Page 28 of The Outlaw's Savage Revenge

“Scar, even I could see she wasn’t acting yesterday. She likes you.”

Scar’s eyes grow hard. “Because I look like you.”

“Bullshit. Kat loves you for you, Scar. And she gets you. Oozing warts and all.”

He looks away, jaw clenching. “You get me, too,” he whispers, and I hear the unspoken addition:Because you made me.

I’ve known Scar long enough to see the cracks start to form. He’s been getting restless, more focused on the work he does for me. But there’s also a desperation, a hunger that makes me question if he wants more—needs more than just being my shadow.

“Pretty,” he mutters, “you better not lose your edge, man.”

“Why? Do I look like I’ve got a few screws loose already?”

“Something is off with you. Everything went to shit as soon as I left you alone last night. Look, I can’t lose—” he cuts himself off, biting down on whatever words were about to spill out, but I already know what he’s thinking.

I can’t lose you.

For a moment, I feel the weight of the responsibility I carry, not just for myself, but for Scar too.

“You won’t lose me. Cade Quinn,” I say softly, calling him by the name that grounds him—my name. He stares at me, searching my face for reassurance that I’m still in control. Finally, he nods, and the tension eases in his shoulders.

And just like that, Scar’s focus shifts again. And so does mine. Priorities fall into place like bullets in a chamber. There’s too much at stake to entertain saving another distressed damsel. Especially one the bureau has marked as a sacrificial lamb.

“We’re going to Moscow today,” I announce, more to myself than him.

As I watch Scar leave, I can’t shake the premonition that the ground beneath us is starting to shift.

10

Luna

Option one—and the most probable: Rocky is lying.

I repeat this mantra as my Uber stops a quarter-mile from the Romano estate, but the words ring hollow in my head.

The entire trip has barely dulled the adrenaline coursing through my veins, and my heartbeat has now settled into something resembling normal.

I pride myself on holding my own in combat. What I lack in bulk, I make up for in speed and agility. But fuck, he’s strong. And hard. My core ripples again as the image surges back unbidden—the way his hand wrapped around my throat, the raw power in his grip somehow both terrifying and thrilling.

He was unyielding, too, until I touched him and something cracked in his perfect control, and for one breath, one heartbeat, he softened for me. I felt invincible in that moment.

Fuck, I want to touch him again.The thought snakes through my mind, dangerous and tempting.

Priorities, Luna. Now is not the time to dwell on a man who could snap you in half—or worse, be plotting to sell you to the highest bidder.

I give myself a firm mental shake.Okay, where was I? Right, Rocky has to be lying.

But what if he isn’t?

If what Rocky said is true, I’m screwed. I try to imagine Clemenza planning to sell me off like a used stereo. Sure, he’d make some money, but he’d never live to spend it. Papa would gut him. He wouldn’t dare.

But why would Rocky lie?

He seemed to have no ambition beyond sipping coffee and pointing me toward the door. Hell, he’d practically kicked me out of it—right after every inch of his body betrayed how much he wanted me to stay.

“Here we are, miss.” The Uber driver’s voice yanks me from my increasingly heated thoughts. “You wanted The Turning Point Chippy, right?” He grins at me through the rearview mirror, oblivious to the knot churning in my gut.

As he slows to a stop in front of the chicken-and-chips shop, I offer a half-hearted smile. “Thanks, Billy.”

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