Sending Snow away was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. As she walked down the hallway and from the house I built with her in mind, her shoulders slumped more and more, and the dejection in her eyes as she flashed one last look at me tore my cold, dead heart from my chest.
She thinks I’m leaving her, and I can’t bring myself to correct her. Because if I were a good man, or had an ounce of a conscience, I would do just that. I’m a monster, and she deserves someone who can give her light, not someone who can only give her darkness.
Since the moment she stepped foot back into the estate I’ve had eyes on her. The cameras I installed all those years ago are still operational despite the security overhaul Everett did a couple of months ago. She hasn’t left her room in three days, and each day I watch her wallow, is a day closer I am to going to get her. She won’t take my calls, each time my name lights up her phone she watches it ring out.
Out of all the times I’ve wished I could read her mind, this is the first time I’ve been afraid of what she’s thinking. I know her well enough to have a good idea, but the reality of those thoughts would make me see red, and I have enough of that without adding Snow’s inner musings to the equation.
“Are you even listening to me?” Storm snaps and I finally drag my attention from the screen and settle on the man sitting across the desk.
“Sorry, what were you saying?” I fight the urge to look back to where Snow is curled up in her bed, the covers pulled up around her neck.
Storm sighs and rubs his hands down his face. He’s tired. The black stains beneath his eyes get darker each time he visits and match the ones I see in the mirror each morning. We’re no closer to figuring out who is coming for us than we were after the first move, and it’s beginning to wear on us both. “Everett is tracking some unusual activity in the outskirts of the city, but there isn’t much surveillance equipment out there, and we’re hesitant to send men after your guy died in your entryway.”
I nod. After the wedding, both sides are looking a little too lean considering our business interests. We’re sitting ducks, and it’s not exactly like you can find people that want to do the kind of work we’re offering easily. Between us, we employ every criminal in this city, or so we thought. Whoever is after us has substantial firepower behind them, and that’s what I’m worried about. If they wanted to, I have no doubt they could take every last one of us out at once. So why haven’t they?
“Maybe if we could figure out what their long game is, it would be easier to work out who the fuck they are.”
Storm sighs and leans back in his seat. “They’re ghosts. They keep hitting us and we don’t have so much as a photo of them.”
“So what’s our next move?”
He stares at me across the desk for a moment before speaking, “I don’t fucking know. We’re doing everything I can think of, and we’re still coming up short.”
“We could try another trap,” I suggest.
“Because the first one went so well?”
The room falls quiet for long moments and my eyes fall back to the screen where Wynter is perched on the side of Snow’s bed. It gives me comfort when she’s not alone, even if it’s not me there with her.
“I think we should send the girls away,” Storm says.
“Absolutely not,” I growl.
“Hear me out, Elijah. They’re not safe here. Snow was shot. Wynter is pregnant, and the stress isn’t good for the baby. Emerson is losing weight every day because she’s so worried about Rayne. It’s not good for them to be in the city right now.”
“No.”
Storm sighs. “I know you don’t want her far away, but what if this is what’s best for her?”
“What’s best for her is for her to be here with me, but that’s already been taken away from her. Have you seen your sister in the last few days? She isn’t coping. She was shot, her chances of having children were halved, and then she was forced to move back to the estate thinking I’m about to leave her. How do you think Snow is going to take the news that you’re going to ship her off to another state?”
“Country,” he corrects.
“Country?” I shout. “Are you fucking insane? Anything could happen to them in another country.”
“I’m not suggesting we send them unprotected, and we have connections overseas that we could lean on. They would keep the girls safe until we’re sure the danger has passed.”
“How does Everett feel about this? Or Rayne?”
“I haven’t broached the subject with them yet.”
“I can’t imagine they’re going to be much more receptive to the idea.”
“I just want them to be safe. I know it’s an outdated idea that women can’t take care of themselves when in fact, the women of my family are more than capable of doing so. But this is a threat we can’t see, one who is besting us at every single turn, and the only way I can think to keep them safe is to send them away.”
I drop my elbows onto the desk and lean forward. I understand his reasoning. Hell, if it was just Emerson and Wynter going I would be all for the idea, but Snow being on another continent isn’t an option. I’m losing my mind with her in a different house, I can’t imagine how I would be if she were in another country where I couldn’t watch every move she makes. “I can’t, Storm. I can’t have her that far away.” The honest words fall from my mouth before I can stop them. At some point in the last couple of weeks, Storm and I have gone from being mortal enemies to something resembling friends. Perhaps it’s because technically we’re family now, or maybe it’s the mutual trust we’re building.
Movement in the cameras catches my attention and when my focus returns to the camera feed, Wynter is helping Snow put shoes on. My brows knit together as I watch her help Snow stand from the bed and pick up a small handbag from the hook by the door.
“Are Wynter and Snow planning on going somewhere today?” I ask, keeping my voice as even as I can manage. One of my conditions of agreeing to move her back to the estate was that I would know anytime she stepped foot outside the front door.
“Do you have cameras in my house?”
“Yes, now answer my question.”
“No, not that I’m aware of. Why?”
“Because they’re walking out the front door right now.” I stand from the desk and look around for where I threw my phone across the room a few hours ago after a particularly frustrating conversation with the guy who took over for David. He’s useless, but he’s all I’ve got right now, and the drugs are set to be returned from the Feds tonight. When Storm told me his contact managed to get all our inventory back, I was surprised as hell, but now that idiot is going to actually have something to distribute, I’m a little nervous.
I dial Snow’s number, anger burning in my throat as I watch her climb into the black SUV sitting idle at the bottom of the front steps. For long moments I watch her stare at my name on her screen.
“Answer it,” I growl.
“Elijah,” she breathes.
