Page 9 of Assassin's Heart
Remi grunted a reply before ushering me inside.
The double doors opened onto a wide-open foyer that blended into living areas on both sides. Lined with floor-to-ceiling windows, the whole place was flooded with light. I caught my breath at the beauty of it. Only money could capture elegance and warmth the way this house captured it. I had been raised on a cop’s salary by a single dad; money had been scarce, as had beauty like this.
Remi whisked me through the open space to a staircase, past the second floor to a third. We turned right toward a long hallway with several doors opposite darkly tinted windows. Remi led me to the first one.
Inside was a room in soft cream with blue bedding and drapes. “This is my wing,” Remi said. “Eli has the opposite side, and the second floor is Abby and Levi’s.”
“I’ll avoid that floor.”
Remi ran a hand through his thick hair, his raised arm once again drawing my eyes to thickly cut biceps. “Levi’s protective of his family.”
“I got that when he ordered Eli to kidnap me from the hospital after I helped get you out.”
“I’m sorry.”
And he was—I could read the regret in his eyes. “Don’t be. You didn’t take me away from my daughter; you were unconscious.”
“And now someone has taken your daughter from you.”
I shrugged, desperate to hide the surge of fear that rose whenever Brooke entered my mind. If I was paranoid, I might wonder why these things kept happening to me. There was no reason to wonder, though. I knew exactly why Ross had come for me. The answer to that question had come far before Brooke was born. What I didn’t know was what to do about it.
I glanced around the sparse but elegant room. “I know who you are, you know,” I said softly, carefully. “I saw the story a few months ago about your parents on the news.” My hands fisted in my pockets. “I never said anything.”
“I know.”
Of course they did. If I’d said something to the authorities, they would’ve been notified. Money guaranteed certain privileges.
“So now you live here. Doing…what?”
What was I trying to ask him? If his brother still killed people for a living? Were they all retired? I shouldn’t want to know, but I did.
“Yes, we live here now.” Remi grinned, the curve of his lips causing my heart to skip a beat. “Just your average, everyday millionaire family.” He shrugged. “You know how that goes.”
I definitely didn’t. “Millionaires with plenty of skeletons in your closets,” I couldn’t resist adding.
Probably literal skeletons. Remi’s family company had been the site of a shooting a few months ago, the former CEO of Hacr Tech the victim. Police had blamed the incident on an embezzlement scheme gone wrong and arrested the family lawyer. If the man had embezzled from the family, I had a feeling the lawyer would be the last person delivering justice.
Remi set my bags on the bed. “Or in the basement.”
I refused to ask if the house had a basement. I really didn’t want to know any more than I already did. Or at least that’s what I told myself.
So why did I keep asking questions?
“Get a shower, change,” Remi told me. Without another glance, he headed for the door. “I have a few things I need to check. Then we’ve got to talk, Leah, and I mean really talk.” Hand on the doorknob, he turned to look at me. “You need to tell me everything you know about this man and what he wants. No secrets. I can’t help you if you keep secrets from me.”
He left the room, the door clicking shut behind him. I stared at it for a long time, wondering what to tell him. How to tell him. I’d prayed this day would never come, when my past returned to haunt me, but there was no getting around it.
Getting Brooke back meant revealing everything. I had nowhere else to turn, no one else who could help me. I just prayed Remi didn’t use what he learned against me.
OceanofPDF.com
Chapter Five
Remi —
Seeing her here, in the house I’d grown up in, the house we’d made our home in the last few months, was a kick to the gut. I wouldn’t pretend I hadn’t fantasized about it, usually in the aftermath of a far more visceral fantasy, but no way in hell had I ever believed it would happen. I’d never have wished for a little girl to be stolen away from her mother, but I wouldn’t be sorry that Leah was here with me.
Even if it meant facing off with my big brother. Levi had only backed off because I had promised to explain everything as soon as I got Leah settled. Which meant I was headed down to the bat cave right now.
