Page 108 of Diamond In The Rough

“We have ways of dealing with these situations.” He paces by the door. Enraged energy pulsing and searching for release. But then he snags his phone and dials, waiting only a single second before the call connects. “Michaels. Stand by in the kitchen. Eyes on Cannon and Hale at all times.” He listens. Then nods. “Discreet. I’ll be five minutes.”

“I have to kill her.” I drop into a crouch, my lungs spasming in my chest and coalescing with the blood I’ve already given today, leaving me breathless. Dizzy. Or maybe it’s just my anger doing that. “I have to end it.”

“I can do it for you.” Stony faced, he sets his hands on his hips and sneers. “I would do that for you, Micah. Take the trash out and save you from having to do it.”

“Like how I offered with Christabelle?” I drop my head and let it simply loll between my shoulders. Shaking it side to side, I just… survive. I breathe. Exist. But I do it somewhere between heartache and rage.

Love still remains, even when anger tries to shove it aside.

Then grief fights for top spot, because even though she still lives right at this moment, the end is coming.

It has to.

There’s no alternative.

“Fucking sneak,” I growl. “Slipped in right under our noses.”

“Micah…”

“Yep.” I push to my feet and work through the dizziness that beats in my blood from the speedy altitude change. Then I stalk to the door and yank it open. Guards snap to attention in the hall, guns are held firmly. The whole fucking world waits for my move. “I’m telling you to leave it, Lix.” I start toward the stairs, glancing over my shoulder as he matches my pace. “I’m dealing with it.”

“I could dispose of her.” He presses his hand to my arm as we start down. “You don’t have to do it yourself.”

“I’ve got it. I started this shit. I’ll finish it.”

23

TIIA

NEVER HAVE I EVER…

The dog adores Christabelle, resting his head on her lap and grinning when she absentmindedly strokes his ear. If animals could smile, I know with the way his lips curl and his eyes dance, Bastard is doing that right now.

She’s not Felix’s girl.

She’s his.

“He’s more sensitive than his brothers, ya know? Quieter.” Her voice chatters somewhere in the back of my skull. Her words, barely penetrating as I look at the doorway and wait. Wait for Micah to come back. For him to hold me again. For his hands to touch my skin and his heart to keep time with mine.

He’s not mine to keep forever. It’s impossible. But until that inevitable moment of disaster, I willingly set fire to my career, fall in love, and push the pending explosion aside.

“He has a million things happening beneath the surface, I mean, and unless you’re paying really close attention, I’m not sure most even realize.” Christabelle moves in my peripherals. Waves her hand. “Tiia? You in there?”

“What?” My mind slingshots back to her. To this room. And away from the buzzing in my ears and the ache in my heart. Because I’m a liar. A traitor. I’m here inside the Malone home, when I really, really shouldn’t be. “Huh?”

“Micah,” she snickers, glancing back at the doorway where my gaze continues to jump to. “Felix is loud and brash. If he has something on his mind, he tends to shout about it. But not Micah. He’s more subtle than that.”

“Why do you think that is?” I slide a hand over my turning stomach. Soothing the ache of what was a too-near miss today. “When he was raised in the same home, under the same circumstances; how could he and Felix be so different?”

“Expectations, I suppose. They knew their roles from the outset. Felix would always be the leader, and Micah would always have his back. It was ingrained from the start.”

Footsteps echo on the tile in the hall. Shuffling feet that promise Micah’s return. I know, in theory, I’m not in danger when he’s not around. If Christabelle is left unattended, then Felix deems the home safe. That means I’m safe. But Micah not being by my side, still, makes my palms sweat. His absence makes my head spin.

“To be a leader, I figure a man has to be heard,” Christabelle continues. “To be a protecter, stealthy movements are where it’s at. They were bred for their parts within this family.”

“Are you okay with who Felix is?” I drag my eyes from the still vacant doorway and meet Christabelle’s silver stare instead. “I know who you are, Christabelle. The whole city knows you’re Cannon newspaper royalty. And now you’re Felix Malone’s betrothed. His reputation precedes him.”

“His heart is larger than his name.” She unscrews the cap from her bottle of water and sets it on the stone counter. “When a woman is loved the way he loves me…” Thoughtful, she looks across and gives a small smile. “Then she’ll do whatever she needs to maintain it. To protect that heart. Because it’s so pure. So rare. I think you’re beginning to understand the kind of love I mean.”

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