Page 59 of Assassin's Mark
Coincidence?
“What do we have on the sister?” Levi asked. “Any leads?”
So…not a coincidence.
“I managed to get an address from the boss. Apparently Clark had tracked Caroline to a homeless shelter justsouth of the city. A worker there remembered the sister and told him this was her first apartment after she managed to get on her feet.”
The address wasn’t one I knew, but when Eli mentioned the neighborhood, I recognized it as a low-income, somewhat sketchy area of town. Not a place a society girl like me would ever have been allowed to go. I wondered how Anthony’s sister had fared actuallyliving there.
“I can check out the location this afternoon,” Eli was saying.
“No.”
Eli growled. “I can—”
“I don’t want you leaving Remi alone,” Levi insisted. “I will take care of any legwork.”
“I’m fine,” Remi complained. “I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Of course you do. And don’t bother arguing,” he said over Remi’s protests. Levi reached for the phone. “I’m the boss and I said no. Now gotake a nap, you big baby.”
“I’m not— You dick—”
Levi cut off his brother’s sputtering by clicking End. A grin transformed him from grim assassin to gleeful kid in an instant—obviously he enjoyed frustrating his younger brother. I’d never understood the whole sibling-dynamics thing since I’ve never had any, but watching the brothers interact, I was beginning to see that torture and teasing werea huge part of it. And I knew better than most how good Levi was at the torture part.
A delicious tingle ran through me, alongside memories of last night. That one thought and I was lost.
Levi grabbing the plastic container in front of me jolted me out of the past. I watched as he cleaned up breakfast, staying quiet, giving myself time to think. To screw up my courage. When he turned towardthe hall, my decision had been made.
“You’re going to check out the address this morning, aren’t you?” I asked.
The question brought Levi to a halt. “Yeah. People talk more when they can see your face.”
My eyebrows hit my hairline.
“What? It’s true.”
“Maybe.” I was pretty sure that was true, but with Levi? “Are you sure we shouldn’t let Eli take this one?”
Levi leaned an elbow on the wallnear his head. The act stretched his body out, making him bigger, scarier…sexier. I swallowed hard.
A sexy smirk appeared on that handsome face. “I think I know more than enough tricks to convince someone to talk to me.”
And, of course, I knew firsthand how true that was. Fear hadn’t even crossed my mind the night I’d met him.
I’d concede the point to him. I had bigger victories to shoot for.
“I think I might go stir-crazy if you leave me all alone here.” I cleared my throat. “Would you… I mean…”Come on, Abby, spit it out.“Take me with you.”
I held my breath, my lungs straining as I waited. Those emotionless eyes examined me like a bug under a microscope, and I couldn’t help wondering if Levi thought I was ridiculous. A kidnapped woman wanting to investigate alongside her kidnapper?But I had to take the chance. I needed to understand what had triggered all this, as much—or maybe more—as Levi needed to destroy my father. The question was, could Levi accept me as a partner rather than someone he had complete control over?
I’d taken the risk; now would he?
“I don’t like the idea of you out on the street,” Levi said, frowning.
The air escaped my lungs in a whoosh. That wasn’ta no. “Haven’t you heard? I ran away from my abusive fiancé. Who’s going to believe otherwise with those…images…all over the TV and Internet?” A fact I still couldn’t think about without sweating. “I don’t even want to look anyone in the eye, knowing they’ve seen those. I’ll accept any disguise you want to give me.” Total honesty. The more we could hide my face so no one knew who I was, the better,in my opinion. “Besides…don’t you think I deserve to know the truth?”
Levi stood for a long moment, staring me down, whatever was going on behind those eyes so well hidden that I couldn’t even get a hint. When he opened his mouth, I braced myself.
“Get dressed then.”
He turned and walked away. Just like that, as if what he’d said wasn’t momentous. As if he hadn’t just dropped a bomb betweenus.
And I wasn’t going to point it out. Levi was taking me through that steel door into the big, wide, unprotected world for the first time since I’d been taken captive, and I had clothes to put on. I scrambled to do so before he changed his mind.
