Page 147 of Relentless

“Smooth, Mav. So fucking smooth.”

We keep the conversation light as we work, she asks me about Sheila and Daisy and what they’ve been up to, but at no point do we broach the current situation. It’s as much of a relief as it is frustrating.

I want to know exactly what she’s thinking, what she wants. But something tells me that, really, she doesn’t know. She’s as confused as everyone else under this roof.

“Do you think it’s going to work?” she asks, finally breaking our unspoken agreement not to talk about the serious shit as she begins putting toppings onto the four pizza bases laid out before us.

“Do I think Reid can outsmart Victor and take control?” I ask, confirming that we’re on the same topic here.

“Yeah,” she muses, laying out circles of pepperoni in perfect formations.

“Yeah, I think he can,” I say honestly. “Reid is a lot of things.” A lot of things I didn’t even realize. “But his determination to win is definitely one of them.”

I should be relieved he’s not making a play for my girl because, if he were, something tells me he’d win that race too.

He wants her. That much was obvious before what happened between them earlier. I mean, of course he wants her. My wife is fucking stunning, and smart, and everything most men could possibly want. But what happens when he realizes it?

“Yeah, you’re right. This is big though. Really fucking big,” she continues, unaware of my internal freak out.

“Yeah. Something tells me that he can handle it though.”

“We’re pretty fucked if he can’t.”

“And we can’t hide out here forever. Victor might be a corrupt bastard, but he’s not fucking stupid. One sniff of what Reid’s doing and he’ll have his own army mobilized ready to take all of us down.”

Alana stills as the weight of my words hit her.

It takes a few seconds, but eventually, she looks over, our eyes connecting.

“I can’t lose you, Mav. Promise me you won’t do anything stupid.”

I swallow, unable to force the words past my lips.

“You deserve justice, Doll. And I promised you that you’d get it.”

“I deserve a life with my husband more,” she counters. “If it comes down to it, I’ll choose you over ruining them any day.”

“Fuck, Doll,” I breathe.

“Promise me, Mav. If it comes down to it being us or them, you need to choose us. Me.

“Reid has his own reasons for this fight. He can take them down. I can live with the knowledge that we helped out with intel but stepped back from pulling the triggers.”

My teeth grind and my jaw pops as I stare back at her.

‘Please,’ she mouths.

“Fuck, babe. Yeah. Yes,” I say, closing the space between us. “I can’t have a future with you if we’re both dead.”

Our kiss isn’t like the one outside. It’s short. Just a brush of our lips and a glide of our tongues, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t full of promise or longing.

I might fucking hate the promise I just made, but I’ll do everything in my power to keep it. To keep her.

39

ALANA

My concern for JD only grows as the minutes pass. But I don’t go after him.

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