Page 19 of To Keep

She was only a breath away from announcing she was a virgin which would have been even more embarrassing.

“Right, you’re not his type, are you?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

Victoria smirked. It was the same smug look she’d been subjected to countless times since grade school. She wanted to retreat into herself, to hide away so she never had to face the world. But not this time. Maybe it was the fear of death or her adrenaline, but she felt emboldened.

“At least I’m Galen’s type.” She spat the words in anger and instantly regretted them.

Chapter Five

“I’m sorry.”

It wasn’t the first time Skye had apologized in the last twenty minutes. In fact, the moment she’d said those words to Victoria she’d started to apologize. Galen knew he should be pissed off. No woman had ever staked her claim on him. He never allowed it. Over the years, women had always been openly available to him. He didn’t have to pay for the pleasure either, but not a single one had ever wanted to keep him. Some of them might have, but only because they liked the idea of owning him, and he didn’t like that idea at all.

He tried to focus on the road. The meet with Victoria had been short, but he’d gotten more than he expected. Things were slowly starting to make more sense.

“I’m sorry,” she repeated.

“Will you shut the fuck up?” he said. After meeting with Victoria he should have been prioritizing the shit that had gone down, which landed him with Skye, but instead, like an idiot, he was thinking about a couple of thrown-out words.

Skye didn’t mean them, not at all. She might think she was attracted to him, but that was all due to what was going on around her. Also, it might be because he was contracted to kill her. That might be a part of it.

Either way, he shouldn’t be focusing on this. There was a lot more to deal with and he had no choice but to break it down in his mind. Seth was one of them, a member of the Circle of Monsters. Galen hadn’t worked with him often, but he’d known the man to be a coldhearted killer. One of the best men he’d ever seen at work. A hell of a lot better than Petrov, that was for damn sure.

Victoria, one of Seth’s on-and-off-again girlfriends, ended up bedding Viko, the leader of the Circle of Monsters.

Seth didn’t seem like the possessive sort of guy. If he wanted revenge, bedding women Viko had fucked wouldn’t irritate his boss. Viko didn’t do love and couldn’t give a shit about the women he slept with. No, the best kind of revenge against Viko would be coming after the Circle of Monsters. So, to Galen, it made sense. Viko slept with Seth’s woman, so Seth in retaliation went to Petrov—one of their enemies. This is where it got a lot more complicated and had so many different blanks. Galen rubbed at his temples.

“You know, if you talk aloud, I might be able to help,” Skye said.

He glanced over at her. She was a distraction.

“This isn’t your business.”

“It kind of is. If you think about it. You’ve already said I’m going on the chopping block, so in theory if I can do something to help, then it might, you know, help me stay alive.” She shrugged. “And I am sorry—”

“Will you stop with the apologies? I don’t need to hear them. Do you think you’re the first woman to have said shit that you don’t mean? Just shut up.”

“What if Ididmean it? Or, at least, hope it was true.”

He glanced over toward her and glared.

She held her hands up. “Fine. Fine. I’ll shut up. I’ll stop apologizing, but that doesn’t mean I can’t help you. I can. Don’t forget, this guy sent men to kill me and there’s a small smidge of a chance he intended to rape me, get me pregnant, and force me to be a nanny to my own child and make my life miserable. Anything that will grant a little payback, keep me breathing until old age, I’m all for it.”

“It could go the other way,” he said.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“You help me figure out the missing pieces of the puzzle, Viko’s happy, but you’re a loose end and I kill you anyway.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like that idea.”

Galen had already figured she wouldn’t.

“It doesn’t matter. Just tell me what you know and maybe we can both figure this out.”

He stayed silent but the truth was, it wasn’t a bad idea. She was going to be killed anyway. She already knew way too much by simply being able to identify Viko. Her life already had an expiration date on it, and it would be well before old age.

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