“Who said there was going to be a trial?” Roman asked her.
“I . . . what?”
“You’re not in trouble,” Salem told her.
“How?” she whispered.
“Technically, you don’t exist so Roman has managed to get you a new birth certificate and identity. We changed your surname. As far as anyone in authority knows, you were never there, and Pinky never had a child.”
Relief filled her. “But you guys know.”
“Ask us if we fucking care,” Alexei said.
Salem stared at her intently. Now that she looked closer, she could see how cold he appeared. Roman just seemed quiet. Sad.
“Why are you here if not to take me back to face a trial? I mean, shouldn’t I pay for what I did?” She turned to glance out at the ocean again. “I’m not a good person.”
“So you’re going to punish yourself? Not happening,” Alexei told her.
To her shock, he suddenly appeared next to her. She was in a bad way if he could sneak up on her. He wrapped an arm around her waist, his touch surprisingly gentle.
“You’re not leaving us. I refuse to allow it. And until you understand that you don’t get a say in what goes on.”
She didn’t fight him. Or Salem, who injected her arm with a drug. Likely a sedative.
She had no fight left.
“We’re losing her.”Alexei paced back and forth in his office.
He was so angry.
And no amount of time in the gym or the boxing ring was helping him overcome it.
Roman was sitting on the couch, staring down at his feet despondently.
And Salem felt a wave of failure go through him.
He was letting them all down and it wasn’t acceptable. They were all disintegrating.
He was the leader. He had to hold them together.
Tamsyn had been home with them for a week and she was completely closed off. She wasn’t eating, barely drank anything and spent her time in her room.
Alone.
Nope.
No more.
“I have an idea of what to do,” he said.
Both men turned to him.
“What?” Roman asked hoarsely. “If she doesn’t want to be with us, what can we do?”
“We make her. Right?” Alexei asked, slamming his first on the desk. “We don’t let her leave us.”
“Yes. We’re going to have to be a bit hard before we can be kind. But it’s for her own good.