Page 90 of Run, Little Rabbit

Nothing but silence answers my question, and I think that says it all.

“Look, I’m not saying it’s going to be a perfect partnership, but with me here with you and an alliance with the twins, you can’t deny we wouldn’t be a force to be reckoned with. Wouldn’t you agree?” I ask Max, who is sitting there with his finger tracing his top lip, deep in thought.

“I would agree,” he replies slowly. “But the twins have a habit of causing problems.”

I grin, wide and bright. “Only when they want to, and trust me, they want this partnership to work just as much as I do, so I can promise they won’t cause you any trouble.”

Max raises a brow at that, and Niki huffs a laugh that hits the shell of my ear.

“I don’t think the twins are capable of playing nice,” Niki says, a scowl smeared across his brow.

I sigh, long and deep. This is a much more difficult conversation than I expected. “What would convince you that the twins are in this for the long game? They want more than just violence and war. They want to invest in their future and the future of the Quinns. They aren’t interested in keeping theconflict between our two families going, and neither am I. If we can get rid of my father, Iknowthings will change.”

“Would you stay with us?” Max asks, his eyes fixed on me with a determination that I feel all the way to my core.

I stare back at him, my gaze unflinching. “Absolutely.”

He stills for a moment, taking the time to assess me and I suddenly feel like I’m under a microscope. “Okay.”

That’s all he says. Two tiny syllables that have the power to change everything.

He stands up and rebuttons his shirt, tucking the edges back into his pants and looking more put together than I feel. “We need to get Rory to a location we can control. Echo, you will send a message as the Six Minute Killer to suggest a meet-up at the old Abbey ruins.”

I nod along, agreeing with the location. The ruins are far out enough that there won’t be anyone around, and there’s a big open space, so my dad won’t be able to really hide anyone he brings with him. It’s a good spot, and I can feel the hunger for revenge starting to gnaw at my insides. “Okay, but what about—”

The door to the office slams open, and in walks Veon, looking like he’s about to raise Hell on Earth. His rifle is casually slung over one shoulder, sunglasses perched on his face, and there’s a grim twist to his pretty mouth.

Sphinx strolls in behind him but stops dead when he sees me and the guys cuddled up on the sofa. “Well, this looks like fun. Can I join in?”

Chapter Thirty-Five

Maxim

Well, this is an interesting turn of events. “I thought you said you’d come alone?”

Echo pulls her eyes away from her bodyguard and little hacker, and I can see the surprise in the green depths. She wasn’t expecting them, and a little glimmer of respect shines for the pair of intruders. It takes a certain amount of loyalty and love to just stroll into enemy territory to rescue someone, and this pair had done it twice.

Echo jumps up from Niki’s lap. He grabs her waist to pull her back down, but she turns and hits him with a vicious glare; I’m surprised it doesn’t slice his skin.

“Sorry,” he immediately says and throws his hands up placatingly, but the smirk at the corner of his mouth ruins the sincerity of the gesture.

“What the hell is this?” The redheaded god asks Echo, his voice tinged with annoyance. The guy looks like he could literally snap you in two. Probably why Niki is practically salivating over the guy.

Angel chuckles as he closes Niki’s mouth with his forefinger. “Stop drooling. Echo already said you can’t keep him.”

Niki bats Angel’s hand away. “Nothing wrong with looking.”

Angel hits him with a flat look. “There’s a difference between looking and ogling, Niki.”

The brute just shrugs and turns his attention back to the newcomers, where Echo and her bodyguard appear to be in a heated conversation if the severe looks and sharp hand gestures are anything to go by.

But Sphinx, the clever little hacker, is watching me like a hawk. He might go by a different name, but I remember the abrasive, skinny teen from ten years ago. He’s changed a lot, filled out into a man and dyed his hair that ridiculous platinum-white colour. He used to have such lovely sandy blonde waves that would catch the sun and shimmer.

I may have had a tiny crush on him when he worked for my father, but he’d been young, and I was older, and my father was a traditional man. I had wanted him from a distance, and when I discovered the massacre at his family’s home, I thought I’d lost him. When I’d tried to help, he’d run. I’d only wanted to protect him and give him somewhere safe to be, but he’d rejected that and just run. The last time I saw him, he was in the throes ofgrief. Now he looks like he has a chip on his shoulder bigger than the iceberg that sank the Titanic.

Sphinx throws a quick glance at Echo, but she’s too wrapped up in arguing with her bodyguard to notice him. He seems to come to some sort of decision because he marches directly towards me, his eyebrows drawn down in a sharp slant and his pouty mouth twisted in a grimace.

“Hello, Maxim.” His voice is lower, darker and raspier than I remember.

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