I stand up, looking down at her. “A hunter.”
I cut off the call and remain by her side until actual sirens come to the site.
That’s when I retreat to the shadows and disappear.
But she’ll find me in her hospital room as soon as she wakes up, and she’ll fucking tell me why she was escaping.
* * *
Present
I stop in front of the cottage. The signs of the fire that ate it a few weeks ago are still visible through the blackened walls and the police tape.
Human remains.
The other one.
The police and those men’s words still echo in my head. Reina is in too deep if she’s involved with the bratva.
And they were from the bratva. Alex thinks so, too; I confirmed it when I heard his conversation with his adviser the other day.
He just doesn’t want to take any steps as long as Reina remains untouched and under his care.
The question is, what the fuck is she doing here knowing exactly the threat to her life? Alex made sure to warn her. I heard him countless times.
Stay in crowded places, Reina.
If you remember anything, let me know first, Reina.
I’m going to get you security, Reina.
Of course, she refused the latter, brushing him off with a smile—a fake one at that.
She’s become so fucking stubborn, it’s maddening.
I release a breath as I walk up. She’s been avoiding me these last couple of days, but fuck that.
Me being a part of her life is a non-negotiable fact.
Even when I was in England for the past three years, I was always an undividable part of her life.
I lurked under her skin and breathed down her neck.
She’s been doing the same, but fuck it.
I stop at the threshold of the cottage. It’s dark and humid inside, still smelling of the soot and the smoke from that day.
Human remains, they said, and they think Reina did it—at least that detective does.
I talked to him after the last time he visited us. I could see the malice in his eyes as he spoke about my ‘fiancée’ as a criminal and said I should have her confess her crimes.
It took all my self-restraint not to bash his head against the hood of his car and tell him, in no uncertain terms, that if he threatens her again, I will gut his intestines out.
Reina didn’t do it.
It’s funny how I believe it with every fiber of my being even though I didn’t witness what happened.
The bratva is behind all of this, but I can’t say anything because I have no evidence, no names, not even clear descriptions of the men I saw that night.