Page 63 of Assassin's Heart
“We’ll take him to the second suite,” Remi said, his voice low. Levi and Eli both nodded.
I shook my head. “No.”
“Leah—”
“Remi, no.” Stepping close, I put my hand on his broad chest, willing him to understand what I was about to say. “He needs to see Brooke. After that, we can go wherever you want, but he needs to see her.”
The muscles under my hand went rock-hard. “She’s asleep; he won’t get to meet her, just see her face. I don’t like him knowing where we are.”
I understood that, but... “He needs this. And more importantly, I need it. After he leaves, we can move her if you think it’s safer, but he’s going to see her tonight.”
We stood for a long moment, and I knew his brothers were simply waiting on Remi’s word. Whatever it was, they would carry it out, whether I agreed or not. Finally, reluctantly, Remi nodded. I pulled his head down for a kiss.
“Thank you,” I said, just for him.
“Thank him later,” Eli butted in. “We’ve got work to do.”
I stuck my tongue out at the youngest Agozi brother just as my father rejoined us.
Taking Dad’s hand, I led him down the hall to our suite. After knocking on the door—two soft, two hard, then two soft—Remi opened it and allowed us inside. Dain and King looked up from different points of the room, and I could see from the widening of their eyes the moment our guest’s identity registered. No one made introductions. The brothers piled in as I led my father to the bedroom door and turned the knob.
We tiptoed inside.
Light filtered in from the cracked bathroom door, illuminating Abby where she sat in a chair at Brooke’s bedside. Seeing us, she stood, moving silently back to allow us close. My dad’s fingers tightened on mine, the realization of what we were doing hitting him, I guess. It was hitting me too, but I couldn’t tell if it was excitement or terror stirring up trouble in my stomach. I tugged him toward the head of the bed, where Brooke’s face peeked out from a cocoon of blankets and pillows.
A choked sound, quickly smothered, left Dad’s lips. He went to his knees for the second time tonight.
I knelt beside him. “She’s been through a lot,” I said, hoping he’d understand why I didn’t wake her.
A shaky hand reached out, faltered, then fell to the blanket, careful not to wake Brooke. “She looks just like you,” he whispered hoarsely. “Just like your mother.” His breath hitched in his throat. “So grown-up. I’ve missed so much.”
Because of me, my decisions. “I’m sorry. I don’t know if you can ever forgive me—”
“Stop that.” Fierce eyes that matched my own turned to me. “This wasn’t your fault.”
“It is. Ross...” I struggled to hold back tears. “Ross is dead because of me.”
“No, he isn’t.” He reached for me then, hand wrapped around my neck, thumb stroking my jaw. “If what your friend said was true, Ross made his choices.”
His disappointment stabbed at me. “I’m not so sure he did, Dad. The initial one, maybe. But I don’t think he would ever have taken Brooke of his own accord.”
Glancing over his shoulder, my dad asked, “Are you sure they”—he jerked his head toward the door, where Remi waited on the other side—“can be trusted? Really trusted, Leah? What if they made up the story about Ross?”
I hated to tear apart his hope, but... “It’s the truth, Dad. I was there; I saw what happened.”
As if his very soul deflated, my dad slumped against the bed. He glanced at Brooke again. “Did they hurt her?”
“No.” Finally something positive I could share. “Ross protected her as much as possible.”
He nodded, his thumb still absently stroking my face, his gaze centered on Brooke. “That man out there, the one who’s claimed you—”
“Remi.” Not his full name, hopefully not enough to identify him if anything went wrong, but I wanted my father to have some sort of human connection to the man I loved.
“Remi.” His tone wasn’t any warmer than before he’d known Remi’s name. “He’s a killer, Leah. You can see it in his eyes.”
When he looked at anyone but me, yes. “You can’t tell the full extent of a man’s character just from his eyes.”
“I’ve seen plenty of killers; trust me, it’s there.” He sighed, staring back at Brooke. “Of course, I never saw betrayal in my own son’s eyes.”
