Page 121 of Lethal Threat

I lean back and close my eyes for a few seconds, trying to center myself.

Simona quietly watches the building for a while. I open my eyes when I hear her shifting around.

“Cole, you did the right thing. At least your heart was inthe right place, I mean, when you called the police all those months ago.”

As I scrub my hands over my face, I feel the weight of that night in my bones. Crushing and dark. I clear my throat. “I knew he would hurt her if I didn’t do something about it. And killing him was going to wreck her life and mine.”

Her jaw goes hard. A wave of something harsh crosses in her gaze. “I wish someone had the balls to call someone on the man who raised me when he was beating me unconscious. But no one did.”

“Your father?”

Her voice lilts with the traces of her Czech accent. “That word isn’t in my vocabulary. Monster is, though.”

I grit my teeth. The thought makes me furious. “I don’t get men like that. How can someone twice your size lay a hand on a woman? Women are meant to be honored and cherished. I’d never hurt a woman on purpose.”

Simona’s eyes turn sad. “I wish more men were like you.” After a few silent seconds, she changes the subject. “Why do you think they have Sierra?”

“Two reasons are all I can think of. She knew something about what her brother was up to, or they’re going to use her to get to him somehow.”

Simona taps her chin and turns her gaze back to the warehouse. “If he’s alive, they are both liabilities to these guys.”

“Exactly. And from what Marshall told me, they are turning a heavy profit in selling drugs they’re importing from countries where they run missions. So, the stakes are high.”

She hisses and pulls a face. “Disgusting. I hate men like them. What was her brother like?”

“I don’t know exactly how all of this played out with Bryan. When I started seeing Sierra, he was already a mess. He’d just gotten a dishonorable discharge from the Army, which broke him. But he was using god only knows what kind of drugs, and there’s no way he was functional as a soldier. And the guy is big and mean, so that’s a perfect storm you never want to see. Sierra never knew if he was going to be irate or be a zombie. I’ve seen people messed up on drugs before, but Bryan’s behavior was just plain bizarre. Of course, who knows what he was mixing. And if he’s on what Marshall says these guys are dealing, then it might just explain some of it.”

Simona adjusts the focus on binoculars as she holds them to her face. “Her brother was using, but these guys don’t seem to be.”

“Yeah, I have no idea how all that played out. I came into the situation after it had been going on for a few months. All I know is that Sierra and his girlfriend were trying to get Bryan into a treatment facility the night I found him beating the hell out of her.”

God, how I wanted to beat him to death and throw his body over her balcony.

Anger surges through me, making my hands clench into fists. “I literally wanted to kill him with my bare hands. But I got myself in check and called the cops. I’d already made it clear the police needed to be involved before he hurt someone badly.”

“I’m sure it broke her heart. It’s really hard to know you can’t fix your brother.”

I’m about to ask what she means when she asks, “Why did you walk away from the woman you loved after that night?”

I stare at the warehouse with fury boiling inside me. “Because I was going to finish her brother. If not that night, then the next time. And that wouldn’t just kill her brother, it would destroy her too.”

As I check the cartridge in my pistol, I let that fury take up residence deep in my marrow. I turn to look at Simona. “Which might still happen if I find out he’s responsible for her being hurt.”

Chapter Forty

COLE

Darkness doesn’t settle over the industrial complex in a slow wash, it drops down like a switch has been flipped.

It’s about damn time.

Street lights flicker on, but their circles of light don’t reach the warehouse. Conveniently, the closest lamps have been disabled by someone.

I know who.

I should thank them. After I spit on their graves.

Marshall comes over the coms. “Go time.”