“I told you, she tried to kill me,” she spit.

  I winced, but said nothing. If anything, I’d been horrified by what happened to her.

  Her brother looked me over, then narrowed his gaze, turning back to his sister. “Her? She tried to kill you? How exactly? Because the choking you out description isn’t working. She’s shorter than you, smaller in size. She looks like a fucking fragile doll.”

  “Right!” Jag burst out. “That’s what I said.”

  Destiny shifted her glare to Jag and then shook her head in disgust. “So, you’re saying you don’t believe me because of the fact that you think she’s hot?”

  Acid looked back at me. “I’m saying, she’s never choked anyone out in her life.”

  “They’ll find her. You need to kill her. Get rid of the body. Now. You’re wasting time.” Destiny sounded slightly frantic. “How long has she been here?”

  Jag turned from me to look at Destiny. “Who will find her? Who would be looking for her?”

  Destiny’s face flushed as she looked at me.

  NO! Don’t tell them. Do not do this.

  “How long have you been here?” she asked me.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. A while.”

  But they wouldn’t find me. I had no phone. There had been no witnesses. Nothing.

  She looked at her brother. “You need to get this done fast.”

  “She’s been here over six hours,” Jag replied.

  Destiny paled. Did she really think they would find me? And even if they could, in just six hours?

  “Fuck,” she muttered.

  Jag grabbed Destiny’s arm and shook her. “WHO?” he shouted.

  She looked at me with panic in her eyes, and I knew she was going to tell them.

  “NO ONE! No one will come looking for me. Just shoot me. Do what she says. Please,” I begged, looking back at Destiny.

  She was staring at me like I’d lost my mind.

  Jag turned to me. “You want me to do what she said?”

  I nodded. “Yes. Just get it over with. No one is coming. Kill me. Get rid of my body.”

  Acid walked over to me. “Who are you protecting?”

  I shook my head. “No one.”

  “Yeah, sweetheart, you are. You’re willing to die to keep them safe.” He turned back to Destiny. “What is this about, D?”

  She looked terrified. “She’s as fucking psycho as he is,” she muttered. “They know by now. He’s not going to let her be gone this long. They’ll be here.”

  Jag slapped her so hard across the face that she stumbled back. “TELL ME WHO, BITCH!” he roared.

  It was nothing like the calm man who had talked to me earlier. That was the evil I’d seen in his eyes. I’d known it was there.

  “Gage Presley. She’s Gage—”

  “NO!” I screamed to shut her up.

  She turned to me. “You are fucking crazy! You are telling them to kill you to protect him? Are you that stupid?”

  Jag turned to me. “Gage Presley, as in Blaise Hughes’s soldier?”

  I clenched my jaw tightly. “She wanted me. Not him. ME. Leave him out of this.”

  His eyes narrowed, and he walked toward me. “You’re asking me to kill you to protect Gage Presley?”

  “Please,” I begged. “Just do it. Leave him out of it.” My heart was hammering in my chest. I had to save him from this somehow.

  He turned to look at Acid. “She’s serious, isn’t she?”

  “I believe so,” he replied.

  “Listen, please, just forget about that. Gage had nothing to do with what happened to Destiny. She’s right. It was me. I choked her out. I’m stronger than I look. It was all me. Just me. That’s why she wanted me here. Just kill me and leave him alone. All of them. Blaise has a family. A wife and a kid. They had nothing to do with what I did to Destiny.” Tears were rolling down my face as I pleaded. This was the last chance I was going to get. I had to make them believe me.

  “Baby, that’s the sweetest fucking thing I’ve ever heard.” Gage’s voice was both heaven and hell at the same time.

  “No,” I whispered as horror washed over me.

  Destiny was right. He’d found me.

  Jag spun around, and my eyes found Gage standing with his gun aimed at Jag’s head. Huck had his gun pointed at Acid, and Blaise was standing beside Destiny with his gun against her forehead. There was a guy I’d never seen before standing in the back. He was younger, attractive, and amused. He winked at me as he stood there with his gun at the ready.

  “Looks like it’s just us,” Gage drawled. “Seems you took what’s mine. You’ll understand why I killed the other motherfuckers in this building.”

  What?

  “We weren’t told she was yours,” Jag replied. “Destiny never mentioned that. She said she wanted her dead because she tried to kill her. I’d have never touched her if I’d known.”

  Acid took a step, and Huck cocked his gun back.

  “Don’t move,” he warned. “I don’t want your blood sprayed on Shiloh, but if I have to, I will.”

  “Destiny is my sister. I should have checked into it before sending men out to get Shiloh. We assumed she was a former friend. Some bitch at the club. We didn’t check into it.”

  “Yeah, you fucking should have,” Gage replied, walking toward us. “You touch her?” he asked. “Either of you?”

  They both shook their heads.

  “They touch you, baby?” he asked me, not taking his eyes off Jag.

  “No,” I replied.

  “They hurt you?” he asked me.

  “No,” I lied. I wasn’t telling him about my head. That would worry him.

  “Acid, untie my woman,” he ordered without looking at the man. “Trev, get up close so you can see the bastard when he is bent down.”

  I stared up at him, completely in shock. He had his brace still on his leg. How had he barged in here and killed people? What was he thinking?

  “Stop worrying about me, baby,” he said, his jaw clenched, which was the only sign that he wasn’t as calm as he was acting.

  The younger guy I didn’t know made his way over to where I sat.

  Acid bent down and started untying my hands. “Fucking Christ,” he muttered. “You were protecting him?”

  I looked at Acid. “Yes,” I clipped out.

  “Don’t talk to her.” Gage’s tone made the man untying me tremble.

  He was terrified of Gage.

  “He’s a fucking lunatic,” the young guy Gage had called Trev said. “Don’t talk to her.”

  My wrists were free, and I let out a relieved moan. That felt so much better.

  “Baby, you keep making those relieved sounds, and my finger’s gonna slip. I don’t want their blood spraying on you. Don’t make me snap.”

  “Fucking hell,” Acid said under his breath as he untied the ropes around my ankles.

  Once I was free, I stretched my legs and feet in front of me.

  “Feel better?” Trev asked me.

  I looked up at him and nodded. He looked completely out of place here. Why had they brought some college kid into this?

  “Come here, Shiloh,” Gage said to me.

  Trev stepped back to give me a path to Gage.

  I stood up and started toward him. Jag’s hand reached out and grabbed my arm to stop me. It startled me, and for a moment, I was worried about the college kid on my other side, but just as quickly as he had grabbed me, he released me. Then, he fell backward. I stared down at him with a bleeding hole in his forehead. His eyes were wide with no sign of life staring up at me. I covered my mouth as I screamed.

  The splatter of blood on my arms as I looked down at him had me frozen, unable to move. Arms came around me, and I tried to pull away when I realized it was Gage. He bent his head and kissed my face.

  “I’ll clean you up,” he whispered. “Come on.”

  I looked back down at Jag bleeding on the floor at my feet. “You—you killed him,” I said in disbelief.

  “He asked for death the moment he grabbed your arm,” Gage said, putting his arm around my shoulders, pulling me against him. “Let’s go.”

  I swung my gaze to Acid, who was standing there, completely pale with eyes locked on Huck, who still held him at gunpoint.

  “I didn’t hear a gunshot,” I said, looking up at Gage as we walked away from them.

  “Silencer, baby,” he replied.

  “We killing the other two?” Huck asked Gage.

  Gage turned to Blaise.

  Blaise shrugged. “Your woman. Your call,” he replied. “It would be good training for Trev.”

  I looked back at Acid, and his gaze was now locked on his sister. I could see the goodbye in his eyes. My chest hurt for them.

  “Don’t,” I begged. “Please. Let them go.”

  Gage touched my chin and turned my face to him. “She tried to get you killed. He was helping her.”

  I shook my head. “He didn’t know. He thought I’d tried to kill her. When he saw me, he said he didn’t believe I’d tried to kill her. He called her out on her lie. He doesn’t deserve to die, and he doesn’t deserve to lose his sister.”

  Gage sighed. “Fuck, baby.”

  I turned back to Acid. “You weren’t going to kill me, were you?”

  He shook his head.

  “He has a fucking gun pointed at him,” Huck said dryly. “He’s not gonna say yes, Shiloh.”

  “I swear, I couldn’t have killed her. Jesus, look at her.”

  Gage moved so quickly that I hadn’t seen him pull his gun out. But it was pointed at Acid.

  “NO! Gage! NO!” I yelled. “What are you doing?”

  “You heard him,” Gage snarled.

  “Yes, he said he wasn’t going to kill me.”

  “He insinuated it was because of how you looked. Did he fucking touch you?”

  “NO! He did not touch me. He was nice to me. Please, please do not kill him.”

  Gage’s entire body was strung tight. He lowered his gun. “Don’t look at her. Don’t think about her. Don’t say her name. Or I will know.”

  “I won’t, I swear.” Acid’s voice cracked.

  “Take her out. We’ll be out next,” Blaise said.

  Gage didn’t argue with him, but then the authority in Blaise’s tone made me want to obey.

  Pulling me close, Gage walked me out of the room. For a moment, I worried that I should stay. Make sure they didn’t kill Acid or Destiny. But I wasn’t sure if that would do more harm than good. Gage looked ready to combust. The fury was rolling off him in waves.

  He led me out a back door and into a dark parking lot. A black SUV pulled up, and he opened the door and put me inside. The other three came walking out of the building next. Once we were all in the vehicle, I looked up at the driver, surprised to see Levi.

  “Thank fuck,” he said when his eyes met mine. “Glad you’re okay. How’d little Hughes do?”

  “Pro, baby,” Trev said, climbing inside the back.

  Levi chuckled and shook his head.

  “Call Carmichael. Let him know she’s safe,” Blaise ordered someone. I didn’t know who.

  I was just thankful he was handling that. I hadn’t thought about Uncle Neil.

  I started to buckle up, but Gage stopped me and pulled me into his lap. He held me against him as we drove away. I could feel his heart pounding beneath my ear. I hadn’t thought I would see him again. Touch him again. I’d thought we’d had our last moment together.

  It was then I burst into tears.

  Forty

  Shiloh

  Sunlight flooded Gage’s bedroom when I woke up the next morning. It was bright, which meant I’d slept later than usual.

  When we’d gotten here last night, Gage had taken off his brace and showered with me, taking his time to clean me thoroughly. He washed my hair carefully and placed kisses along my body. He dried me off, put balm on my wrists and ankles, then bandaged them before brushing my hair and putting me in bed. I’d fallen asleep almost immediately.

  Stretching in the warmth of his big, soft bed, I had never been more content. I was alive. I was with Gage.

  Turning, I found myself alone. Where he had slept was cool to the touch now. He’d been up for a while. I buried my face in his pillow and inhaled his scent.

  “You smelling me, baby?” he asked, amused.

  I lifted my head to see him walking toward me with a tray of food. He stopped, setting it down on the sofa.

  I blushed, embarrassed to be caught smelling his pillow.

  He went back and closed the door before getting the tray and joining me on the bed. “Trinity had a mini breakdown when she found out where we’d been. Huck didn’t tell her that you’d been taken until we had you back safe. This is how she deals with her emotions. She cooks,” Gage said as he set the massive amount of food in front of me.

  “Wow. There is some of everything,” I said in amazement.

  “Yeah, there’s a fucking buffet downstairs. You want more of something, let me know,” he said, leaning in and pressing a kiss on my lips.

  I reached for a strawberry and popped it in my mouth.

  “Eat all you want. Your uncle will be here in an hour to check your head. I’ll try not to fuck you so you have time to eat before he arrives.”

  I swallowed and looked up at him. “Why is he coming to check my head?” I asked because I hadn’t said anything about being hit on my head.

  Gage looked at me as if that was a dumb question. “I would think that was obvious.”

  Yes, but only if he’d known about the hit I’d taken to my head. I continued to look at him, trying to remember if I’d said something last night about it and not realized it.

  “Baby, the security footage at the service station next door to Carmichael’s office showed everything. I saw the son of a bitch hit you in the back of the head with a motherfucking board, then throw you over his shoulder and toss you in the back of a fucking van. He was the first one I killed last night when I walked into the shithole.”

  I blinked. I hadn’t thought to ask him how they had found me. When they had shown up like the cavalry, I had been so shocked that I wasn’t about to die that I didn’t consider how they had known where I was. Destiny had been so sure they’d find me. She understood more about the family than I did.

  Gage leaned over and pressed a kiss to my temple. “It’s why I was so fucking gentle with your hair last night. There’s a lump the size of an egg back there. Not sure I slept at all last night. I watched you breathe and woke you up several times just to see your eyes.”

  I didn’t remember him waking me.

  He smirked. “Keep looking at me with those blue eyes like I’m your hero, and you won’t get to eat before Carmichael arrives.”

  Normally, that wouldn’t be a threat. It would be a temptation, but my stomach growled, and I turned back to the food. I was starving.

  Gage picked up a piece of bacon and held it to my lips. “Eat.”

  I obeyed and let him feed me. My thoughts went back to last night as I finished the bacon, and then he held up a fork to my mouth with a piece of cinnamon roll on it. I started to open, but stopped. I remembered something else about last night.

  “The college kid there last night,” I said, turning to Gage. “Levi called him little Hughes.”

  Gage nodded. “Blaise’s younger brother.”

  “He’s so young.”

  Gage chuckled. “Baby, he was born to the Mafia boss. It’s in his blood. Blaise had already seen some bad shit by the time he was Trev’s age. It’s past time that Garrett put his youngest out to train.”

  This world was going to challenge me and shock me at every turn. I studied the food in front of me. Thinking about how the boys born into this family had no choice. It was what they did.

  “You chose this life.” I looked up at him.

  He nodded. “I fought for it. Had to prove myself to Garrett. I wanted this.”

  I didn’t understand why.

  Gage looked at me for a moment, and I could see the turmoil in his eyes. “This is a story for another time. Just let me feed you,” he replied.

  I appeased him by letting him feed me the rest of the cinnamon roll. Then, he moved to an egg dish I didn’t recognize, and I managed to eat a few bites of it before I shook my head. I couldn’t eat any more.

  He put the bite in his mouth instead and winked at me. As much as I wanted to crawl on top of him and forget everything but how good his body felt, I wanted to understand him and this life he was in more. I needed to understand it. After watching him kill a man, I had to know why Gage wanted to live this way.

  “Please, tell me why you’re a part of this. Why did you want this?”

  For a moment, I thought he wasn’t going to tell me. He seemed tense, almost angry that I’d asked. I hadn’t meant to mess up our morning, but there were things I had to understand. I knew so little about him, about these people. We couldn’t live in this room and fuck all the time. Facing the reality of our situation was important.

  “The family I had been born into was one I didn’t want to keep. My mother died from a drug overdose when I was four years old. My father was likely the cause of her addiction. He began beating me when I was six. The older I got, the worse the beatings were. When I was eleven years old, I hit a growth spurt. This fucking face I have now began to mature, and women noticed me. I came home from school one afternoon, and there was a woman with my father. She paid him for my virginity. It didn’t end there. Others came, and I either took the beating or fucked the women.”

  I moved over and wrapped my arms around him, needing to comfort him and myself. He tensed under my touch, but I didn’t back away. If he was going to share this with me, then I wasn’t letting him suffer alone.