s gaze.

My heart skipped a beat.

Collin hummed in approval as he finally looked over to me again. “I approve. Well done, Carrie.”

“Whatever you say, sir. I didn’t want to do this in the first place,” James said into the phone.

Collin clicked his tongue. “Nothing like making a deal with the devil to brighten your wife’s day.”

“What did you do?” I asked him, my voice barely above a whisper.

“Added to my sentence, thus, taking away Grayson’s.”

My eyes widened. I didn’t know everything about Collin’s past, but I knew this: he made a deal with the FBI years ago to stay out of prison. In exchange for his freedom, he would help theFBI bring down the people on the Red List. I didn’t know much about that, but the people on that list were horrible people, the worst of the worst, and Collin was using his powerful position to take them down alongside the FBI.

“Why?” I croaked, not fully understanding.

Collin brushed his thumb over his bottom lip. “To make Karina happy, of course. She loves you. Not to mention, my brother-in-law was twisting my arm before she did.”

Jeremy was trying to help us?

James hung up the phone and returned to us before I had a chance to respond. The regret and anger melted from him as he held his hand out to Collin. “Fuck, I should’ve called you first.”

“Don’t know why you didn’t,” Collin muttered, rolling his eyes.

James looked at Grayson. “You’re free to go. Your team is being released as we speak.” He paused, looking at me for a second. “I’m so sorry, Grayson. For all of it.”

I looked at my man, seeing the history between them flash in his eyes. “You’re not arresting me?” he asked.

James shook his head. “No. Collin pulled some strings. You’re free.”

“Thank you,” I rasped, tears falling from my eyes again.

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