Page 40 of Hendrix

Leo shot him a defiant glare but must’ve known he was outnumbered and outgunned because he heaved a defeated breath before slowly holding his hands in the air, still clutching his gun.

“Slide your weapons across the floor,” I ordered.

Nobody moved.

“Now!” I bellowed.

Leon Lis leaned forward, carefully placed his gun down, and slid it toward Picasso.

Antoni did the same, wincing from the pain in his shoulder as he pushed his weapon away.

Gambit kept his gun trained on them while Picasso approached Leon first, pulling his hands behind his back and securing them with a zip tie.

I took stock of the situation, confident that I could trust my brothers to keep on top of things while I checked on Anna. I needed to get my woman out of there before we staged the scene for the cops. We were going to make it appear as if a rival group had murdered the Lis family. A local gang who worked for the Polish had a signature hit. It would be easy to set up the men’s deaths to look like it was carried out by them.

A faint whistle came through my comms, and Breaker’s voice said,“Drix. She’s awake and wants to see you. First floor. Last door on the left.”

My heart leaped with anticipation, but I had to remain focused for a while longer. Once we were on the plane and Anna was safe, I could let everything out, but until then, I had to keep my shit together.

“Go,” Picasso urged me. “We’re good here.”

I gave him a chin lift and turned for the door, my stare catching on Antoni Lis’s as I went.

The curl of his lip gave him away, and I knew exactly how he was feeling. Hell, three years ago, I felt the same way when I had to stand by and allow Anna to leave.

Making my way into the hall, I jogged up the stairs and headed left. My chest tightened, and my throat turned drier with every step I took toward my woman.

A door opened, and I watched Iceman walk out into the hall, his stare catching mine as he walked toward me.

“She okay?” I demanded.

His mouth quirked. “Seems to be.” His eyes were full of humor and no longer blank like earlier. He rolled his lips inwards as if to stop himself from laughing, then he rolled them back out and asked, “Umm, what exactly did Tristan tell you?”

My eyebrows pulled together. “What do you mean?”

“Did he tell you anything about her?” he asked.

I thought back to our earlier phone convo. “Tristan said things had changed for her and had gotten complicated.”

“He’s right.” Iceman continued his walk to the stairs. “Go in. She’s just grabbing her shit. I’ll join in the fun downstairs.”

With my heart thudding violently in my chest, I walked through the doorway, allowing a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the dimness of the room.

“Where is she?” I asked Breaker, who leaned back against a wall with one foot bent against it. Even though the lights were switched low, I could make out it was huge. The walls were a soft cream color, and the furnishings were expensive. The large, tufted rug that covered the polished parquet flooring probably cost as much as my couch, and I was sure I could make out actual velvet on the wallpaper that covered the entire room.

“In the bathroom,” Breaker informed me.

A toilet flushed in the distance, and a door across the room cracked open.

I swallowed the massive lump in my throat as I heard Anna’s soft voice say, “My bags are in the closet, Breaker. I packed some essentials as soon as I got off the phone with Tristan?—”

My stare rested on the small figure that appeared in the doorway, and immediately, my gut settled.

Just being in the same room as her made my heart bloom joyfully inside my chest. Every nerve ending tingled because she was close again, and I wondered how the hell I’d gone so long without her. My body felt as if it were coming alive again just by being in her presence.

She’d always been able to calm the demons. It was crazy how I’d forgotten, but maybe I meant to. Perhaps not ever allowing myself to think about it was the only way I could go on.

My eyes roved over her face, hungry to take it all in. She hadn’t changed. The burning copper of her hair still took my breath away. It was pinned up with just a few pretty curls escaping, showing the graceful line of her slim throat and making her look almost other-worldly. The low light playing over her porcelain skin made me yearn to reach out and touch her, but then she’d always had that effect on me. Anna made me want to strangle her and fuck her in equal measure, sometimes both at the same time.

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