Jericho (Cerberus MC Tennessee Chapter #3)

Prologue

Jericho

"Tell me again," she whispers.

"Peach," I whisper, my hand cupping her cheek.

There are a million other things I could think of doing with this gorgeous woman in my arms than talking about a future we may never have.

"Please," she begs, her bright blue eyes shining up at me as she pleads.

I pull in a deep breath and begin, "The cabin in the woods will be surrounded by massive trees. No one will even be able to tell our home is back there. We'll have all the privacy we've been wishing for."

I can't count how many nights I've lain awake thinking of this make-believe cabin and how I know, despite craving it with everything I have, it's not something we'll ever get.

"I want a puppy," she whispers.

"You'll get your puppy," I assure her. "We should leave now."

Her eyes grow wide, just like they always do when the conversation takes us in this direction.

"My father would never allow it. You know I'm promised to Damien."

"Then leaving is the only way we'll have a shot at what we've been dreaming about."

"We have to make plans," she urges. "We have time."

"The wedding date is set for next month. There is no time."

She shakes her head. Aspen is terrified of her father, and there's no way for me to make her see that I can keep her safe. Not with the secrets I've been keeping from her.

"Do you love me?" I ask.

"You know I do," she says, her chin trembling with emotion.

"Can I trust you?"

"Of course, my love," she assures me.

It gives me the confidence to pull in a deep breath and tell her everything I've been hiding from her.

"I need you to listen to everything I have to tell you, and you can't freak out."

My heart races. Everything I have worked for comes down to this moment and, if she doesn't trust me, there's a lot at stake, including my life.

"I promise," she says. I can see the truth of her words in her eyes, but she has no idea about the bomb I'm about to place between us.

"I'm a federal agent working with ICE to take down your father's empire."

She's motionless, blinking at me, like my confession was spoken in a foreign language she doesn't understand.

"What?" she asks, her head tilting to the side as she pushes her hands against my chest.

I won't repeat myself because I know she heard me just fine. I need to give her time to process what I've told her.

As my always bad luck will have it, the door to her bedroom opens.

My heart races for another reason when I see Damien, the man she's promised to, standing there glaring at us.

We aren't undressed or in a compromising position, but it's clear that there's more going on than me being one of her father's cronies.

"Well, well, well," he says just as I open my mouth to ask the motherfucker why he thinks he has a right to open her goddamned door without asking.

I look to Aspen, concerned that he has a history of coming in here, and this is something she hasn't mentioned to me.

Tears roll down her face as she scrambles off my lap.

I don't know if it's the fact that we've been discovered by her betrothed or if it's because of my confession, but my skin grows cold with her absence.

"I think we need to have a conversation with Ivan," Damien says, his tone more level than I've ever heard from him before, which speaks of his anger.

The man is known for his anger and violence. It doesn't take much to send him into a rage, although I haven't seen him kill anyone since I've been on this case. If I had, I would've arrested the motherfucker without ICE's instruction just to get him away from his promise to Aspen. Many are afraid of him because of it, including Aspen. I can't imagine walking away from her and leaving her at his mercy.

"Peach," I whisper, but she continues to scramble from the bed. "Use the email address."

I gave her an email address right after I kissed her for the first time. Her cell phone is monitored, so we couldn't communicate that way. Instead, we use an email address I set up to make it look like it was a company she orders makeup from.

"Luke," Damien snaps. No matter how long I've had that name or how many times these people have used it, I don't think I'll ever get used to being called someone I'm not. "If you try to run, I'll slit your throat."

I don't see a way out of this, but I've only been working for Ivan Reese, a known importer of both drugs and guns, for a few months. As close as I've gotten to the only Reese heir, the organization still hasn't trusted me with a weapon in the house. I have no way other than my hands to defend myself.

I lock my eyes on her, but she has her gaze focused on her feet. I lift my head, feeling obstinate despite knowing there's a very real chance I'm walking to my death. I was told the day I was welcomed into the home under Ivan's employ that it was certain death putting my hands on his daughter. She seemed like the perfect way to get the most information. Only I wasn't supposed to actually fall for her.

Damien's knuckles rapping on the heavy office door make gooseflesh run up both of my arms and, despite my best efforts to be brave, there's a slight tremble in my hands as Ivan demands our entry from the other side.

"Damien," the boss says with a frown before his eyes drift to me. "Pretty boy."

They gave me the nickname from the very beginning. I have a feeling the way Aspen looked at me the first time we met was the reason I was issued such a warning about her.

"What the fuck is going on?" Ivan demands when Aspen slips past us two men and walks into the room.

"Seems these two have been sneaking around," Damien says. His tone is only calm around Ivan, making it very clear that he's a true psychopath in his ability to turn the rage on and off like a light switch.

"Aspen?" her father demands, but she keeps her head dropped, no words spilling from her mouth.

She doesn't confess her love for me. She doesn't tell him that we have plans for the future. She doesn't ask to marry me.

It feels like a betrayal, but then again, she also doesn't repeat the confession I made mere minutes ago.

I know she's terrified of her father. She has been raised with that fear, knowing if she steps out of line that there are things the man is willing to do that are worse than death.

"Have you ruined my daughter, Pretty Boy?"

"No, sir," I lie.

I haven't spent much time with Aspen, but we got to the intimate part of our relationship pretty early on. If she's not making that known, then neither am I.

"I love her. I'd like to ask your permission to marry her."

Ivan stares at me much like his daughter did earlier, and for a split second, hope swells inside of me.

I would marry her. I'd spend the rest of my life trying to make her happy. Hell, if she had a problem with me working for ICE, I'd give that up too. I'd do just about anything for that woman, short of being a true criminal. That's where I draw the line.

"Marry her?" Ivan repeats as if he's considering it.

"Sir," Damien says, and that seems to snap Ivan out of whatever ideas he might've been having.

"I want him on his knees," Ivan snaps, his anger starting to bubble up, his face reddening.

Damien kicks my legs out from under me before I have a chance to lower to them. It takes away the chance for me to show loyalty to the man and removes any and all goodwill it might've created.

"He's too damn pretty. I think that's what's wrong here," Ivan mutters, shaking his head with a snarl curling up one side of his mouth. "Let's fix that."

As if they're speaking another language only they understand, Damien pulls out a knife. Before I can argue or beg, he slices the knife down the left side of my face. I scream out in pain as blood fills my vision.

I can't recall a single moment in my life that I've ever felt such searing pain.

My throat clogs with the need to cry, something I can't recall needing since I was a child.

I look up, locking my eyes on Aspen, wanting to beg her to defend me, to proclaim her love. But despite the tears dripping from her eyes and falling on her shoes, she doesn'teven look up at me.

"I want him dead," Ivan says. "Get him the fuck out of here."

She doesn't care enough to look at me one last time after her father's declaration. As Damien drags me from the room to my death, I realize that I was her pawn all along. Maybe she has done this before, making someone fall in love with her just to get attention from her dad.

I think I'll love her, hate her, and feel betrayed by her even in death.