Page 40 of Brutal Legacy

“Leave. It. We’re going right now.”

I leveled the gun at her head, hoping the shock of it would bring her back to her senses.

She shook her head and shocked me by stepping forward and pressing her forehead against the butt of the gun. The sight of it on her skin was unsettling. I wanted to move it. It was wrong on a bone-deep level. I wasn’t here to kill her, after all, but she didn’t seem about to back down and do what she was fucking told.

“If that box doesn’t come with me, I’m not going anywhere either. You can shoot me in the head, too, and just get it over with.” Her teary eyes met mine. They shone like glassy jewels in the moonlight flooding in the window.

“Don’t tempt me,” I ground out, stepping forward and dropping the gun. Instead, I took her chin in a hard pinch. “I told you not to play games with me.”

She trembled in my grip. “I’m not. I’m serious. I’ll die before I leave without that box.”

“What the fuck is in it?”

“None of your business.”

An incredulous laugh left me at her prim tone. The sound shocked me. I rarely laughed, and starting when I was on the run from the police, surrounded by evidence that I’d just killed a man and had a woman to kidnap, seemed like a bad time to start. I glanced at the box. What could be so important to her to push like this? Mementos of her dearly departed husband? A wedding photo album?

“Are you the bravest person I’ve ever met or the dumbest?”

She pulled out of my hold and raised her chin at me, like a queen. Regal just like she’d been as a teenager in Castel Amaro, when the world had been at her feet.Ah, there she was.My Georgia, still as imperious as ever.

“I don’t care what you think about me. I’m not leaving without it.”

I could see the resolution in her gaze. Of course, I could just drag her kicking and screaming without it. I could knock her out, but then I’d have to carry her, and that would slow me down. Why was she so attached? Could it be the collateral I was sure her father had sent her?

I backed up and reached for the box. I took her open bag and shoved the bulky shape inside, forcing the zipper shut.

“Now, if there isn’t anything else, we’re leaving.”

I turned and grabbed her arm, slinging her bag onto my back, and pushed her toward the hallway.

“Thank you.”

The words were so quiet, I might have imagined them.

Then a loud banging at the door echoed through the apartment, and I froze.

“LAPD — open up!”

Shit. Their reaction times were better than the NYPD’s, I’d give them that. Or more likely, they had a strong presence in this shitty neighborhood.

I turned toward the window running along the living room and checked where it would come out. It opened up to a fire escape in a dark part of the alley. Best of all, there was a point halfway down where it passed close enough to the neighboring building’s fire escape to move across it.

I surveyed Georgia’s sneaker-and-jeans outfit and nodded, my mind made up.

I shoved open the window and turned for Georgia, only to see her standing across the room. She had moved quickly and quietly while I was still deciding assessing the situation.

My eyes met hers, and I knew what she was going to do.

“Don’t… They can’t save you from me, and you’ll only piss me off,” I warned her in a low tone.

Her hand reached out for the lock on the door. I considered my options in a flash. I could try and get to her before she opened the door. The apartment was small, but not that small. I’d fail. The only other option was to withdraw and bide my time.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you… I’ll see you again, soon.” With that, I stepped out of the window onto the fire escape and ran down as fast as I could, jumping stairs wherever I had the chance. Upstairs, the sound of the LAPD entering the apartment filtered down, shouting at Georgia to put her hands behind herback. I jumped to the fire escape on the building beside hers and climbed again, keeping to the shadows. There were two cop cars in the street outside her apartment. I climbed to the top and onto the roof just in time to see Georgia being led from the building in handcuffs and put in the back of a squad car.

They wouldn’t hold her for too long. She had a good story, and besides, there was no weapon there or anything to tie her to the shooting. I didn’t trust cops as far as I could throw them, but Georgia wasn’t the kind of person they were looking to go hard on.

They’d release her soon enough… and I’d be waiting.

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