Page 7 of Deadly Passion

Marshall’s gaze darts straight to Ivy. He smirks, a greedy expression crossing his lips that I want to wipe off. “Did you bring us a present?”

My gut twists. Before I can reply, Ivy’s eyes narrow, and she snaps, “I’m nobody’s fucking present, arsehole.”

Marshall tenses, his hands curling into tight fists. Can’t she keep her mouth shut for once? I take a deep breath. Maybe we should hand her over to Torean’s thugs as a punishment, but no matter how furious I am, I can’t bring myself to do it. Well, not until we get answers first.

“She’s with us,” I growl. Ivy’s eyes find mine for a split second, searching for something, but I stare back in cold indifference. I’m not doing this for her. “She’s our prisoner.”

Marshall licks his lips. “Pity.”

The sparkle in her eyes dulls as she looks away. I won’t be deceived by her again. Since uncovering the truth, my heart has hardened. I don’t know how much of the woman I met five years ago still exists in the shell of her body or whether she was ever real at all.

“We need to get Bram to a safe location,” I say, knowing that Torean will have medical supplies wherever we’re heading.

“We don’t have a lot of time,” Callen says.

Seb and Callen put Bram’s arms around their shoulders and heave him upright. Bram’s unconscious, but his chest is still moving, so I push my worries aside. I need to take control of the situation. That’s what my men expect of me.

“Hey! What about me?” Ivy demands as they leave her behind. “Are you going to leave me chained up?”

Seb pauses in front of me. “The keys to her cuffs are in my front pocket.”

I take them from him as he and Callen pass.

“You can leave her with us,” Marshall cuts in, muscling into the conversation and grinning down at the keys in my hand. “We’ll take good care of her.”

“If you come near me, I’ll stuff your balls down your windpipe,” she sneers.

Callen snorts. “I’d love to hear her say that to Torean.”

“I already told you,” I snarl at Marshall, giving him a final warning. “She’s with us.”

“Fine!” He holds up his hands in defeat and heads around to the driver’s seat.

Meanwhile, Ovi disappears into the warehouse and returns seconds later with a wheelchair. Callen and Seb pant as they drag Bram’s feet across the ground and put him in it. We won’t be staying long. Above us, helicopter blades whir into life, whipping up the air around us. That’s our ticket to freedom. But, before we leave, Callen needs to ensure Bram is stable enough to fly.

“Hello?” Ivy calls. “I’m still here!”

I step into the back of the van to join her. She’s thinner than the last time I saw her, her skin dirty and flecked with blood, and her eyes surrounded by dark circles.

“Freddie, I…”

I hold up my hand to silence her before she starts to make any excuses.

“I don’t want to hear it,” I snap. She raises her eyebrows in surprise as I reach into my suit pocket for an injection. I always carry a sedative as a backup option. “You’re going to sleep.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Ivy argues. “What do you think I’m going to do?”

“You’re a trained assassin,” I say. “You’re lucky this is only enough tranquilliser to knock you out.”

I step closer, and she shuffles away, but there’s nowhere to go.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

“You can’t drug me forever,” she says, meeting my stony gaze with a chilly storm of her own. “You may as well kill me.”

“Maybe we will,” I say.

Because of her size and the fact she presumably hasn’t eaten for a while, this should knock her out for twelve hours at least.

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