Page 48 of Ruthless Sinner

I glared back at him. I didn’t want to fight my brother. Annoyed with one another we might get, but actually fighting? On opposite sides? I never would’ve thought it would happen, and I didn’t want it to.

For Kennedy, though, I’d do it.

Vincent sighed. “Let’s see what I can dig up, and how this conversation will go.” He wasn’t speaking to Kennedy, but to me, and I knew it. “This isn’t a pardon. Not yet. It’s a delay in execution.”

Kennedy winced, then nodded in understanding.

I swallowed hard. Vincent wasn’t doing this to spare someone’s life or because he had any faith in Kennedy. He was doing this for me. “Thank you.”

“Don’t make me regret it,” Vincent replied.

He turned and Toby followed him back to the elevator.

CHAPTER20

Kennedy

The moment that his brother left, Marco relaxed. He sat down on the edge of the bed again and took my hand. “How are you feeling?”

“I ache all over,” I admitted. There was no point in being brave now. I was sure my face looked a mess. “But I’m not dead.”

“No, you’re not.” A shadow passed over Marco’s features.

“Why didn’t you let him kill me?” I asked softly. I didn’t understand. Marco said he loved me. That he’d protect me from his own brother. But I had lied to him this entire time.

“You tried to get yourself killed so that I wouldn’t ever know the truth,” Marco replied. “Not out of selfish reasons. Because you didn’t want me to feel betrayed by you. You didn’t want to hurt me like that. That kind of love and loyalty can’t… it can’t be bought or found easily and I don’t…”

He cleared his throat. “I’ve never felt like this about anyone and I don’t know if I ever will again. And I don’t think that… the kind of loyalty you’ve shown is something I should give up. I don’t think a woman like you should be given up if you’re the guy lucky enough to have her.”

I swallowed. “You’re nothing like what I was told to expect in my briefing. I thought you’d be… so much less of a man. I thought you’d be stupid and violent and untrustworthy. But you were… youareeverything.”

Marco didn’t look at me, instead looking down at our joined hands. Like he wasn’t quite sure if he’d be able to handle looking at me dead-on, like I was the sun and I’d blind him.

“I really didn’t want to hurt you,” I whispered. “I wanted you to never know. Because I… I’ve never felt like this, either and it terrifies me, but all I know is that I want to be loyal to you. Always.”

“Don’t know if you noticed this, Juliet, but you’re a fed.” Marco’s voice was tired. His thumb traced circles along the back of my hand. “Aren’t I the enemy?”

“I don’t think that you’re any better or worse than cops,” I admitted. “I’ve seen how you take care of me, and take care of your own. I respect your brother, and I like your sister-in-law. And I…” I took a deep breath. “I’ve been alone, ever since my mother died. She was sick for so long, I lost touch with everyone I’d ever called a friend, taking care of her. And then in the academy, you don’t make friends. Especially if you’re a woman. You’re too busy trying to be the best and prove yourself. There’s nobody in my life.”

I leaned forward, wincing a little as the action pulled on my various bruises and cuts, and took Marco’s chin in my hand. I tilted his face up so that his dark eyes met mine. “There’s only you. And if it’s choosing between two groups, and one of them has the man I love in it… then it’s not really a choice. Not to me. It’s you, every time.”

Marco cleared his throat, then took my hand in his and pressed his mouth to my knuckles. A thrill ran up my arm. There was more passion in that touch just then than I’d gotten in actual sex from previous boyfriends. He kissed my hand like he was asking for benediction.

“Nobody’s ever chosen me before,” he admitted at last, his voice so low I could barely hear it. “I’ve always been… a disappointment.”

“Not to me,” I promised.

Marco turned my hand over and kissed the inside of my wrist, his lips against my thudding pulse. “I’ll tear them all apart,” he growled.

His eyes flashed like a wolf’s. I felt like if I could see all of his teeth in that moment, they would be sharp, every last one of them. “None of them will hurt you. Not the feds and not my family.”

“It won’t come to that.” Or at least I hoped it wouldn’t. “We’ll do reconnaissance, and we’ll figure out how to handle Johnson and the others.”

Marco pushed himself up and wrapped a supportive arm around my waist. His lips ghosted over the corner of my mouth, like he knew he had to be gentle with me but he also couldn’t resist touching me like this.

I gripped his shoulders, hanging onto him like a buoy in a raging sea.

“We’ll get through this,” Marco promised me. “You and me, we’ll get through this.”

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