Page 83 of Jasper

Maybe she should run and hide in Europe. Would they follow her if she left the country? Most likely, because she doubted they wanted to leave loose ends lying about that could bite them in the ass later.

So, what was she going to do?

Trying to sit up forced a whimper out of her. Bad idea. It hurt too much. The nurse said she’d bring her something for the pain, and Sloane sincerely hoped she’d hurry up.

A shadow moved across the room, and she looked up to see a man entering. He was tall, his face rugged and dark. Black eyes hunted the room, and the light from the bathroom caught the darkest streaks of black hair, making them glint blue. His eyes were cold, and she shivered from the emptiness in them.

Was he here to kill her?

When those serial killer eyes settled on her, she shrank back against the pillows, looking for the nurse’s call button, but it was on the floor. Dammit. She opened her mouth to scream.

“Don’t.”

That one word shut her up. Even his voice sounded dangerous. What kind of torture could he put her through before the nurses came in? She wasn’t about to find out. Better to have a quick and clean death.

Her one regret was not telling Jasper how she felt.

“I’m not going to hurt you, Sloane.” He walked farther into the room and dropped into the chair Mason had vacated. “I’m Conner Kincaid.”

“Kincaid?” she whispered.

He smiled, but it failed to reach his eyes. “They’re my brothers.”

“Oh.”

“I wanted to talk to you about your plans.”

“My…my plans?”

“In regard to what you saw in Florida. Do you plan on going to the police?”

“I hadn’t thought about it. I was just trying to survive.”

“If you don’t go to the police, I can guarantee you’ll be safe.”

“How can you do that?”

“Because I can.”

“I’m sorry…but you can’t. They found me here in New York. They almost killed your nephew. How can you sit there and say…no,guaranteeI’ll be safe?”

“Because I’m scarier than they are.”

Of that, she didn’t have any doubts.

“I’ve sat down and had a talk with the head of the cartel you’re running from. If you don’t tell the police what you saw, they’ll leave you alone.”

“And if I do want to go to the police?”

“That would be your right. It’ll make my job a hell of a lot harder, but if you want to testify, then I’ll make sure you can do that too.”

“What do you mean, it’ll make your job harder?” She didn’t understand any of what he was saying.

“It means I’ll have to hunt down every single one of those bastards and slaughter them.”

He said it so matter-of-factly, like he was discussing the weather. He terrified her.

“But if you can live with walking away from it, they’ll leave you alone.”