Page 87 of Sacrifice the Knight (Checkmate 6)

“I can’t do it.” I don’t take my eyes off the screen. I can’t break. “I refuse to make her a target.”

“You’re hurting her by staying away. You’re breaking her heart, and you’re breaking yours, too.”

When I say nothing more, he shakes his head and expels a deep breath. “Whatever. The code is N-K-8-7-L-B-K-4-E. Login on your phone.” He waits for me to do exactly that. “You can watch around the clock.”

“Thanks.”

“Yeah.” He climbs off the stool and moves toward the other guys at the door, leaving the laptop open and on the counter. I sit down, and crush my palms into my eyes until I see dots and my jaw cracks from a deep yawn. I’ve hardly slept in five weeks, so when I snatched up a report today that contains Katrina’s name and the wordassault, I was almost done. I’m so fucking exhausted, but I don’t get a choice; we keep moving forward, or we die.

I move my hands away from my eyes and watch the apartment through the laptop monitor. I see most of Katrina’s living room: her couch, the broken coffee table that Jay begins picking up, and the broken door now sitting against the wall while Spence and Kane work on a heavy-duty replacement. Just as the last screw goes in and the lock is tested, my heart races out of control when a hesitant knock at the door brings all of our gazes up.

Like bloodhounds on the hunt, all four of us lift our heads; we speak without words, and then we pretend to go about our business as Spence pastes on a smile and swings the door wide for Katrina and Mac. “Welcome home!Kiddddd.” Spence extends a hand for a knuckle tap, and only after a wary Mac obliges does he step back to allow them in. “We wanted to get you set up so you’re feeling a little safer.”

“Zeke isn’t dangerous.” Katrina doesn’t see me here. For another second, I remain invisible. “Uh… I’m not sure why you guys are here. I mean, I see the door, but…” I watch her through the monitor as she looks around the room with wide eyes. She looks injury-free. Not a single mark or hair out of place from her ex. If there were, not even Turner’s cages could keep him safe. “Guys, Zeke’s an idiot with a bad temper, but he’s not dangerous.”

Spence’s smile remains in place as Jay and Kane finish up and pack their shit away. “Even still, this isn’t the best area of town, so now you have a new door and a panic button. Just in case.” He leads Katrina across the living room and tries to block her view of me. But it’s impossible. I don’t move; I don’t do a single thing to draw their attention, but I still catch in the monitor the very second she notices me. Her face pales, and her knuckles turn white where she clutches the straps of her handbag. She’s blind to the busted table in the middle of the floor or the way Mac’s face burns with anger. She stares at my back, but I pretend I see nothing. I make no reaction when what I truly want to do is take her to bed and sleep for a long fucking time.

I silently pray she’ll turn away, that she’ll pretend I mean nothing the way I pretend that about her, but she’s stubborn, and despite Spence’s efforts to jockey her to the couch, she doesn’t move an inch until I swivel the stool around and meet her eyes.

She’s so fucking beautiful, it hurts. So scared, she makes my heart ache. And so angry, I almost fear for my life.

I say nothing. I wear my passive face as though I’m just a dude installing a system in a stranger’s home. I give her nothing more than I gave Jo when I handed her keys back and bid her good luck.

Mac’s eyes flicker between me and his mom, but still, I’m impenetrable. Unbreakable. I will not fail them.

“Come on.” Spence takes Katrina’s arm and leads her to the couch. When minutes pass and the tension in the apartment is thicker than butter, when the very last thing we ever said to each other was of love but is now stony silence, Katrina nods once and drops her bag on the couch with a huff. She’s as exhausted as I am, so she sits now with a grunt and says nothing when Spence moves across the room, snags my laptop, then drops down beside her so their thighs touch.

He chuckles when the couch dips and she falls against him, then he opens the laptop on his legs and waits. He’s trying to be gentle for her, and that’s special in its own way. My seven-foot ranger brother is never gentle for anyone, especially not women. “Okay, you ready for an education, Miss Blair?”

Her eyes remain on mine. So much fucking anger. So much hurt. When Spence clears his throat, she breaks the stare and turns to him. She’s done with me. “Yeah. What’ve you got?”

“Okay. We got you set up on a security system that’ll show you outside the door, outside the building, and inside if you’re away from home and want to check in.”

“Oh great.” Mac gives a fake laugh, but when I look up, I find murder in his eyes pointing right at me. “Just what she always wanted: security feed that’ll watch me while she works.”

“Ever wanted a smart watch before?” Spence leans to the side with a smile and pulls out a small box from the cargo pocket on his leg. The image on the box looks an awful lot like an Apple watch, but the mechanics inside are worlds apart. “It syncs with your cell just like every other smart watch on the market. It’ll even notify you of your texts and shit. But on the side here…” He pulls the white-strapped watch from the box and turns the device to the side. “This is a button that’ll alert us if you need help.”

“It’s a panic button?” Her cheeks pale. “You wanna give me a panic button?”

“We don’t call them panic buttons,” he lies. “More like an instant text. Something wrong? You hit the button, and we’ll come investigate.”

“So… it’s a panic button.”

“It’s not for if you stub your toe.” He rolls right over her. “If you lock yourself out of your car, that’s a problem for Ang. If you’re feeling lonely, text your man.” He swallows audibly when her fiery eyes come back to mine. “Uh… but if you feel unsafe, hit that button, and we’ll come.”

“What if I accidentally press it?” She releases me and holds her arm up so he can secure it around her narrow wrist. “What if it’s a false alarm?”

“Hit the button again. Then send me an actual text letting me know it’s okay.”

“What if it’s not a false alarm,” Mac asks, “but our bad guy knows the system, so he hits the button again to disable the alarm? Your system has flaws.”

“If it’s truly not a false alarm, you hit that button and text me. We need a safe word of sorts.” He sets my blood on fire when he flashes a filthy grin. “Give me a word that makes you happy.”

Again, her eyes flash to me for the barest second, then back to him. “Macallistar makes me happy.”

Spence scoffs. “That’s a long word, babe. Give me something shorter.”

“Um…” Her cheeks warm. “Okay. My mom’s name was Leah.”

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