Page 145 of Nest of Thieves
I hum and drop my head back, resting it on the car. “And you’re going to do it?”
Silence stretches between us. So she hasn’t decided. I can’t fault her for hiding the truth from us. We’ve only known each other for six weeks, and even though we’re mates, we’re all criminals. Criminals are motivated by three things: money, glory, and sex.
I can’t fuck the problem away.
Pity that. Maybe a knot would change her mind, but that would only delay the inevitable choice.
“Kitten—”
“We should go,” Vette cuts me off. He unlocks the car.
I glare at him, but he and Lark both give a hard shake of their heads. They don’t want me to tell her we know.
“Great.” Jo spins and tugs at the door.
I step away so she can open it, watching her climb into the vehicle. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind if she’s the one to kill me. Better her than some asshole. If my death is what it takes to save her kin, she can have it.
* * *
VETTE
Cranking up the music, I peel out of the parking lot. Lark messes with his phone. He’s always escaping into technology when things get difficult. Technology, he understands. Emotions? Not so much.
Waiting for her decision is eating away at me. Mac was ready to tell her we knew the choice she was given, but I didn’t want to force her hand sooner than we had to. She’s already been given an impossible choice; confessing we know she might kill us would only make that harder. At least now she has space and time to process, and the guys and I can work on figuring out exactly how Damien knew who Jo was and what buttons to push.
Damien is good. As boss, he has to be the best of the best. It should come as no surprise that he knew all about Jo. We did our best to keep her hidden from him, but Damien’s smart and he’s got eyes everywhere. Jo’s been out with us enough that someone somewhere must have seen her and reported back to him.
It’s never a good idea to keep secrets from Damien, and I admit that wanting to protect Jo played a major role in keeping her presence from him. I can’t imagine how she must feel with two threats issued against her family.
I look in the rearview, finding Jo staring out the window. She furrows her brow and turns to look at me, sensing my attention. So much turmoil in those pretty brown eyes. She doesn’t want to do it, but I have no doubt that she will if it comes to it. Damien threatened to kill a baby, for fuck’s sake.
Why does he want us gone so badly? We do a good job. Aside from the bank job, we’ve done everything that’s ever been asked of us.
Is he threatened?
That’s crazy, right?
We’ve never been that ambitious.
Jo pulls her gaze from mine and stares out of the window once more. I grip the steering wheel but follow the speed limit on the way home.
Or maybe it’s not us he’s afraid of. Maybe it’s the omega who found herself three powerful alphas. Maybe Jo is the one he’s worried about. Having her kill her mates would mean she’d be out of commission. Losing a mate is like being shot in the chest. She would save her family but sacrifice herself in the process. Her mind would be broken at first. If she were strong enough to recover from losing not one but three mates, she’d be hollow inside. A silhouette of the woman she is now.
She wouldn’t be a threat to Damien.
And I’m guessing that’s exactly what he wants.
He won’t get that.
* * *
JO
As soon as we get home, I slide out of the SUV and head to my room. The guys must understand my need for alone time, because none of them follow me. I go to my bathroom and remove the knife and the gun I stole from Orc from the thigh holster. My skin is blotchy and indented where the gun bit into my skin, but I can’t find it in me to care.
The longer I think about what Damien is asking, the more pissed I get. At first, I couldn’t figure out why exactly he asked me to do that. Was it merely because they disobeyed him? Because the job they were given failed?
That’s too simple.
