Page 147 of The Echo of Forever

I hummed, cutting her off to save us both time.

“Unfortunately, there’s no deal I’d be willing to accept. Don’t get me wrong, Millicent, I appreciate the door you opened for me to get close to my wife again…” I glanced at her over my shoulder. “However, now you pose a potential threat to her life and I can’t have that.”

Silence stretched between us. I could practically hear the gears turning in her head as she thought up an escape route that didn’t exist. I’d closed them all before she even walked through the door.

“You want to know about Jeremiah, right?” she finally asked, seemingly coming to terms with reality.

I turned to face her completely, leaning back against the glass before nodding once.

“It shouldn’t matter but I didn’t lie about what he’d done to me,” she confessed. “Just left out the part where I set it into motion, lured him in with little glances every blue moon until he couldn’t help himself. A sick man can never hide his true urges for long.”

Her manipulation of Jeremiah wasn’t relevant to me. I didn’t care about her motives with him, only how it connected to Forever or of it did at all.

When I didn’t respond, she continued.

“You know…” she leaned back in the chair, briefly cutting her eyes at Oliver who remained positioned by her side. “I thoughtabout telling it all and taking my chance at a less painful death, but why should I make it easier for you?”

That pulled a genuine smile from me. Had to respect a woman standing her ground even when death was certain. Her cooperation wouldn’t have saved her life anyway. Nothing would. But her defiance, even now? That was something I could admire.

“It’s too bad you never got to experience the kind of love I have,” I told her, nodding at Oliver who placed a liquid-filled vial, about the length of a finger, on the desk. “Relax a little. Drink that, and thank whatever high power you believe in I wanted to personally handle this. Had I sent my sister or Violet, who knows what kind of torture you’d be going through right now.”

She looked at the vial, then back at me before picking it up.

“You may not think so…” she gently swished the liquid around before removing the cap. “But Jayden will stop at nothing to avenge me.”

Oliver and I exchanged a look before laughing. The delusion of this woman hadn’t been visible until now. If Jayden thought of her as anything other than a pawn who he could fuck whenever the feeling sparked, he’d be here looking for her by now.

Forever could never end a call abruptly and I don’t go see what that was about.

“As a thank you, I’ll give him time to make his move,” I said, crossing my arms. “How does a week sound?”

Millicent snorted, shaking her head slightly before bringing the vial to her lips. She downed the fentanyl and Ativan concoction in gulp, a final act of defiance in her eyes as she stared me down.

Almost immediately, her body responded. She gasped, struggling for air as her lungs began to fail her. Foam formedat the corners of her mouth, her eyes widening in panic as the reality of death overcame her bravado. Within seconds, she slumped forward, her forehead hitting the desk with a dull thud.

She wasn’t dead yet, but after a couple hours no life saving measures would bring her back.

“Damn, she really died thinking that nigga would avenge her,” Oliver said, tucking his gun away.

I shrugged and moved to the desk, pulling Gaia’s encryption key from the router.

We worked efficiently around her body, wanting it to look more like a suicide than an accidental overdose or murder. Oliver wiped down every surface we’d touched afterward, even with gloves on to protect us. DNA was a tricky bitch and our involvement couldn’t be exposed.

“Aye,” I called out to my brother before we split up to get to our own cars. “I love you.”

He looked over his shoulder, a kid-like smile on his face.

“I love you back.”

We separated from there and a block away, I slid into my car after discarding the gloves and coveralls in the compartment in my trunk to be burned later.

I checked my phone before pulling off and there was a text from Forever.

Find me when you’re free.

Her location was pinned near the red-light district.

Headed your way, baby. Stay put.