Page 56 of Marked

Cole grimaced and stood, bringing his gun with him. “Yeah, well. All these fuckers are going to die tonight.”

His brother pocketed the knife and withdrew his gun. “Agreed.” He pressed his finger to the outside of his ear. “Guard one is down.”

Dallas’s voice echoed in Cole’s ear in the close range.

“Good,” Nash said. “We just took care of guard two. Hitting the ranch-hand building now.”

Cole pulled out his GPS. “We’re a quarter mile from the barn. We’ll touch base then.”

“Copy that.”

Cole nodded in the direction he and Dallas needed to head. “Let’s go.”

***

“Oh my god. I don’t know what it is about savory foods, but it sure helps the nausea.” Lexi popped a dill pickle chip in her mouth and offered the bag to Sophia.

She shook her head. “No, thanks.” Lexi had been trying to spark conversation, likely to keep Sophia’s mind off the clock, but it wasn’t working.

A half hour had gone by, which meant Cole would likely be just getting to the barn.

So close.

“Did you have cravings with Bella?”

Some of the angst in Sophia’s heart softened. “Yeah. Pickles were my thing. So cliché.” She offered a smile that took almost all her energy to produce.

“Right? I swear I lived off pickles and crackers my first trimester.” Lexi chomped on another chip and her gaze shifted to the clock.

“I know,” Sophia said, forcing down a wave of panic. “They should be there now.”

Lexi crumpled the empty bag, and the foil crinkled loudly in the stale air. “You don’t need to worry—I mean, of course you do, it’s your daughter. But I just mean she’s in good hands. Cole’s a little scary and intimidating for some, but I saw the look on his face when we rescued those kids. Just about killed him.”

Intrigue sparked inside Sophia. “You probably know him quite well by now.”

Lexi lifted a shoulder, and her blue eyes sparked with mischief. “He’s a hard person to ‘get to know.’ Guarded. Distant. Moody.” Her gaze shifted to the dark night surrounding the vehicle. Their little interior flashlight was on dim, so as not to draw attention to the car. “Believe it or not, I think he has a heart in there somewhere. Buried under a shitload of childhood trauma and abuse.”

A lump lodged itself in Sophia’s throat, and she glanced down at her hands. Selfishly, she’d never wanted to look at Cole Holmes beyond his rap sheet. Sure, she’d figured he’d probably had a screwed-up past, like most criminals, but something about picturing him going through hell made her stomach seize. She shook her head internally. There was no way to justify his actions or his career.

Yet part of her ached to know more.

“He’s been through a lot?”

Lexi’s eyes narrowed slightly. “It’s getting chilly.”

“Sorry, I don’t mean to pry. It’s not my business.”

And it wasn’t. Lexi’s hesitancy was a sign that Sophia needed to end her mental jog around the sympathy pool for a wanted assassin.

Lexi shook her head. “No, it’s fine. I can’t tell you anything I know Cole wouldn’t, but yeah. All the Holmes boys had a disaster of a childhood. Cole’s the oldest, and the responsibility of looking out for his younger brothers was a lot for him at a young age.”

“They didn’t have parents?”

Lexi made a face. “That’s where it gets personal. I’ll leave things there. Maybe Cole will share his life story with you though.”

She chortled. “I doubt it. I don’t think he trusts me very much.”

“Girl,” Lexi said, rolling her eyes to meet Sophia’s face. “That guy more than trusts you. He wants you. But that’s none of my business.”

---