Page 46 of Assassin's Prey
“Who is this?” I demanded. Nothow did you get this phone in my jacket?I’d settled it on the back of my chair during dinner. Opportunity—and my enemies had taken it.
I stared down at Abby, sound asleep, and barely held back a growl. “Who. Is this?”
“Agozi, I’m glad you found my little gift.”
Fuck all. Redding.
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter Twenty
“He wants you to what?”
I glared Remi down. “Shut the fuck up. I don’t want Abby hearing you.”
“You’re going to hide this from her?” Eli asked. “Not a good idea, bro.”
Probably not, but it was the only way I could do what I had to. If, in the back of my mind, all I could focus on was her worrying, I’d be too divided to stay safe. Redding would have a foothold, and I couldn’t allow him one.
“Just get everything ready,” I snapped.
“And what about Abby?” Remi nodded at the phone in my hand. “I can guarantee he tracked that here. She’s not safe.”
“We’ll get her out before we hit the meet up.”
“Get her where?” Remi growled. “Because if you think you’re walking into that mansion without both of us covering you, you’re fucking insane.”
I wasn’t insane, nor was I stupid. “We’ll take her to Mrs. Sanderson’s. She’ll be safe there for a couple of hours.”
“Levi…” Remi shook his head like I definitely wasn’t as bright as he’d thought. “If they know we’re connected enough to throw Molotov cocktails through her windows, they know everything about her life. Including her visits to Geneva Sanderson.”
“They set her house on fire because we were with her.” I scrubbed a hand over my face, dug into my tired eyes. I had been up all night trying to figure out a plan. The only thing I knew was that a meeting with the enemy would happen one way or the other. It was better for it to happen when we could strategize ahead of time. “Besides, they’ll be concentrating on the mansion. I’m a far bigger threat than Abby will ever be.”
She was just collateral damage. Or would be if I didn’t stop this fucker in his tracks. The mansion was practically a compound now with Rathlin’s army there, and they wouldn’t let me inside if I was armed. But meeting with Redding, discovering what his plan was, evaluating his defenses up close was worth the risk. My brothers stationed outside with sniper rifles would keep things even any day.
Remi waited a moment, weighing the odds just like I had. Just like I’d taught him to do. When his shoulders slumped, I knew he’d come to the same conclusion. He gave me a reluctant nod. “We’ll get ready.”
I jerked my chin in gratitude, not that I’d had any doubts. They would always have my back, even if there was no chance of winning.
When I turned to face the bedroom door, I sucked in a sharp, deep breath and pushed away the long night, the decisions, the killing instinct that had risen at the sound of Redding’s voice invading the sanctity of my and Abby’s most intimate space. The instinct that hadn’t quite faded. I’d never gone into a fight worried I wouldn’t come out alive, not since my brothers had gotten old enough to survive without my protection. That was one thing that made me so good at what I did—lack of fear. If you weren’t afraid of dying, you wouldn’t hesitate. But knowing Abby was waiting on the other side… Hell if it didn’t make me worry. Not because she couldn’t survive on her own; the problem was, I didn’t want her to. Ever.
That fear was dangerous. It got you killed. I needed to be stone-cold when I walked into that mansion, the killer the only part of me that was aware. For the first time ever, I doubted I could do that.
The bed was empty when I entered, but the sound of the shower behind the closed bathroom door told me exactly where to go. I left a trail of clothes in my wake as I followed the call.
Steam shrouded the bathroom. Through the glass shower door, I savored the mottled view of her body stretched beneath the spray, hands sifting through the burgundy strands of her wet hair as soap slid from the mass to trace the graceful lines of her back, ass, legs. Fucking A, she made me hard. Hungry. I wasn’t a sentimental man—before Abby, I would’ve argued that I had no emotions. But deep inside where no one could see, there was a lockbox full of memories just like this one. Moments that proved to me that life could still be good, could still be worth living. Worth fighting for.
The animal part of me raised its head, staring at its mate. Wanting to wade into battle soaked in her scent.
The man wanted the same.
“Are you going to stand there staring or come in here with me?” Abby asked. She was leaning close to the glass, her palm resting against it at just the right angle to obscure my view of her breast. A hint of a smile peeped at me through the mist.
Hunger clogged my throat. “I’m definitely coming in, little bird,” I growled.In more ways than one.
The door to the shower clicked open.
Abby slid back in the narrow tub as I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. The spray hit the back of her head, and then she was beyond it, the trail of water as much of a barrier to my sight as the glass had been. Unacceptable. I reached up and pushed the showerhead to one side, removing the obstacle between me and what I wanted.
