Page 7 of To Keep

“He grabbed her by the hair, dragging her closer to the dead body. He was shouting something, but I couldn’t focus. There was so much blood.” She took a deep breath. “I was hoping that was the end of it. But then he shot her too.”

She buried her face in his shirt, not wanting to look at Viko for another second. Why was she seeking him for comfort? He’d been the one ready to pull the trigger. But here he was, practically with a hard-on because this chick sought him for protection.

“He kills one of our own, then hires us to kill the witness that could expose him,” Viko said.

“Then pays you with fake cash and sends men to kill me? None of this shit makes any sense.”

“Unless he didn’t know Seth was one of ours until after he hired us. Then he decided to cut his losses, keep his cash, and wipe us out before we could act.”

“He thinks he can cancel out the Circle of Monsters?” Galen smirked.

Viko smiled but it was not friendly. “He wants a war, we can give him a war.”

Galen still wasn’t one hundred percent sure what the fuck was happening, but he was good with guns and not afraid to die. Whatever Viko decided to do, he’d follow through. There was still one complication.

“If he knows we know about Seth, he doesn’t give a shit about this chick. We can’t use her as collateral. What are you going to do with her?”

He was going to say Viko should have just let him kill her earlier, but the words wouldn’t come out. A tiny part of him was on edge, wondering if his boss would tell him to eliminate the girl since she was of no use to them.

“I still don’t know how that other woman was involved. Keep her alive for now. She knows too much to cut her loose anyway. I think this one has big ears, no?” Viko tugged her earlobe, then cracked his knuckles, his mood shifting once again. “I’ll be in touch. I need to do some digging.”

“What the fuck does that mean? What am I supposed to do with her?” Galen asked.

“Just keep her alive. You think you can handle that?”

Viko walked away from him, his footsteps creating hollow thuds on the grated metal stairs as he returned to the second level.

Galen liked to be alone.

The last thing he needed was to be responsible for another person’s life.

****

As soon as Galen’s boss walked away, she could finally breathe again. He was so dark, terrifying, and impossible to read. There was an eerie calmness surrounding him that she knew was anything but peaceful. She could envision him torturing people without an ounce of remorse.

Skye felt safe with Galen. It didn’t make sense, but she was usually a good judge of character. He may be a hit man or whatever he claimed, but he had a good heart, she just knew it. She was drawn to him, knowing he wouldn’t hurt her—at least she hoped.

“This isn’t in my job description,” Galen mumbled.

“What isn’t?”

He looked down at her, more likeglared, as if she was a problem to solve. “Keeping people alive.”

She swallowed hard. “It’s better than killing.”

He exhaled his irritation then headed to the doors. She chased behind him, occasionally checking over her shoulder to make sure the other guy wasn’t back. Once they were both inside his car, the tension was palpable.

“So…” she started.

“He can’t be that mad if I can’t keep you alive. I mean, you’re not much use to him anyway.”

“I think you better listen to him,” she said. “He doesn’t seem like a forgiving kind of guy.”

Right now, her only concern was keeping alive and breathing as long as possible. The desire to survive was overwhelming. The past twenty-four hours had been a whirlwind. She should have known her life was too perfect before now. Something had to give, but she never expected to witness a double murder and then get tossed in the middle of a tug-of-war with professional killers.

She’d always been a dreamer. Skye was a live-in nanny, but that didn’t stop her from dreaming about adventure and her own happily ever after—no matter how unlikely. This was not what she had in mind. Her hero may be rock-hard, covered in ink, and unconventionally attractive, but he was just itching to get rid of her. Maybe even kill her. Prince Charming was not supposed to snuff out Cinderella. Everything about this fantasy was messed up.

“I need to eat,” he suddenly said. “I haven’t had any protein today.”

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