Page 41 of Assassin's Heart
“She comes alone or no deal,” Ross said. This time the quiver was definitely fear. Of Remi or someone else?
“I come with her or I bring a team in and destroy your ass. Which will it be?”
My lungs ached, making me realize I was holding my breath.
Curses filtered through the phone. “Fine, then. But you only. No one else.”
The call clicked off. I dropped the phone onto the table like a hot potato.
“And if he believes that, I have some rice fields in China that would make nice building sites,” Eli said. The words were joking, but his tone… I’d never seen it in him before, the killer instinct, but now I understood. It might be buried beneath a lighthearted facade, but it was there nonetheless.
Abby took the dishes from Eli’s hands. “I’ll take care of cleanup. Y’all have planning to do.”
Remi picked up the phone, handed it to me. I slid it into my pocket. “Let’s go,” he said, holding out his hand.
I took it. “Let’s go.”
It was time to get my daughter back.
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter Seventeen
Leah —
I eyed the aerial image of the address Ross had given us on the table nearby. “We’re going in the front, right?”
Remi tightened the strap under my arm. The Kevlar vest was sized for one of the brothers, not a smaller woman, so no amount of tightening would make it fit, but something was better than nothing, Remi had said. In this case I agreed.
“Right.”
“And your brothers are already in place?”
Remi began strapping on his own vest. “Outside the warehouse, yeah.” He slapped the Velcro hard. “We’re not certain it’s only Windon and Southerland at the meet, so better to be safe than sorry. My brothers will take care of any outside guards before coming in to assist.”
Through the rear of the building, effectively flanking the enemy. We’d gone over the plan more than once, but I found myself obsessing over every detail, worrying I’d forget something, get it wrong, even though I knew the fear was ludicrous. There weren’t that many steps, for goodness’ sake.
That was the problem. My daughter’s life depended on each and every one.
Remi put on a blue button-down over his vest and tucked it into his pants. I couldn’t help noticing the vest made him look bigger, more intimidating. Definitely sexy. “This is going to work, Leah.”
“You and your brothers have done this before?” I asked absently.
“Not this, exactly.” He slid a handgun into a holster on his calf. “Usually we don’t have to worry about anyone surviving but us.”
My heart jumped into my throat. “What?”
One side of Remi’s mouth tugged up. “Hey, we kept ourselves alive so far.” The smile slid away as he cupped my cheek, his thumb stroking my skin. “We know what we’re doing, Leah.”
Digging his fingers into my hair to hold me in place, he gave me one of those quick, hard kisses like he’d given me before he left with King. When he drew back, I could literally see the shift—in his body, his eyes. All emotion slid away, leaving behind a stone-cold killer I’d never seen before. “I’ll take care of her. And you. I promise.”
Without another word, he turned for the door.
Abby stepped close to hug me. “He really will,” she said in my ear. For the briefest moment I let her warmth surround me, ground me. “They won’t fail. In a couple of hours you’ll have Brooke back with you, safe and sound.”
I couldn’t accept anything less. And part of that was up to me, so I straightened, breathing through the fear to a kind of calm resolve I’d never felt before. Was this how Remi felt, how he turned off the emotion to focus on the job at hand? Not because he wanted to, but because he had to in order to bring everyone home safe. Hurrying after him out the door, I prayed I could be just as strong as he was.
That’s what Brooke needed. I could fall apart later.
