Page 110 of Romancing His Heart
“You couldn’t call and let us know you were coming?” The edge in Seth’s voice is unmistakable.
“No, I couldn’t,” Ashton retorts. “I had to park at my mother’s house and trudge through the woods, so no one would see me coming here. I have to assume Loki is losing his shit over Sloane, right? So, I’m here.”
“What are you going to do?” I ask.
“Vic is watching this house. He can’t get a read on it, even with heat detection because of the deflectors we have all over the perimeter, but he suspects you’re all here. Seth and I are going to leave in separate cars to cause a distraction. They will automatically assume the cars are carrying you or Luca. You,” he says, pointing to me, “are going over to Sylvie’s house the way I came. Take one of the cars in her garage over to your building. Preston has it cleared out. Use his elevator to the penthouse and then take the stairs down to your floor. I wouldn’t stay long, though. An hour tops. We have work to do before you guys hit the field in a few hours.”
I stare at him, unable to speak. Ash may be the quietest of the bunch, but he doesn’t miss a thing. “Th-Thank you, Ash. I-I—”
“Need to get going,” he interrupts. “We don’t have much time. Luca?”
“Yeah, what do you need?” Luca jumps to attention, and I have to appreciate his dedication. I still have a small kernel of doubt that I wish I could wipe from my memory, but I try to remind myself that it’s just years of pent-up hatred trying to redirect itself. It’s fucking hard, but I have to trust him.
“I need to know everything you have on Mikhailov and Solonik. Every single detail. Leave nothing out. Even if it seems irrelevant to you, I want to know. Getting you to Nadja depends on it.” Ashton may stay behind the scenes, but he knows how people work. He’s covering all the bases by throwing Nadja into the mix. I’m just glad he’s on my side.
“Done,” Luca speaks immediately. “How do you want it?”
Ashton hands him a burner phone. “I’ll call you on this as soon as I’m in the clear. I want the rundown while I’m out driving aimlessly, but I want you putting it all into this encrypted software while we’re gone.”
“Got it.”
“Loki? Get going.” Ashton hands me a phone. This guy must have them stuffed into every possible crevice because he passes Seth another one. “I’ll send you a signal when it’s safe to leave Sylvie’s. She has all the keys lined up in the garage and knows you’re coming.”
Standing abruptly, Luca sets up the computer and gets to task.
“Thank you. All of you, for understanding. I just can’t leave Sloane this way.”
Seth chuckles. “Love fucks everyone up at some point.”
“Just make it quick, okay? We have a long road ahead of us,” Ashton adds.
With a parting nod, I head out the back door into the cover of night. I have no idea what I’ll say to Sloane, but she will be mine.
Chapter 36
Sloane
Igave up trying to sleep an hour ago. It’s strange. I had almost forgotten what my life was like before Loki. With him, I never once had trouble sleeping.
That’s because he sexed you up so hard every damn night that you couldn’t stay awake if you tried.
“Ugh, the sex,” I mutter to an empty room. Wrapping my arms tightly around my knees, I try not to think about what life will be like now. I rest my head on my bent legs when I feel the anxiety rising from my belly to my throat.
Why does this hurt so much? It’s not like we were together, not really anyway. I hate that he made me feel like I could do things, though. When I was with him, I honestly believed I was going to be okay—that I was worth something. And now that I’m alone again? The panic attacks and sleepless nights are worse than ever before.
“Why am I such a fuckup?” Glaring at the empty walls of Loki’s apartment, anger takes over my sadness, and I jump to my feet. Okay, I can’t sleep, but I can write. I don’t need to sit here in this pity party for one.
After placing my headphones over my ears, I flip through my playlist. I need something loud and angry. Really fucking angry, and …
My thumb lands on Eminem’s “Darkness”.
“Hello darkness.” I press play and close my eyes as my head sways to the beat. “I don’t want to be alone.” My fingers rest on the keyboard, and I type, “I don’t want to be alone.” As the song ends, a heavy hand falls to my shoulder, and I scream.
Without thinking, I send my elbow flying backward as I jump to my left, searching the room for a weapon. I hear the grunt of a man, a sound I’ve heard before, and I fight to focus on the heap that’s doubled over before me.
“Loki? Holy hell, what are you doing sneaking up on me like that?”
“I— Fuck, that hurt, Red. I called out, but you didn’t hear me.”
