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“Really?Now you care about what happens to me?Where was the concern when I was being used as your distraction?”
“Would you just get in the damn truck?”
“Drive away, Naomi.Follow that order.And I’ll see you at the house.”
“I told you already, I have a character flaw when it comes to following orders.”But she shifted into drive.“Dammit!”
And she drove away.
He watched her go.Just as he’d watched previously.He wondered if she’d stop a bit down the road.Then circle back as she’d done before.
He waited a beat longer and then…
Then he returned to the back door of the rundown bar.He hauled it open and came face-to-face with Ivan.He’d figured the other man was waiting for him.
“If shooting her isn’t part of your plan…” Ivan’s head cocked to the side.“Then what is?”His arms were crossed over his chest.
“I don’t kill women.But I have no qualms about sending a murderer to prison for the rest of her life.”
“Huh.You’re playing a game with the pretty woman.”
“I don’t play games.What I am doing is dead serious.”
Ivan pursed his lips.“You pulled a gun on me.”
“You did that crap first.I was simply defending myself.”
Those bushy brows beetled again.“You took out three of my men.”
“I took out four of your men.”He waited a beat.“I would have taken them all out if you hadn’t stepped in to rescue them.”Okay, probably not.But so what if he stretched the truth?He would have beat the crap out of as many men as possible.
Ivan sawed a hand over the stubble on his jaw.“Are we going to have a problem, you and I?”
“If you get in my way, damn straight, we will.”He hadn’t jumped into the back of Naomi’s pickup truck because Eb never ran from anyone.So he stepped right up to the Russian.“Get in my way, come at me again, and we will most definitely have a problem.”
Ivan didn’t blink.
“You stay away from Naomi—and her dog—from here on out, got it?I’ll be handling her and any punishments she gets.”
“Because you’re going to send her to prison.And not just save us all time and kill her instantly.”
No one will be killing Naomi.“Because I’m going to make sure that Hudson’s killer gets the punishment that fits the crime.”
“A bullet to the brain would be faster.”
In his mind, Eb could see the jerk raising his gun to fire at Naomi.And if Eb hadn’t been there, if the Russian had been alone in the small office with Naomi, that was the exact scene that would have played out.Now he understood exactly what the Russian had been doing.“You took the dog in order to lure Naomi to you.You wanted her on your turf.Wanted to be able to say she broke into your place.You planned to kill her when she came for her dog.”
The Russian’s hand fell back to his side.“That was one of my options.But you got in my way.”
“I’m still in your way.Hear me again.One final time.”His words were flat.Hard.Brutal.“Naomi is mine.Her punishment is mine.”She is mine.
“You just want to fuck her.”
Yeah, guilty.But he also intended to get justice.“Like I can’t fuck and punish at the same time.”What was this, amateur hour?“You don’t touch her.You try to hurt her again, and maybe you’ll be the featured star at the next funeral.”
Ivan sniffed.“You don’t sound like an agent.”
“Oh, my bad.Didn’t I mention that I’m retired?”Now Eb smiled.“I’m not playing games.Not following orders.I’m doing whatever the hell I want.So there will be no one to stop me from coming after you if you cross the line.”