That they deserved this.
Revenge.
Justice.
The part of me that wished I would have been the one who got to end them all that night when they’d come for me.
But I couldn’t quell the disquiet that whispered like ghosts in my senses.
“Nah. Have a job for the distributor.”
Her frown deepened. “Oh.”
That guilt amped so high it was suffocating.
Hated lying to her.
But I couldn’t lay it straight. I had to do this on my own.
“Going to have Jonah keep a lookout.”
Jonah was one of the bouncers at Kane’s. One of the few who had the inside of what we did. I trusted him to watch over her while I was gone.
Raven scowled. “That’s not necessary.”
“I think you know it is.”
She huffed a small sound with a shake of her head. “And just when I think I’m getting my freedom…”
I was an idiot, across the space separating us in a flash, the woman a magnet that I couldn’t resist. I took her by the chin and forced her to look up at me. “Want you to have that, Raven. A normal life…”
One outside of Sanctum so she wouldn’t have to constantly be looking over her shoulder. A life where we didn’t have to post guards any time we left. But after we still hadn’t picked up a trace on whoever had spray painted her window at Moonflower?
I wasn’t going to take that chance.
“I love this life,” she whispered.
My head shook and I forced myself to step away. “Only because you haven’t known anything else.”
Disappointment filled her expression. “Don’t ever tell me how I feel, Otto.”
Fuck.
I kept messing everything up. Pushing into the spaces I couldn’t go while trying to dredge up a mountain between us.
I gestured toward the room behind me. “Going to hit the shower.”
In an instant, her eyes went molten. Her gaze dark.
Like she was immediately picturing me naked beneath the fall.
Fuck me.
She was nothing but a temptress.
She had no fucking clue what she was doing to me.
My need for her might have been easier to ignore if I couldn’t feel what radiated from her.