Page 15 of Soulmate of the Mafia King
He studied my face for a moment. “Of course, sir. I’ll protect her with my life. She’s getting out of this country if it’s the last thing I do.”
Some of the pressure in my chest released. I clapped his shoulder. “I’ll make sure there’s a safety net for that wife of yours before the fighting starts.”
“Thank you,” he said earnestly. “Let’s hope both of us are wasting our effort.”
“Deal.” I smiled as I headed out the door.
I strode through the lobby like a ghost. This place had security better than most banks, but in the end, I picked it because they also had a secrecy policy that beat out most members of the Alphabet Mafia. They didn’t want to remember what I looked like, and I was grateful for that.
On the street, I called a taxi to the hotel. It came quickly, and the cabbie didn’t negotiate for long before agreeing on an actually fair price. After a day of riding around with Killian, though, I automatically climbed into the front seat.
The driver looked at me. I looked at him. Then, he muttered something under his breath I could guess was insulting and pulled away from the curb. I ignored him and stared out the window, sucking in lungful after lungful of thick diesel fumes. The ride was just as jerky and swervy as I’d come to expect in Cairo, though a part of me couldn’t help pointing out how odd it was that I expected anything in Cairo. I’d lived my whole life in Philly. Sure, I’d traveled here and there, spent some time in major cities, but never much. I was needed at home. At Killian’s side, even before he took up the mantle. I wondered how much of the world I’d missed.
The traffic thinned slightly as the cabbie turned onto a new street, and my heart skipped. I’d taken this road before, in this seat of a taxi. When I was bringing Paige away from Zahur’s palace for the first time. I glanced in the rearview mirror, and my brain conjured a phantom image of her into the empty reflection of the backseat. She was half-dressed, covered in blood, curled into herself like she was expecting to be hit at any moment. She’dkept her eyes closed for most of the ride because the sun burned them after her time in Zahur’s back halls. And still, every time she met my gaze for more than a split second, she glared at me. Just like she had today when I told her I really had to go.
A wild laugh burst from my lips. The cabbie glanced at me then turned up the music. Somehow, that made everything even funnier. Only seven months ago, I’d pulled a feral woman off these streets, and she made the miraculous choice to trust me, to love me. She sat in a hotel right now, waiting for me to come back to her. The only thing standing in my way was one of the men who made her feral in the first place—and three armies of Egyptians.
Maybe I was kidding myself. Maybe this was more dangerous than other raids I’d done. But I meant it when I said I’d always find my way back to her, even if the thought made my shoulders shake even harder, until I wasn’t certain whether I was laughing or crying.
The cabbie pulled to a stop at the rental house. I wiped my face, tipped him well beyond handsomely, and stepped out of the taxi.
CHAPTER 12
PAIGE
The sun sat well below the horizon by the time I mustered myself enough to get up and rejoin my guards in the common area. Something heavy had taken up residence on my ribs, making every breath just a little shallower than I needed, and I couldn’t get it to go away.
“Hey.” Sam leaned away from the table my security team was gathered around, revealing the pile of weapons and technology on top. “You want to play some more cards?”
That couldn’t possibly be worse than sitting in the dark alone. I nodded and walked over to the low table that still held the remains of our poker game. Rico, Sam, and Eddie joined me. Thankfully, I’d already hustled Eddie. I didn’t have that in me now. Harry remained at the supply table, bent over a laptop that I didn’t want to ask about.
Sam shuffled the cards. I checked the time on my phone: 9:02. Prayer call would be soon. Sam dealt the cards, two apiece.
“Ante two,” he said. “And no dinosaur arms.”
I tossed in two candied nuts and looked at my cards. The three and jack of clubs. Crap. I could go for a flush, but?—
I checked the time. 9:04. Shit.
Sam flipped over the first three community cards. The queen of clubs and the seven and eight of diamonds. The bet wound around the table slowly. One from Rico. One from Eddie. My bet.
“All in,” I found myself saying.
Sam whistled. “Shit, I guess you’re really not playing us anymore.”
I nodded absently. Would Tom be at the house by now? Would he be on the way to the bastard’s, already loaded with the guns and armor that would hopefully save his life?
“I’m out,” Eddie said.
Rico tossed his cards in the middle and frowned. I looked at the time: 9:08.
“I’ll match it,” Sam said. “I have to see your cards.”
He shoved his whole pile into the middle and flipped over the final two cards. Not a club to be seen. Just the three of spades. I had one pair.
Sam crowed. “Three queens, if you can beat that.”
I blinked. Yep, the other community card he’d flipped over was the queen of hearts, and he had the spade in his hand.
