Page 44 of Assassin's Mark
I took my time answering, trying to sort my own jumbled thoughts in the process—and, okay, also trying to make sure I didn’tsound like a total idiot. “You said Derrick asked you to kill an innocent man. You researched him, knew who he was, but you couldn’t find any wrongdoing. What was their connection? It was big enough to kill for, if you’re telling the truth. That could be the biggest secret of all, the one that could stop all of this. Hit men expect to get paid, right?”
Eli widened his eyes dramatically. “No,we do it for the good of humanity.”
Smart-ass.
“My point is, if you figured out why Derrick wanted the man dead, and his secrets came out, my…Derrick would be finished. Whatever he’s hiding would be out in the open. He wouldn’t be paying anyone to come after you then.” And hopefully whoever this Axe guy was would accept that.
Maybe no one else had to die.
I dared to meet Levi’s steel-graygaze. “Follow the original trail, and you’ll find the real ammunition against Derrick. That’s what he’s trying to prevent by killing you, isn’t it?”
“Your girl is smart, Levi.”
Between one blink and the next, a shutter slammed down on Levi’s expression, his eyes hard on my face. “She’s not my girl.”
I absorbed the blow with all the grace I’d been taught from childhood, refusing to look awayno matter how the knife twisted in my chest. Levi was the one who dismissed me when he turned to his brother. Only the risk of Eli’s seeing how much it hurt kept my face blank.
“How soon before Axe trails us here?” Levi asked.
I noticed Eli kept his gaze glued to his brother’s, a small act of kindness I couldn’t help but be grateful for. “Let’s just say we need Remi to wake up sooner than later.”
“Well, you got your wish,” a sleep-roughened voice said behind us. Leah stood in the door to Remi’s room, rumpled and groggy, her frown a severe slash across a tired face. “He’s coming out of it.”
The brothers shot out of their chairs so fast they rocked backward; Levi’s actually fell over. I righted it as I rounded the table, then followed them into the sickroom. The men were surrounding Remi’sbed by the time I got there, peppering Leah with questions. I took up a spot at Remi’s feet and surveyed the brother I hadn’t truly met yet. Amber eyes clouded with sleep and pain stared back at me, a vee forming between his dark brows.
Levi gripped Remi’s shoulder and squeezed down. “It’s good to have you back, brother.”
The relief in his voice couldn’t be missed, but it drew Remi’s attentionfor less than a second before he came back to me. Recognition sparked a moment later, and a guttural groan escaped. “That’s Abigail Roslyn,” he muttered. His grasp on the bed rails was shaky at best, but he forced himself upright nonetheless. Leah moved close, her sure hands supporting his back to keep him that way. Remi barely seemed to notice—the entire time, he stared at me, eyes wide, incredulous.And increasingly angry.
The stare jerked to his brother then. “Goddamn it, Levi, what the fuck have you done?”
