Page 23 of Witness Protection

“What is that?”

“They’ll be looking for a blonde chick,” he said. “You’re about to go brunette.”

She reached up and touched the top of her head, then looked at her fingertips. “Black? You’re dyeing my hair black?” Sophia shouted the words.

“Relax. It’s temporary color. You’ll be back to your beautiful self in…” He leaned over to read the box on the counter. “Three to five washes.”

He massaged her scalp with his strong fingers, gathering up her hair, coating it all in the sticky black dye. The smell made her eyes water. But she could only focus on the fact he’d called her beautiful, and he sounded like he meant it. Stupid to even feel flattered.

The man was a murderer.

Every man she knew was a murderer.

Her life was more fucked up than she realized.

“Okay, over the sink.” He washed out her hair in the oversized bowl sink, the water turning black as it swirled down the drain. When he turned the water off, she wrapped the towel around her hair, scared to see herself in the mirror.

She removed the towel shortly after, her long blonde hair now deep black. The reflection didn’t look like her. But she always did feel lost in her own skin.

Cayden used his thumb to remove a smear of dye from her temple. “It brings out your eyes,” he said. She looked like a witch. He tilted her chin up, taking a good look at her new disguise. “Why don’t you have blue eyes?”

She swallowed hard, her head still tilted upwards. Her father had blue eyes, but she took after her mother’s dark brown. It bothered her that she didn’t even have a picture, like her mother never even existed, but her father assured Sophia she was the spitting image of the woman she never met. It was the reason he turned on her when she’d matured. “I take after my mother.”

“I never found anything on a Mrs. Morenov. She in hiding or dead?”

“You’re blunt.” She stepped back, twisting her head from side to side in front of the mirror. “I never met her. She died when I was a baby.”

“Childbirth?”

“She was murdered. My father raised me.”

He hopped up and sat on the counter. “Being an orphan isn’t as bad as it sounds. Trust me, parents are overrated.”

She ground her teeth. He couldn’t make that argument when he was the one to make her an orphan. “You kill your parents, too?”

Cayden wet his lips, stared at her for a few tense breaths, then left the room. He called back. “Put the shirt back on and dry your hair. We’re leaving in ten minutes.”

Sophia leaned over the counter and stared at the stranger in the mirror. What was going to happen? Was Hawk looking for her? Was Cayden going to kill her?

Hawk had believed she was in danger. He said a hitman never left a witness alive as a rule. No matter how calm and human Cayden appeared, she knew for a fact that men in her world could turn their emotions off and do the vilest things imaginable. Trust was for the weak.

Once she’d blow dried her hair and freshened up, she joined Cayden in the kitchen. He was ready to go, his duffel bag already slung over his shoulder, his dark hair slicked loosely back.

“As of right now, we’re a nice happy couple. No making eye contact with anyone. We just need to make it to my car in the sublevel. Understand?”

“And if I break the rules?”

He glared at her, the devil in his blue eyes. “Do you really want to test me?”

She kept quiet.

As soon as they were in the hall, she could taste freedom. Surely, he wouldn’t make a scene if she made a break for it in the busy lobby. He held her hand, a little too tightly, as they walked to the elevator.

This time she paid attention.

They were on the ninth floor.

The elevator opened with a chime and one businessman stood in the corner. Cayden squeezed her hand harder, making her cringe, and tugged her close to his side. She hadn’t realized how tall he was, so close in size to Hawk. If only Hawk was there now, her rock, he’d kill Cayden without a second thought and keep her safe.

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