Zeke hangs up the phone, and my attention goes back to him as he walks toward the bed, with indecision in his eyes.
“Don’t,” I say.
He pauses and looks at me with sadness.
“Don’t go. Stay.”
His eyes get big as he looks at me. He doesn’t nod. He doesn’t answer me with words.
And for a moment I think he is going to go—that he’s going to leave me.
Instead, he pulls the sheets back and climbs into bed. And then he puts his arm over my body. It’s not sexual; he doesn’t even pull me to his chest. He just rests his arm over my body with a promise to protect me always.
I wait until he falls asleep for me to close my eyes. And I’m asleep within seconds of my eyelids falling.
But when I wake up, I already know the truth. Zeke is a bad guy. He’s a monster. He’s gone.
If it wasn’t too late before, it is now. I will put up with a lot of things, but not this. Never this.
26
Zeke
This ends tonight.
The three words play over and over in my head as I slip out of bed in the middle of the night. As I walk quieter than a ghost through my house and out to my truck.
I consider walking the quarter of a mile to Julian’s house but think better of it. I might need the truck. And I want to save all my energy for Julian.
Tonight, Julian dies for his sins.
He dies for tying Siren up.
He dies for touching her.
For hitting her.
For almost raping her.
He dies.
The second he chose to touch her; he sealed his fate. Death is all his future can hold. I can’t let him breathe another second for what he did to Siren.
Julian ruined the best thing in my life. In one night, he took every chance at happiness away.
Maybe Siren and I still wouldn’t have ended up together. But I had hope. Hope for her. For me. And for us.
I could have asked her out on a real date. Brought her flowers every day for a year to apologize for buying her instead of telling her the truth from the start—that I bought her to keep her safe.
Siren could have forgiven me for keeping her in the dark and pretending to be a monster. But she can’t forgive me for failing her. She can’t forgive me for hurting her.
I was so close to being able to tell her everything. I got rid of the bugs in the house. And I had a plan for how to pay off my debt to Julian without becoming a human trafficker myself. I could have told her the truth. Every move I’ve made has been to protect her.
Now, that’s all gone—because of Julian.
I don’t have a shot in hell. Siren deserves better. A man worthy of her. A man with honor and goodness in his heart.
I will never be that man.
Unless killing the bastard who touched her is honorable.
I don’t know anymore. I just know it has to be done.
It won’t give me any more points in Siren’s book. She won’t look at me with want in her eyes. She might even hate me for killing yet another man. She may think no one deserves to be slaughtered, even a demon like Julian.
But it has to be done. Julian has to die.
I didn’t realize tonight was going to be when he dies until Oscar called, saying the shipment is ready for me. It’s been almost two weeks since Julian laid a hand on Siren. She’s been sleeping and recovering while I played doctor, hooking up IVs and medications to keep her alive.
Tonight became the night the second Oscar called. My time is up. I either kill Julian and every man who works for or with him, or I traffic women.
My choice is easy.
Even if I’ll spend the rest of my life running, hunting down lead after lead, connection after connection of men who work for Julian. Men who, after today, will become my enemy.
I may never return to my previous life. I may never work for Enzo Black again. I may never get to joke with my best friend, Langston. Or see if Kai finally tamed Enzo.
I will live my life alone. My only purpose will be killing and ensuring Siren’s safety. I’ll have to watch Siren from afar. Watch her get a new job, move into a new place. Date other men. Marry a man. Have kids with another man.
It will be torture, but a worthy life. Because if I have to spend the rest of my life protecting Siren, then my life is worth something. I’ll have spent my time on this earth doing something honorable instead of wasting it away, committing the worst crimes.
I pull up in front of Julian’s house in my truck. It’s the middle of the night, but Julian surely already knows I’m here. He doesn’t have the security features my former boss did, but he’s paranoid enough to have a solid security system.
He knows I’m here.
I prefer it that way. I don’t want to sneak into his bedroom while he’s sleeping and shoot him dead. I’m not that kind of guy.
I want a battle.
I want to know the best man won when I kill him.
I want him to look into the whites of my eyes as he bleeds out in front of me.
When I step out of my truck, I slam the door extra hard, ensuring my presence is known, if it wasn’t already.
Then I pull out my gun, load it, and cock it. I hold it to my side as I walk calmly to the front door.
I don’t ring the doorbell.
Instead, I kick down the double-bolted door with my massive foot and step inside.
My ears are alert, listening for any sign of Julian or his guards. I will have to take out his guards too, but I hope when I finally get to Julian, it will end with just the two of us fighting.
My eyes scan the darkness, and I see a shadow move in the living room.
Cautiously, I hold my gun out as I move through the dark entryway. When I get to the living room, I see Julian seated in a chair towards me, waiting.
Shoot him. Now.
End this.
But something stops me.
And then, it’s too late.
The lights flick on, and I see thirty men surrounding Julian.
I don’t drop my gun, though. I’ve been outnumbered before. I have a fifty-fifty chance of winning, killing every bastard here.
If it was just me I had to worry about, I might take those odds. Fifty-fifty is pretty good when it comes to a gunfight. Technically, just fighting a man one on one is fifty-fifty odds, because all it takes is one shot—one bullet to hit me in just the wrong spot for me to lose. But one on one, I’ve never lost before, so I consider my odds much higher.
But with this many men—fifty-fifty.
There is a fifty-fifty chance I live or die.
A fifty-fifty chance I return to Siren.
A fifty-fifty chance I can protect her.
A fifty-fifty chance Julian finds her and finishes what he started.
I can’t take the chance. Because if I fail, Siren is who will pay for my loss, not me. Sure, I’ll be dead, I won’t even realize I lost. But I won’t have to suffer the consequences like she will.
I look around at the thirty men I’ve never seen before. Julian’s operation is bigger than I realized. Where has he been hiding this army? They are muscular, confident, and know how to hold a gun from the looks at them. Any one of them could do the job Julian asked of me. So why does he want me?
“We’ve been waiting for you,” Julian says, with a grin.
I don’t lower my gun, and none of the men draw theirs. It’s like they know Julian isn’t really in any danger. That’s either a mistake on their part or mine.