Page 75 of Mine to Keep
Olivia got back from New York an hour before I was due to meet Skylar. She flew with my boys to JFK, then gave them a credit card in my name, telling them to rent a car and drive asfar away as they could. She’d said she had a feeling I would need someone to watch my back.
Of course, she was right.
I try to get comfortable in the passenger seat, grunting when I move the wrong way, my ribs screaming. “Fuck,” I groan. “I think he broke a rib.”
Olivia hums. “You took some brutal hits. I had half a mind to shoot him in the face when I got rid of his flunkies.”
“All good,” I huff. “I need my boys, Olivia.”
“I know. But you need to let some of this swelling go down before you fly home.”
“One night and that’s it.” I clutch my hands into fists, wincing when my palm starts to bleed more heavily. “I need them.”
Blindly, Olivia reaches into her purse in the backseat. She tosses a burner phone in my lap. “I gave them one and told them not to turn it on until tomorrow morning. Wait until then, and you can meet them wherever they are. But you need to rest up first.”
I look over at her, feeling dizzy. “Who’s the Daddy here?”
She giggles as we pull up to the safe house. “You, always. But sometimes, friends need to take care of friends.”
When she puts the car in park, she rounds the hood and helps me out. I lean heavily on her, but I know she’s got me. She’s still in great shape.
“I’m glad this was my last job,” I tell her when she puts in the code and guides me inside. “I can’t bring this to my boys. They deserve better than me.”
She grins when she sets me on the couch. “Aht aht, we got one more job, remember? We already got paid half.”
I grumble, but my head is spinning and I can’t think right now.
“Pants off,” she says. “Let me clean your leg so I can sew you up. Then you need some sleep. Tomorrow, I can pull somestrings to get you checked out for any serious injuries and get someone to take a look at your hand.”
She helps me pull off my pants, and I stretch my leg out and I close my eyes.
I curse and open my eyes when she pats my thigh with an alcohol wipe. She scoffs a laugh. “Oh, chill. You just got your ass beatanda motherfucker just broke your ribs. I think a bit of alcohol is just a drop in the bucket.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
She numbs me up and makes quick work of sewing up the wound, then slapping a bandage over it.
Once she’s cleaned up the rest of my injuries and cleans up all the trash and supplies, she sits beside me on the couch, her hand on my good thigh. “You did good, Knox. You kept your boys safe. You know if he killed you, he would have went after them, too, right?”
I nod, my eyes feeling heavy as my head swims. “I know. Now we gotta…”
“We will,” she says, her voice sounding like it’s far away. “Sleep, Knox. Your boys are waiting for you.”
“Koda,” I say as I lose my battle to stay awake. “My name is Koda.”
Fire licks up my spine as I look down at Patience. She’s smiling, proud of me and my work. But there’s a shadow over her. A shadow that doesn’t belong.
“No!” I shout, covering her body with mine. “You can’t have her. You can’t…”
The shadow reaches its dark hands down, grabbing at my sister. “She’s mine,” The Director growls, snatching her from me.
Behind him are my boys, cowering and huddled together, staring at the shadow with frightened eyes.
“Choose,” The Director says, holding a gun to Patience’s head. “Choose, or I’ll kill them all.”
“I’m already gone,” Patience says, that same serene smile on her face. “Choose them. It’s okay, Koda.”
I try to run to my boys, apologizing to my sister as I hear a shot ring out. But no matter how fast I run, how hard I try, I can’t get away. They drift further and further away, holding their hands out to me.
