“We agreed to let Scarlet handle this,” Tristan said, taking on his role as leader in front of the outsider. “But I felt you needed to meet us, put faces to the names, and realize we aren’t a threat to you.” Tristan paused, looking over at me quickly before his eyes moved back to Motshan. “We love your cousin,” he said, and I felt my pulse jump. “We want this to end so that she can finally have a life that’s not filled with looking over her shoulder every five minutes.”
Motshan said something back, but I was too busy staring at Tristan, my eyes wide and my blood rushing loudly through my ears. I’d never had the love of one man, let alone two. I hadn’t even heard my father ever say those words to me.
I finally realized Motshan was trying to get my attention.
“Yeah?” I asked, blinking back to the moment.
“I need to head out,” he said, standing. “I’ll talk to him and be in touch, okay?”
I stood and squeezed him, missing the little boy I used to know but choosing to trust the man in front of me.
“Just get with Simon for anything, yeah?” I asked him, walking him towards the door. “He will let all of us know, and we can meet up again or something.”
“Of course,” he said, pausing at the doorway and shaking the guys’ hands again. “Good to meet you guys. We’ll talk more later.” He checked his watch. “Take care of her, yeah?” he said, looking at each of them.
Then he looked at me, grabbing the back of my neck and pulling me in to kiss my forehead.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered and then opened the door and backed out.
“What?” I asked, confused, before looking around and seeing all of our men scattered around the front yard, either dead or completely knocked out. I couldn’t tell under the cover of darkness. “What…?” I whispered.
Elliot grabbed my arm, pushing me behind all three of them as headlights flooded the road, and my father stepped out of Motshan’s car.