Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Erin
The Morettis are coming for me.
For three whole seconds, I believe it.
I believe the extra men outside the windows are not enough. I believe Cass and Ryan are somewhere I cannot reach them because Lucian made the right call for all the wrong reasons.
My hand goes cold inside his.
Then his bedroom door opens without a knock.
Rafe.
Of course.
Lucian is on his feet before I can blink, body between mine and the door, the gun from the table already in his hand.
Rafe stops just inside. He looks from the gun to Lucian’s face.
“Before you shoot me for entering without permission, you need to hear this.”
“Talk.”
Rafe’s gaze shifts to me.
That tiny movement changes everything.
“What?” I ask.
He lifts the tablet in his hand. “They don’t mean you.”
The room goes silent.
Lucian does not lower the gun. “Explain.”
Rafe walks farther in and turns the screen toward us. A message thread fills it. Not Carlos’s elegant threats. These are clipped. Businesslike. Names, dates, old routes, references I don’t understand.
One sentence is highlighted.
THE WOMAN WHO CARRIED MARINA’S ARCHIVE IS TO BE RECOVERED ALIVE.
I stare at it.
“The woman who carried...” My voice disappears.
“The necklace,” Rafe says. “The microfilm.”
Isobel.
Relief hits so hard it makes me dizzy.
And then shame follows immediately because relief means I am glad another woman is in danger instead of me.
“No.” I shake my head. “No, that isn’t better.”
Lucian finally lowers the gun.
His face does not soften.
If anything, it gets worse.
“They want Isobel,” he says.
Rafe nods. “Carlos’s message was deliberately vague. He knew you would assume Erin. He knew fear would do the rest.”
Lucian looks at me.
I see the exact moment he understands what Carlos managed to do after death.
He put me back in Lucian’s cage without laying one finger on either of us.
“That bastard,” I whisper.
Lucian’s hand flexes around the gun.
“Dead bastard,” I correct.
“Not dead enough.”
“Pretty sure there is only one level of dead.”
His eyes flick to mine.
For one second, the monster retreats.
Then Rafe says, “There’s more.”
Of course there is.
There is always more.
Lucian immediately reaches for me.
“I can stand.”
“I know.”
His hand stays at my waist.
I let it.
Partnership does not mean pretending I do not like when his physical touch holds me together.
Rafe expands the message. “The Morettis believe Marina copied records that tied them to the Hoax, that put their old Glasgow operation, locations where they operate. I think somehow they know Marina gave all her files to Isobel before she died.”
“The microfilm proves more than Carlos,” I say.
“It proves enough to hurt several organizations,” Rafe answers. “Including men who are still alive.”
Lucian’s voice drops. “So, they want the archive.”
“And Isobel,” Rafe says. “Because they think she knows what else Marina kept. She’s the last one standing who knows everything Marina did.”
I look toward the hallway as if I can see through walls.
Lucian asks, “Does she? Know more than she’s given us?”
Rafe’s mouth tightens. “We’re about to find out.”
Lucian starts for the door. I catch his wrist. He looks down at my hand.
Then at me.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
I give him a look.
His jaw sets. “Erin.”
“Lucian.”
Rafe turns toward the hall. “I’ll give you both ten seconds to complete whatever dominance mating ritual this is.”
“Shut up, Rafe,” we say together.
He almost smiles.
Lucian stares at me for another long second. Then he holds out his hand. Not to pull me behind him.
To bring me with him.
I take it.
Isobel is already in the small library off the back of the stunning home where we are currently staying.
The Bachmans and their libraries. Seems like every one of them has one. Makes me think I’d be a good Bachman one day.
If I get to be.