Page 52 of Deadly Protector
Heart rate kicked up, he finally followed Gareth to a waiting SUV. “Can we stop by a Starbucks?” he growled as he hopped in the passenger seat. “I need coffee.”
Gareth just grunted.
Which better be a yes. He just hoped he could pull this off. More than that, he hoped Zamira made it to safety. That was the only thing that mattered.
Once he knew she was safe, pulling off a job would become a hell of a lot easier.
Zamira jumpedwhen her phone buzzed.
I’m here. Coming inside.A text from Lyosha.
Her heart rate was still out of control and had been since she and Dimitri had been woken up in a rush. She still hadn’t come down from that scare, was still riding that wave of fear.
She opened the closet door as she heard the little chime announcing the front door had been opened.
“Zamira?”
“I’m here!” She set the pistol on one of the dressers and hurried out into the hall.
Lyosha looked as if he’d been awake for hours and was dressed for battle in dark tactical pants—and had a gun in one of his hands. He swept a gaze over her quickly as he tucked his weapon away. “You’re unharmed?”
“Yes. Scared out of my mind though.” For herself, for Dimitri.
Lyosha reached out and gave her the most awkward pat on her shoulder. He was like a robot. “It will be okay.”
Oh, sweet mangoes.She knew how much this man loved her youngest sister, and he was wildly protective of all of them. But his attempt at comfort made a laugh escape, a nervous, out of control sound that bubbled up inside her. Oh no, she couldn’t let all this worry leak out. If she did, she’d be a mess. She had to keep herself under control because that was what the situation called for. Dimitri was taking on a whole lot right now for her, so she would keep her shit together.
His expression softened. “I swear, he’ll be fine. We have a plan. Are you packed?”
Plans were good. “Yeah, mostly. I can have my stuff ready to go in a couple minutes. Also, there’s a gun in there,” she said, motioning to the guest room door. She wasn’t touching it again but figured he might want to secure it.
He nodded, moving into action as she made her way to Dimitri’s room. She’d only been here a couple days, even if it felt like a lifetime. So she hadn’t unpacked her stuff, she’d just been living out of her suitcase. She gathered up her toiletries and most of her stuff because she wasn’t sure how long she’d be gone.
Wasn’t sure of anything.
And that…hit her hard as fear for Dimitri weighed her down.
As she rolled her stuff into the hallway, Lyosha was there, Dimitri’s gun tucked away. He immediately grabbed her stuff and hauled it toward the front door.
She knew she needed to leave with him, to get to safety, but leaving felt like she was abandoning Dimitri somehow.
