14. Theo
I was in the back seat of the SUV, parked at the curb as we waited in silence.
Octavio was in the front seat, waiting for the signal we needed to move in. “They’ve taken the guys on the west perimeter. No gunshots.”
“Good.”
Another stretch of silence passed. I looked out the window onto the dark street, seeing cars pass once the light turned green. It was never quiet, not with the sounds of motorbikes and taxis constantly passing.
Octavio spoke again. “We got the east too. We’re clear.”
“He’ll have three guys on the corners.” He wouldn’t have picked that spot unless he had immediate coverage, guys who were packing from the best vantage point.
Octavio spoke into the comms. “Theo says there should be three more at the corners. Check it out.”
I suspected Bolton would only be armed with a knife because a gun was too bulky for dinner, even if his dinner date was criminal enough to hire a hit man. He was exactly that arrogant, assuming he would stay at the top just because he was good enough to get there in the first place.
I had the opposite philosophy. It took ten times more work to keep a position than to attain it. You had to sleep with one eye open. Look over your shoulder twice because once wasn’t enough. Even the men who were closest to me had men tailing them because I trusted no one.
Octavio spoke again. “We got ’em. But we gotta move fast because I’m sure Bolton will have a backup plan.”
I hopped out of the back seat and approached the restaurant at the corner, not waiting for my men to catch up. The plan was for me to go into the restaurant by myself and confront him alone rather than cause panic among innocent people whose only crime was not wanting to cook that night.
I passed the windows and saw people dining at their tables. When I opened the glass door, I was met with the loud noises of conversations and knives scraping against plates. Uproarious laughter exploded from one corner of the restaurant, while another table sang happy birthday over a small cake lit with candles.
I already knew where he was seated, so I headed to the rear of the restaurant.
None of the waiters tried to intervene, probably because I looked like I knew exactly where I was going.
I spotted Bolton, his eyes locked on the man across from him, nodding slowly like he gave a fuck about what the guy was saying. He looked even more arrogant than I remembered, his arm draped over the chair of a beautiful woman at his side. Their table was full of bottles of wine and glasses, like they’d started to drink hard before their food arrived.
My core suddenly tightened, and dread spiked in my blood out of nowhere.
My eyes traveled back to where they’d already been—and I stared at her.
Astrid.
Her makeup was done differently, so I didn’t recognize her right away. She wore a black dress with gold jewelry, her hair combed back in a way I’d never seen her wear it. The one thing that hadn’t changed was her eyes.
They were dead.
I stopped walking, right next to a table with a couple enjoying their dinner. They both glanced at me but didn’t ask me to move.
My eyes remained on Astrid, seeing the same broken woman in the gallery, staring at a painting as her eyes started to shine with unshed tears. “Fuck.”
I had a split second to decide what to do. To walk over there and grab Bolton by the neck…or leave before either one of them noticed me. Despite the problems they were having, Astrid wouldn’t want him dead. And she wouldn’t want me if I was the one who killed him.
That left me with only one choice.
I walked out.
I checked in with the butler then waited for Axel in the study. My men were confused by the sudden way I’d changed my mind, but I didn’t owe them an explanation, so I didn’t give one. Bolton would realize someone had killed all his men, and the fact that he was spared would be the greatest mystery he would never solve. Any witness he could ask had been killed.
Axel joined me a moment later in just his sweatpants, his hair messy and his eyes tired like he’d been dead asleep when his butler woke him. “What is it, Theo?” He came up to me, the concern coming from his sleepy gaze.
“I found out who Astrid’s husband is.”
“Shit,” he said. “Did he come at you?”
“No. I came at him.”
His eyebrows rose when the story made less sense.
“I walked into the restaurant to confront Bolton, and Astrid was with him.” I stepped away and sauntered toward the cold fireplace, feeling the tension in my neck because my life had become complicated.
Axel took a moment to process that before he dropped onto the couch, his hands together as his elbows rested on his knees. “Jesus.”
I turned back toward him, the adrenaline still in my veins all these hours later.
“What are the odds of that?”
I fell into the armchair.
“What did you do?”
“I left.”
“Didn’t you kill all of his men?”
“Yes.”
“Then what’s he going to think when he realizes someone killed all of his men but spared him?”
“I don’t fucking know, Axel.” He might be able to follow the clues that led back to me, but since we were already enemies at war, it didn’t make much of a difference.
“You’re fucked, you know that?”
“We already want to kill each other, Axel. It doesn’t change anything.”
“But if he knows it was you and you chickened out, he’s going to wonder why.”
“Let him wonder,” I said coldly.
“He’s a smart guy,” Axel said. “He knows his wife is sleeping with other people?—”
“I don’t know if he knows.”
“He’s got to assume his wife has fucked someone at some point in the last six weeks. And even if he doesn’t, he’ll figure it out eventually. Once he does, he’ll piece it together. That you walked in there to kill him but saw Astrid and changed everything.”
I rested my chin on my closed knuckles as I stared at him. “That’s a bit of a reach.”
“Not if she tells him who she’s fucking.”
I gave a shrug. “It’s done, Axel.”
“Why didn’t you do it?”
“Did you hear what I said?” I snapped. “He’s married to Astrid.”
“What does that matter? He treats her like shit, and he’s the one responsible for Killian’s death. And you just let him walk away?”
I looked away, feeling the self-loathing wash over me.
“I don’t understand, Theo.”
“Astrid has chosen to stay in that marriage, so she still loves him.” It hurt to say the words out loud, marked my tongue with acid. Sometimes I wondered if she thought about him when she was with me. I wondered if she thought about me when she was with him, and I hoped she did. “I can’t kill the man she loves.”
Axel sank back into the couch as he stared at me. “And you say this woman means nothing to you…”
“I never said she meant nothing.”
“Bolton is the only one who knows who put that hit on Killian. There is no other way, Theo. So if you’re going to let him walk for Astrid, then damn, this woman means a lot to you.”
“It was an impulsive decision. I had less than a second to make it.”
“So, you are going to kill him.”
“I don’t know?—”
“How do you not know?”
“Get off my neck, Axel.” This had just happened hours ago, and I knew I was in deep shit. My men were utterly bewildered, and I was certain Bolton was confused-as-fuck right now. My twin brother was the only person who had known me my whole life…his whole life. Not to avenge him wasn’t an option. But to kill Bolton…wasn’t really an option either.
“I hope you like bullshit.” Axel stared at me for a while. “Because you’re ankle-deep in it now.”