Page 58 of Assassin's Heart
She threw an anxious look toward the bedroom door, her gaze trailing over the three men standing at various points around the room before moving back to me.
“She’s going to be fine,” I assured her again. I’d say it a million times if that’s what it took to make her believe it.
“I know that in my head.” Leah stepped back from my arms, leaving me feeling empty. “I guess a little separation anxiety is normal after what we’ve been through.”
For both of us. I crossed my arms over my chest, pulling myself together. Pulling my emotions back behind the armor that protected me when I was on a job. Levi was the emotionless one; Eli the laid-back one. I’d thought throughout my teen years that something was wrong with me, that I felt too deeply, needed too much. It had taken me years to learn to manage my emotions, build the barriers that protected me from feeling so fiercely, but Leah... She blew those walls apart with a look, a touch.
I needed the walls back for now.
“It is normal,” I said. “Go with Levi.”
Dain moved toward me when I turned his way. “We have security set up, alarms and cameras. Eli has the codes for when you return. Saint and I will patrol regularly, Elliot will stay in the room with Brooke, and King will monitor everything from here.”
I hadn’t expected to like King’s team, though I respected them. Dain had the kind of solid presence that very few men had, a quiet power that told you he knew what he was doing, knew his own strengths and weaknesses. I wouldn’t trust anyone else with Leah’s daughter. I also wouldn’t tell him what we were doing. Dain and King—and, I assumed, the rest of his team—were straight-and-narrow men and women, and though they might agree with taking out the enemy, I doubted they’d approve of our methods. “We’ll be back in a few hours. Fiori’s men shouldn’t be aware of our location, but don’t get caught with your guard down.”
“We won’t.” He stuck out a hand to shake. “Good hunting.”
I certainly hoped it was.
Downstairs I made my way to the garage and the black SUV we’d rented. Eli drove, Levi in the front seat. After changing into the driver’s uniform Eli had found from somewhere, I sat quietly in the back with Leah, waiting as Eli circled and backtracked, making sure we didn’t have a tail. Finally, half an hour later, he headed for the location to pick up the car we’d arranged for me to drive.
“I don’t understand why I can’t go with you to pick him up,” Leah finally said, voice hushed in the dark.
Studying all the possibilities, we’d decided Windon’s house could be under surveillance, especially since the Fioris had to know Ross and their team were dead by now. I wouldn’t risk Leah being seen there, so the plan changed to picking Windon up and bringing him to us. Luckily Eli had discovered a ball was being held tonight, some annual fundraiser Windon usually attended. He ordered a car service for formal events, Leah had told us. I would be the one driving Windon’s town car tonight.
“You do understand,” I said, knowing how smart Leah was. She got it; she was just struggling to accept it. “I’ll bring him to you safe and sound.”
“No stopping for a little side torture?” she asked. It might be dark, but I could tell from her voice she was only half kidding.
“We don’t torture family,” Eli cut in from the front as he pulled to a stop next to a black town car under a bridge in the middle of nowhere.
Leah shook her head. “I’m not family.”
Levi glanced at her over his shoulder. “Right.” He jerked his chin toward me. “In that case, just make sure he’s still breathing when you show up.”
“What?”
My brother winced at Leah’s shriek.
“He’s kidding,” I assured her.
“Then he should learn to fucking smile every once in a while,” she snarled.
Levi laughed. “I can when I want to, you know.” He sobered. “And you are family, whether you want to acknowledge it or not. But even family isn’t safe if they threaten the people we love.”
And my brothers knew I loved Leah; there’d been no hiding it once she was with me.
“Get out, bro,” Levi barked at me.
I took Leah’s chin in my hand and brushed her mouth with mine. There was nothing I could say that would reassure her; best to just show up with her father intact—that would convince her far better than any words I could utter. “Later,lev sheli.”
I forced myself out of the truck before my walls cracked too much.
Downtown DC traffic was a bitch at any time, but on a weekend night... I found a place to hole up and waited for the call I knew was coming. Eli had managed to hack Windon’s cell, rerouting any calls to the car service to his phone. When my brother’s text came in, I made my way through traffic to the location, got out, and waited for my prey to arrive.
Ross Windon, Sr walked through the revolving door of the upscale hotel where the ball had taken place with a steady step, still fit after years behind a desk. I could see the resemblance to Leah immediately—the eyes, the mouth—but it was his son that he most resembled. Hair a bit grayer, more wrinkles around the eyes, but he was Ross Jr to a T. I opened the back door of the town car. “Sir.”
A vee appeared between the man’s brows. “Russell is off tonight.”
