Page 81 of Chief's Addiction

I stepped out of the cell, wiping my blade clean on my jeans before sheathing it. When I looked up, Sparrow was watching me with a new expression on his face. Respect.

“It’s done,” I said simply, extending my hand to him.

He took it without hesitation, gripping my forearm. “You take care of my sister,” he warned. “You hurt her again...”

He left the threat hanging between us, but I understood him loud and clear. “I’d cut off my own arm before hurting her again,” I answered him honestly, meaning every word.

Viper clapped me on the shoulder. “We’re heading back to Miami. Got our own shit to deal with.”

I nodded. “Appreciate the help. You’re always welcome in Jacksonville.”

“Sparrow’s gonna say goodbye to his sister before we roll out,” Viper added with a significant look at his VP.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll fix it,” Sparrow grumbled, already heading for the door.

Once Miami was out of the warehouse, I turned back to Killer, who was already pulling out plastic sheeting to wrap Spike’s body.

“Memphis came to Cora’s room earlier,” I said, watching his face carefully.

His expression remained impassive, but I didn’t miss the slight ticking in his jaw. “She shouldn’t be wandering around alone.”

“She knew about Nikolai,” I continued, dropping the bombshell. “Asked me specifically about him.”

That got a reaction. Killer’s head snapped up, his eyes narrowing. “What the fuck? How?”

I shook my head. “I was hoping you’d know. She shut down the second I asked her. Scared shitless.”

Killer cursed under his breath, his massive hands stilling on the plastic. “She hasn’t said a word to me about any of it. Barely speaks at all, actually.”

Well, that made two of them. Though he’d been rather fucking chatty since he brought her here and started hovering like a helicopter parent.

“Find out what she knows,” I said, keeping my voice level. “If she’s connected to Sidorov somehow, we need to know. We’ve got enough problems without walking into something blind.”

He nodded, his expression hard. “I’ll handle it.”

As I headed back toward the door, leaving Killer to deal with the mess, my thoughts returned to Cora. I’d done what needed doing. Spike would never hurt her or anyone else again.

Now I just needed to focus on helping her heal and figuring out what the fuck was going on with the Russians.

Epilogue

Cora

It was two weeks afterThe Incident. That’s what I was calling it.

Mason had been pushing that maybe I needed to talk to someone about what happened. He was worried about me, but what he didn’t understand was that I didn’t want to talk about it. He assured me that Spike and his men would never be able to hurt anyone again and I believed him.

I wasn’t dumb. I knew what that meant. Spike and his men were dead and my man made it so.

I kept waiting for the guilt to come, but it never did. All I felt was relief that Spike was gone. He hurt a lot of people. Beck and I were only two of his victims.

Glancing around the pavilion, my eyes caught on Memphis perched on Killer’s lap. She was another casualty of Spike’s wickedness.

Killer’s dark hand splayed across her back and I felt my lips turn up at the corners. They were polar opposites. Where he was at least six-foot-five of pure muscle, she was maybe five-foot-nothing and tiny. Where his features were dark, Memphis’s were light.

“She’s doing better,” Mac said, lowering herself onto the bench beside me. She rubbed her hand over her baby bump as she looked over at Memphis.

I nodded. “I noticed. She actually made eye contact with me this morning when I passed her in the hallway.”

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