Page 91 of Only for Him

And still I stand there, between him and her, the taste of fury in my mouth like copper.

Until the alarm begins to scream.

People in the halls, confused, then panicked. The exits start to close, but I know which one will stay open.

We hit the maintenance door at a dead sprint. I shove it open with my shoulder, and it gives way with a groan of warped metal.

The river air slices into my lungs, cold and clean.

At the dock, the boat waits, engine idling. The wheelhouse door swings open and Rosa steps out, face half-obscured by her hoodie, eyes taking in everything.

Her gaze cuts to Giselle again. Not just curious: calculating. She sure as hell doesn’t trust Giselle, and she doesn’t want me trusting her, either.

She says nothing, just thumbs the throttle. The boat lurches away from the dock, engine grinding into the current. The shore shrinks behind us.

“Sit down,” she tells Giselle and Dakota.

They fold onto the deck together, Giselle pulling Dakota close like it’s second nature. Her hand rests on the girl’s shoulder, firm but careful. Protective. Bleeding for someone she just met.

No matter what Rosa thinks, I would trust her with anyone or anything worth protecting.

I watch the mansion recede, sirens stacking up, a helicopter circling above like a vulture.

I unzip the duffel Rosa tosses my way: three handguns, clean IDs, a change of clothes. I start stripping off the jacket and shirt I wore inside, the sweat already cold against my skin.

My body’s on fire from the adrenaline. From everything I didn’t let myself do.

Dakota watches me, suspicious and stunned. Giselle, too, but her stare goes lower, flicking over the bruises on my ribs, the old scar across my shoulder.

She touches her earring as though she’s forgotten which pair she’s wearing.

“Toss them,” I say. “The earrings. Throw them in the water.”

She frowns, hesitates, then obeys. Good. Obedience can be learned.

Dakota tracks the earrings with her eyes. Watches them vanish. Then folds inward, silent. A single tear slips down her cheek.

Giselle pulls her tighter.

We don’t speak for a long time. Rosa guides the boat into the current, then downriver, under the bridges and out toward the chop. When she doesn’t need to look at the controls anymore, she watches me watching Giselle.

“What happens now?” Giselle finally asks

“Some will take the fall. The rest will circle their wagons and wait for the news to blow over. But this will scare them. Timofey will send someone he trusts to fix it. His son Pavel.”

Rosa’s head jerks up when she hears the name, her eyes burning.

Giselle notices and there’s a strange look on her face before she turns back to me, her eyes asking the question her lips won’t.

“Yes, little viper,” I answer. “I’m going to kill him.”

24

GISELLE

The mansion is exactlywhat you’d expect if a war criminal won the lottery and invested every dime in thick glass and fallout shelter doors. I can still taste the chaos of the escape, smell the damp river air seeping into my lungs.

I’m glad we got Dakota out, but rage still throbs in my belly.