Page 62 of Assassin's Heart
I nodded. “I was pregnant when I ran. Brooke was born six months later.”
“Brooke.” Dad wobbled his way back to his chair. I didn’t blame him for being unsteady; at this point I was surprised I hadn’t passed out. But I couldn’t; the worst was yet to come.
And I couldn’t be the one to reveal it to him. I just... I loved Ross; I couldn’t bear to say the words I knew would make his death a reality not just for me, but for my father. My gaze sought Remi out, my lifeline, my partner.
He nodded, his beautiful amber eyes gleaming, telling me without words that he got the message.
“Ross...” Remi cleared his throat, the sound softening something buried beneath all the pain in my heart. Remi didn’t want to say the words any more than I did; if he had, he’d have blurted it out for hardest effect. Instead he stumbled much like I had. “Sir, Ross was killed two days ago.”
“No!”
The word hissed out of my father like a balloon losing air. I leaned into his side, laying my head on his shoulder like I had so many times as a child. His familiar lime and musk scent enveloped me as the tears began again. “It’s true,” I croaked. “It’s true. He’s gone.”
Dad’s arm came around me, gathering me close, comforting me when I should be the one comforting him. I could literally feel him gathering himself, feel his emotions slide away, leaving behind the cop he’d been all my life. The warrior. And I envied him in that moment.
“Who was it?” he asked.
Remi answered. “It was Fiori’s men. And if you don’t help us, they’re going to keep trying to kill your daughter and granddaughter until they succeed.”
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Chapter Twenty-Six
Leah—
“I’m still not happy about this.”
I glanced at Remi in the dark of the SUV’s back seat. Levi had volunteered to drive my father to our hotel, separate from us. Maybe to have a little talk with him. Levi could scare the piss out of any man—and was probably attempting to do that with Dad at this very moment—but I’d been through the ringer tonight and couldn’t bring myself to worry about it. If it made the brothers feel more secure, my dad could take it.
Remi didn’t seem to be as accepting. Or maybe it was that he couldn’t do it himself. But he’d already been away from me once tonight, and when the time had come to split up again, he’d kept me hard against him. Eli’s teasing once we’d settled into the SUV had been met with a “fuck you” as Remi buckled me into the middle seat, right up against him, then curled my body close.
The protectiveness should be driving me nuts, but instead it was just another safety line holding me up. Or nail in my coffin, maybe. A rope tying me tighter to this man I’d never have dreamed I could love. The metaphors could go on, but they didn’t really matter. What did was the fact that Remi didn’t trust our safety to anyone easily. He cared for me. And for my child.
I breathed his scent deep into my lungs. Feeling hated tears pricking at the backs of my eyes again, I cuddled closer, seeking the comfort I knew he’d give without question. He picked up my legs, pulling them over his, and wrapped both arms around me, a wall between me and the world.
At the hotel we waited in the parking garage until the town car Levi was driving arrived. My dad got out of the back, and my chest ached at seeing the fatigue in his face, the slump of his shoulders and dragging of his feet. He had no one to comfort him but me. When the two men drew close, I reached for him. “Dad.”
His big hand cupped my cheek as he leaned in, planting a kiss on my forehead just like he had so many times before. God, how I’d missed that simple gesture. The security of it, back when things had been simple and a father’s kiss could cure anything. I sniffled.
Damn tears.
The elevator doors opened. Remi ushered us inside, but it wasn’t until the doors closed that Dad spoke. “Where is Ross now?”
I closed my eyes.Keep it together, Leah.So much had happened that I wished my dad didn’t have to know, but there was really no choice.
“He...” I opened my eyes, cleared my throat. “He and one of Fiori’s henchman kidnapped Brooke. They wanted the recordings, but at the time we didn’t know we had them.”
Dad rubbed a hand over his face, leaving it over his mouth as he stared up at the display showing the floor numbers. Sixteen. Seventeen. Eighteen. He was shaking his head by nineteen, and I had to look away from the devastation so clear on his face.
Remi took over. “During our meet up to retrieve Brooke, Ross was shot by Joe Southerland—you may be familiar with him. Your son bled out before we could get him help.”
“And is his body still there?” Dad asked, the words scratchy.
“He is,” Levi said matter-of-factly, “along with Southerland and the associates he brought with him. Unfortunately the warehouse burned down, so it may be some weeks before you can claim the body.”
The elevator stopped; the doors slid open. Dad exited blindly, holding up a hand when Remi directed him down the hall. “Just a moment.”
He turned in the opposite direction, toward a window at the end of the hall. Remi and his brothers stayed with me, giving him space.
