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I shake my head emphatically. "No." I'm nervous if I say anything else that Marshall will turn on them and tear out their throats. I don't want to see that.

Another beat passes. Then Marshall moves sideways, towards me, creating a view of the alley exit. "Get out of here."

Cap and Harlow don't wait around, they sprint so fast that they knock over a trashcan, the lid clattering on the cement long after their footsteps fade. They flee like Satan is at their heels. And maybe he is.

I'm about to find out.

Chapter 12.

Marshall crouches infront of me, his eyes sharp as they search my face. "What were you thinking walking around here in the dark?" he growls.

I blink a few times. "Are you scolding me?" I ask, my anger spiking quick. I jump to my feet, staring down at him where he's still kneeling, a rare moment where I'm taller. "I was going back to your place like you told me to!"

"You should have waited for me."

"Don't give me that! I'm not a child, Marshall."

"This area is dangerous at night!" He runs a hand through his hair in exasperation. "If you wander off alone, I can't protect you, Leona."

"Then if you were so worried, you should have come back sooner! Wherewereyou?" He flinches, it encourages me to press on. "Why is everyone so scared of you, Marshall? Stop hiding and tell me the truth."

He rises to his full height. "You already know the truth. It spilled from your pretty lips weeks ago."

"Then you are in the mafia," I say. "What else?"

Leaning away, he regards me with his eyebrows arched high as possible. "That's it? That's your reaction to this news?"

"I figured it was true before I set foot on your plane." Narrowing my eyes, I try to seem calmer than I really am. "There's more going on here. Everyone is so terrified of you."

"Almost everyone," he murmurs, looking me over. My heart flutters when he rubs a gloved finger over his jaw; I want to know how it would feel on my skin. "At some point you stopped fearing me. The second I tell you what you're begging me for, that'll change."

"You'd rather keep secrets from me?"

"Yes," he says quickly. "God, yes, I'd take that over seeing your face when all my demons come crawling out to dance in plain sight. Leona, why do you need to know these things? What's the point?"

"Because ..." I trail off, unsure of myself. Unsure of the moment. There's something growing in me that's too fragile to give a name. Not yet. I can't risk putting my heart on the scale if I'm not confident in the price to sell it for. I glance at his gloves, and when he sees where I'm looking, he puts his hands in his pockets. "Why are you wearing those?" I whisper.