Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Aleksei could not believe what he was hearing.
Rosemary had just said she was taking the laptop to Moresco herself, and Kemper was offering to give her a ride, all nice and easy, as if she needed a lift to the goddamn grocery store.
As if she wouldn’t be walking into a room full of criminals who likely wanted her dead.
That laptop was the only leverage they had, and Rose’s brilliant plan was to walk into the warehouse and hand it over like a deer trotting into a hunter’s cabin.
“You are not fucking serious.”
The words flew out of his mouth unedited. He might have chided Virus earlier for being too direct, but this was not the time to temper his words. This was a shit idea, and he was going to let Rose know it.
Her lovely pink lips pressed into a straight line. “I am absolutely serious.”
“You really expect me to let you go in there alone?”
Her eyes flashed. “I expect you to respect my decisions. I’m a grown, capable woman, and this is my family at risk.”
“Being grown and capable is irrelevant. You’re way out of your league here.
These are dangerous men. You don’t have a weapon, and you don’t know how to fight.
You’re walking into a deathtrap. You don’t have the expertise or training to deal with a situation like this.
Kemper should know that. If he doesn’t have the sense to keep you out of there, then I will.
” He squeezed the bridge of his nose, trying to make his tone reasonable.
“If you go in there alone, there’s no way I can keep you safe.
I won’t be able to forgive myself if something happens to you. ”
“You can’t always keep everyone you care about safe,” she responded.
“I wouldn’t have to worry about keeping you safe if you weren’t being irrational.”
Thor and Jaka’s barks emanated from the bedroom where he had shut them in when Kemper arrived. They didn’t like the raised voices. He called out to settle them.
Kemper stood, lifting a hand in a calming gesture. “This isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve got a team on call. I’ll wait until we’re close and then let them know Rosemary insisted on taking the laptop in herself. We’ll cover her entrance and exit. If we hear anything, we’ll rush the place.”
Aleksei snorted. He’d already assumed Kemper would have a team on the ground to swoop in if the shit hit the fan, but that could be too late.
“She could be dead by then,” he said, intentionally trying to shock Rose into seeing reason.
“It’s her family. Her life. Her choice,” Kemper responded.
He studied Rose. Her skin was blanched white, her eyes were glossy, and whether she knew it or not, she was shaking. He reached out and ran a finger down her soft cheek.
“Let’s compromise. I’ll go in with you. That way you won’t be by yourself. If shit goes sideways, I’ll be there to help.”
She leaned away from his touch. “I have to do this alone.”
The rubber band that had been holding his temper in check snapped. He leapt to his feet.
“You’re acting like a fool! You spent half your life relying on other people to care for you, so now you think you have something to prove.
You’re so hell-bent on standing on your own that you’re being foolish.
You think an offer of help is an insult, and that accepting help is weakness, but it’s the exact opposite.
Your stubborn insistence on doing this alone is going to get you killed, and I’m not going to stand outside that warehouse and do nothing while it happens!
I’m not losing another person I care about on my watch.
Phillipe went in alone and look where it got him. ”
He was yelling, the dogs were howling, and he didn’t fucking care.
“Guess what, Aleksei? Not everything is about Phillipe! You’ve spent the last two years wallowing in guilt because you can’t accept that you’re not responsible for another man’s choices.
You want to come with me because you want to avenge Phillipe.
I’m not risking my family so you can assuage your guilt.
Preventing me from saving my family isn’t going to bring him back.
It’s only going to rip us apart. So, which one of us is the fool? ”
She was right. Phillipe had made his own choices. He’d chosen to go out alone that night. He’d chosen not to wake Aleksei. Phillipe hadn’t wanted his help and, apparently, Rose didn’t want it either. Her rejection felt like a hot knife pressed to his skin.
He’d opened his shuttered heart for her.
He’d said he wanted a relationship with her.
By offering a future together, he’d taken a step he’d sworn to himself he would never take again.
He’d taken responsibility for her. She knew about Phillipe.
How could she not see that, if anything happened to her on his watch, it would destroy him?
He couldn’t survive having his failure result in the death of another person he loved.
His jaw ticked, and his fists clenched. Her choice was betrayal.
Just like Phillipe’s had been. If Aleksei stayed in this room one more second, he was going to say something he would regret.
Something that might irreparably damage their budding relationship.
He snatched one of the burner phones he’d pulled out from Virus’s cache that morning from the coffee table and strode out the cabin door.
He kept walking until a bead of sweat trickled down his back.
A chilly breeze nipped at his cheeks, but the late afternoon sun and his brisk pace were keeping him warm even though he hadn’t grabbed a jacket.
He’d thought the walk would calm him down, but his temper was still blazing.
Rose was being selfish and unreasonable.
He had no fucking clue how to convince her that walking into that warehouse alone was a huge mistake.
He pulled the phone out of his back pocket and did what he had done every time he’d been at a complete and utter loss.
He called his mom.
He veered off the dirt road onto one of the narrow walking trails, taking his time telling her the complicated story while robins whistled, blue jays cawed, and stones and twigs crunched under his feet.
Her murmured hmms and go on assured him she was following.
When he got to the end, he’d convinced himself that not only should Rose not be going into the warehouse alone, but that she shouldn’t be going at all.
If she truly cared for him, she’d stay at Virus’s cabin and let him go for her.
He had the skill set and training. He was probably the only one who had a chance to get in and out alive.
“She thinks you want to go to the warehouse with her because you want to be the one to arrest Moresco?” his mom asked.
“I didn’t ask for that,” Aleksei said. “I’m willing to give Moresco his goddamn records back and walk away.
If I never avenge Phillipe, so be it. I’d give up pursuing Moresco to protect her, but she isn’t willing to stay back here where it’s safe.
If she cared about me, she wouldn’t risk her life when she knows I can’t protect her.
She wouldn’t ask me to watch her walk into that warehouse to meet the man who killed Phillipe. ”
“Ahhh. So, we finally get to the root of it.”
Her tone rankled him. He’d called for sympathy and affirmation.
She should be telling him to do everything in his power to protect Rosemary, even if that meant locking her in a room until he worked their way out of the fucknado they’d been sucked into.
And then she should be reassuring him that Rose would still want him after he did it.
That Rose would realize he’d been right all along.
Instead, he was getting the patronizing condescension she’d used on him when he was a headstrong teenager.
“The root of what? She won’t listen to me. If she goes to meet Moresco, she’ll be walking, innocent and unarmed, into a roomful of criminals. If something happens to her, I’ll never forgive myself.”
“Just like you’ll never forgive yourself for what happened to Phillipe. You’re just like your father.” His mother’s last few words were laced with the same wistfulness she always had when she talked about his dad.
That was exactly why he didn’t want Rosemary putting herself in danger. They’d only known each other a short time, but she already felt like a part of him. He couldn’t imagine a future without her. He was in love with her.
He was in love with her.
The seeds had been planted that first night when she’d danced down the concrete steps, eyes twinkling, bell-like laughter filling the air.
Deep conversation, laughter, and an effortless, bone-deep intimacy were the fertile soil and rain that fed them.
Love had bloomed. She had opened parts of him he thought he’d shut down forever.
And now he was bare. If he lost her, there would be no barrier to protect him from the pain.
“I want to be like Dad. I want to save Rose just like Dad saved you.”
His mother sighed softly. “Saving me was the easy part. The hard part for him was forgiving himself. His guilt almost ruined us.”
His father was the knight in shining armor who fought dragons and rescued the princess. He had nothing to feel guilty about.
“What are you talking about? Dad was a hero.”
His mother’s silence was too long, and Aleksei stopped walking. He was about to learn something he didn’t want to hear.
“You know the story. The police were investigating a gambling ring. Instead, they found human trafficking. Your dad wanted to get me out the first day he met me, but I insisted on staying. I wanted those bastards to pay for what they did to us. I wanted to make sure the DA had an airtight case. I wanted to make sure the police knew every location where women were being held. It took almost two weeks. Those two weeks were...difficult.”