Page 88 of Ruthless Desires: Vol. One

He leans his forehead against my chest. “I wish I never said it.”

Oliver runs a hand down his back. “You were trying to protect her, Ell. Being reasonable is what you do best. Hell, it’s the only reason the three of us are still alive.”

It’s true. Oliver and I tend to be more impulsive. Elliot’s patience and reasoning have saved us from running head first into quite a few bad situations that would’ve gotten us killed otherwise.

“I still hurt her. You guys saw her face.”

“Yeah, I did,” Oliver says. “But I also saw her face when she was saying goodbye to you last night. Wanna know how she looked then?”

Elliot sighs and shakes his head.

“Like she’d worship the ground you walked on if you let her. She gets it, Ell. Even though she doesn’t have the whole picture. I don’t think she’s holding a grudge at all.”

Blowing out a breath, Elliot says, “We’ll see.”

The discomfort on his face is one I’m all too familiar with. “Have we gotten anywhere with the Williams job?” Hopefully, a subject change will give Elliot some relief.

He nods. “Just the first round of the usual stuff. Address, family, finances, security. His home is practically a fortress, so we’re going to have to get him in public. He also has two bodyguards with him at all times.”

Already, I can see the guilt fading from Elliot’s eyes, replaced by determination. His entire demeanor lightens as he outlines his ideas to tail Williams and set up a spot to ambush him.

This is his favorite part—the researching, the planning. It’s like putting a puzzle together without knowing where all the pieces are. For most people, it’d be frustrating. But Elliot? He loves the challenge.

And the Williams job seems particularly challenging. Good. Sometimes distraction is the best solution—temporarily, at least.

Edgar Williams is some of our city’s top scum. A successful businessman known for cutting corners, having a short temper, and exploiting his workers—in and out of the States.

On more than one occasion, I’ve contemplated taking him out myself. Getting hired to do it should sweeten the deal.

But it only leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. There’s a possibility it has something to do with a beautiful, smart woman who very well might hightail it out of this relationship the second she realizes what we do.

She knows that being with us might put her in danger. But I don’t think shereallyunderstands what that means. And that’s no one’s fault but our own. Because we thought we’d never be able to have her, and now? Now that we have a chance, none of us are willing to let it go.

Which, unfortunately, means letting things go unexplained.

“We’re going to tell Wren eventually, right?”

Oliver and Elliot stare at me. It takes a second for me to realize that I interrupted Ell while he was in the middle of explaining what we’re going to do today and tomorrow.

“I don’t like keeping her in the dark,” Oliver says.

“Neither do I.” Sighing, Elliot cuts into his omelette with his fork. “But it’s a lot to spring on someone.”

“Is there a way to ease her into it?” As Oliver says it, he glances between me and Ell, but the look in his eyes tells me that he already knows the answer.

How do you ease a woman into telling her that the three men she’s in a relationship with are killers? You don’t. Either you hide it and hope to get away with it, or you tell her and hope for the best.

And the longer you keep it from her, the less the odds are in your favor.

“I don’t want to break her trust,” Elliot says. “Not again.”

“I mean. We refused to tell her what we do. So she knows we’re hiding something.”

“Yeah, but why would her mind go to us being hitmen?”

Oliver palms the back of his neck. “Fuck, how mad do you think she’ll be?”

My stomach sinks at his question and the silent admission that there’s no chance she could accept itwithoutgetting upset.