Page 86 of Barristers & Bones

Gideon walked back over, his phone to his ear. “We got the coordinates to Lionel’s safe house, his men plugged it into the SUV’s nav system.” Gideon shook his head. “I’m sending a team in now. We need to go.””

Roman’s jaw clenched, and he wrapped his arms around me. “Fenn is watching you tonight. But if you run from him, me, or one of my bodyguards again, I’ll do more than just paddle your sweet ass. I’ll tag your fucking ear if I have to. Now promise me you won’t run again–and mean it.”

I gazed up at him, tired, scared, and frustrated. Then I shook my head. “If they grab someone else I care about, I can’t tell you I wouldn’t do it again.”

Fenn sighed behind Roman. “You should’ve just lied, Lou. Roman’s an attorney, he lies all the time.”

Roman ignored Fenn and took me by the shoulders as if he wanted to shake me. “You drive me fuckinginsane, and we’re not done talking about you diving into that SUV. Stay safe.” He kissed me hard and deep before pulling away and striding out with Gideon.

Fenn called one of his men to retrieve our belongings from the law library and then took us to Ezra’s house, which sat right next to his. The large, older ranch-style adobe homes were located a few blocks from the mortuary, south of the airport between Paradise Valley and Green Valley North. All the properties in their neighborhood sat on acre lots, which was an anomaly in Las Vegas.

When we got to Ezra’s home, we both cleaned up the best we could. Alexa slapped some ointment and a butterfly bandage on her lip and waited impatiently for Fenn’s men to bring our belongings. When she got her laptop back, she cradled it like an infant.

“I need to look up a few things,” she told me vaguely and disappeared.

I washed Milo’s blood off the best I could, and Ezra loaned me another shirt. Then we sat in his kitchen, drinking whiskey and eating leftover apple crisp and ice cream as I told them what happened.

Ezra leaned back, his plate half empty. “It wasn’t the smartest thing, Luna, diving into a moving vehicle full of degenerate criminals. But I can’t say I’m sorry since both you and Alexa are safe. The Stracks wouldn’t think twice about torturing and killing any of you.”

Fenn pointed at Ezra’s half-finished dessert. “You done with that?” Ezra nodded, and Fenn pulled the plate over and shoveled a bite into his mouth. Then he pointed his spoon at me. “What’s going on with you and Fowler? I thought this was a marriage of convenience–meaning he’d keep you alive, and then you’d conveniently get the marriage annulled when the threat is neutralized. Watch yourself with him. He’s a soulless bastard, and he and his partners are fucked up.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

He picked up his whiskey and took a sip. “It isn’t fair, but something inside a person is damaged when you go through what they did. And if they ever do heal, it’s usually messy.”

Fenn could have been talking about me, and I looked down at my plate, feeling the sting in my chest as I stirred melted ice cream around. He knew what had happened to me. He and Kilian had been in their early twenties when Ezra brought Sylvie and me home.

He studied my face and realization dawned. “Shit, Luna. I didn’t mean you.”

My fingernails still had a few specks of blood underneath them, I noticed absently. When I got home, I planned to soak in Roman’s tub and scrub myself clean. “We’re all damaged in some way, aren’t we?” I replied. “Every time I’ve brought up getting an annulment, Roman tells me it will never happen. I don’t know if I want one now either.”

Ezra and Fenn exchanged worried glances, and Ezra turned to me. “Luna, do you plan to stay with him when the Stracks are neutralized?”

“Maybe, but he might not want to when he gets to know me better.”

Fenn studied the collar around my neck, then sighed. He leaned forward to catch my eye, then reached out and took my hand, turning it over so my wedding band was visible. “He married you and put a collar and tracker on you. A man doesn’t do that with a woman he plans to cut loose. Fowler also had his tongue down your throat at the hospital today, and he looked almost feral.”

I glanced at Ezra. “Shut up, Fenn.”

He smirked and let go of my hand. “I’ve never seen him lose his shit like that before. The bastard is usually ice-cold.”

Ezra studied the collar around my neck. “Is that a GPS tag?”

I blushed harder. “Yes. He said he wanted to be able to find me fast if I got taken, and he didn’t want it to be easily removed.”

Fenn grunted. “It’ll be interesting to see what he does with the collar after the threat ends.”

That thought had my insides tightening, and I took the whiskey in front of me and gulped it down, then grimaced at the burn in my throat. “God, that never gets better.”

Ezra shook his head. “It’s single malt whiskey. It’s not meant to be slammed back like cheap tequila.”

Alexa appeared in the kitchen doorway with her laptop in hand. She was biting her lip. “Luna, I need to show you something, and you won’t like it.”

Hours later, I lay in my old bed staring up at the ceiling, thinking about Alexa’s bombshell. It took a long time to fall asleep, and early the next morning, someone brushed a strand of hair off my cheek. I felt the mattress depress beside me, and I opened my eyes and looked up.

Roman stared down at me in the darkness. “Let’s go home.”

Tears filled my eyes. “I didn’t know,” I whispered.

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