Page 40 of Nemesis

Instead of responding, I unbuttoned my shirt, crimson soaking the left side, and shrugged it off my shoulder. I then undid the straps of my vest, wincing from the burning pressure.

I crooked a finger toward her. “Come here,” I ordered.

“Theo…” she trailed off, her eyes now on my shoulder that was no doubt still leaking blood.

I sighed, closing the distance, and slipped the vest over her head. She watched me intently as I adjusted the straps to fit her properly.

Her hand reached my bare shoulder, her finger smoothing over my skin, smearing the blood in the process. “You’re bleeding,” she said breathlessly, concern lacing her tone.

I hazarded a glance down, to find her dark brown eyes alight with heat. The air became thick, as it always was whenever it was just the two of us in an enclosed space. This foreign yet familiar energy crackling between us.

I shrugged her hand off my shoulder, her touch too much to bear, and finished fixing the vest on her frame.

“I’ll be fine. Keep this on.”

She moved to step away, but I tugged her into me, lifting her chin with my forefinger.

Olivia opened her mouth to say something, but I cut her off, gripping her chin. “Listen, I don’t care what you think right now. You need to learn how to follow instructions without arguing. Someone tried to kill you. If I say wear a bulletproof vest, you wear the fucking bulletproof vest. Is that clear?”

Her breath hitched and I could see the need to go against my decision unfurling in her eyes, but she simply nodded.

Olivia Morales might just be the death of me.

CHAPTER17

SOFIA

Everything had gone according to plan. Everything except Theo’s reaction to theattempton my life.

I’d tried to get away from his hold, to see if anyone had been hurt since I’d planned to move slightly to the side, enough for Valentina to fire her shot. The goal was to have no casualties and do minimal damage to the place.

But of course he had to alter this plan as well by jumping on me. As in, he used his body to shield mine, ready to take a bullet for me.

Which he ironically did.

The realization only dawned on me when he pulled me into the supply closet. I couldn’t tell to which extent his injury went, but I hoped it only grazed him.

My heart tugged at the thought of him risking his life to protect me, but I had to keep reminding myself that he was hired to do so, that he wasn’t protectingme, Sofia Herrera. He’d jumped to protect Olivia Morales.

I tried engraving those words in my brain as I shook my head internally, reeling myself back to the supply closet we’d been in for the past few minutes.

“Wait here,” he commanded, turning his back on me to pull his bloodied shirt back on.

I forced myself to tear my gaze from his muscular back bunching. “Where are you going?”

“To make sure it’s safe for us,” he said, looking over his shoulder.

“I’m coming with you.”

“No, Olivia. You stay here.”

“I'm coming,” I said with finality.

He sighed heavily before reaching behind the back of his pants and retrieving his gun.

Gun drawn up, he cautiously opened the door, and we both slipped out. I followed closely behind, since I didn’t have a gun with me. I would’ve asked if he had a second one concealed, but that might raise suspicion and the whole point of this distraction was to direct his skepticism elsewhere.

The main room was empty now. Everyone who had been here fled already. He did a quick sweep, and after deeming it safe, we headed toward the exit at the back of the coffee shop. We walked through the deserted kitchen, appliances scattered on the floor, and out the back door.