Page 89 of Thirst Trap
My knuckles went white on the desk. “Then they’re about to regret it.”
They made a play in my city.
They’d choke on it.
Chapter 54
The Lockdown
Weapons cabinet. Holster. Round chambered. My body moved faster than I thought.
“What are you doing?” Maddison demanded.
“What do you think?” I snapped. “They cut Logan’s girl up like a warning sign. I’m not
sitting here.”
“So you leave me?” she fired back. Barefoot, in my shirt, eyes blazing. “Alone? While
you go play hitman?”
“You’re staying,” I said, already at the door. “The Goldsmiths demanded we stand
down at the docks for seven days. That’s not ransom,that’s strategy. And they’ll use
you to make me comply.”
Her fury flickered into fear and back. “Locking me up doesn’t make me safe. It just
turns me into bait.”
“You’re already bait,” I said, voice cracking. “Just by being in my orbit. And I will burn
this city before I let them touch you.”
I keyed the lock. Steel hissed. The door was sealed.
“Lucas!” She pounded the glass.
“If you love me,” I said, throat tight, “stay alive.”
“You bastard.”
“Yeah. Your bastard.”
And I was gone.
***
The room hummed with monitors, Penny’s bruised face frozen on one feed. I pressed my palms to the glass, breath ragged.
For a moment, I didn’t just see her. I saw Logan. The way he looked at Penny like she was the only thing that could pull him back from the edge. The same way Lucas looked at me. We were mirrors, Penny and I. Women crazy enough, loyal enough, to love Creamsmen who didn’t know how to be loved without fire.
He locked the vault.
I learned what it meant to be bait.
Chapter 55
