Kree looked at him. “I thought you said I’d be able to go home soon.”

“Fuck no. I said home was looking good, meaning we’re all itching to get back there.”

I kept it to myself, but I also wanted her husband taken care of before she left here. I’d mentioned it again to Zane, who’d told me he’d have news for me on that in the next couple of days. He’d gone past the deadline I’d originally set, but with everything going on, I’d let it slide.

My phone rang, taking my attention off the conversation.

Axe.

“Tell me you’ve got something good for me,” I said. We’d been waiting to hear more about Romano since he’d been arrested, but there had been radio silence on that.

“It’s good, but not completely what you’re after. Still nothing on where Romano is or what they’re doing with him. Shit has been locked tight on that. But Zane and Devil have found your rat.”

He was right—it was good news.

My entire body thrummed with anticipation.

I was way past the point of ready to deal with this motherfucker.

“Who? And where is he?”

“It’s Tate. They’ve found him in Gosford and are on their way back to the warehouse with him. I’ll let you know when they’ve arrived.”

Fucking hell. Tate was Storm. He’d turned nomad years ago after we’d had a disagreement. But I wouldn’t have figured him for a fucking rat.

I eyed Hyde after ending the call. “Devil and Zane have our rat. It was Tate.”

He scowled. Hyde and Tate had never gotten on. “That motherfucker will pay for this shit.”

I nodded, my mind already churning with a million fucking questions for the cunt. “Yeah, he will.” Moving off my stool, I added, “I’m gonna go have another chat with Ivy. See if she can shed any light on this.”

I found her a few minutes later, lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She didn’t look at me when she realised I stood in the doorway, but rather she kept staring up as she said, “I want you to let me leave. Tony isn’t a threat to me anymore.” Her voice revealed her bleakness, but that wasn’t new to me. I’d watched her mood shift over the last week, from hot-tempered to this resigned attitude. She hadn’t argued with me in the past seven days. She’d pretty much kept to her room and stayed quiet. I’d avoided her because I didn’t want us to get into shit again. But this new mood concerned me.

Resting against the doorjamb, I crossed my arms over my chest. “He’s a threat until he’s dead.”

“I have somewhere I can go. Somewhere he won’t find me.”

“Where?”

“A friend.” She finally looked at me. “Please, King. I need to get back to my life, and I can’t do that here.” She sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed so she faced me. “I thought maybe we could find a way to get on after I was sick. You seemed to let your walls down a little when we talked. But now I can see we’ll always argue over stupid things. It’s just who we are, but I don’t want that in my life. It’s too hard, and I’m too sad over everything to keep fighting with you.”

Fuck.

I hated seeing her like this. It stirred something deep inside me that was long buried. Something I’d left behind and forgotten after one too many betrayals when I was younger.

Compassion.

I used to feel it, and maybe I still did every now and then, but only for the very few I allowed close. This feeling teasing its way out from the depths where I’d shoved it differed, though, to anything I’d allowed in the last fifteen years. It disturbed me in its intensity. I didn’t want to feel it. Had no need for it in my life. But I couldn’t fucking ignore it because it was right there as I listened to Ivy. In my chest and my gut and my head. It just fucking sat there, waiting for me to do something with it.

“Where’s your friend?” Just asking that question filled me with misgiving. I didn’t want to put her back out there where her husband could hurt her, but fuck, keeping her here was killing her light. Maybe I had to let her go.

“He’s in Sydney.”

“Who is it, Ivy? I need to vet him before I consider this.”

She stood and walked to me. “You don’t need to check him out. He and I have been friends for years. You just need to stop thinking you’re responsible for my happiness. I’ll admit, I came here with a lot of hate in my heart. I hadn’t fully let go of what happened between us, but I feel like I’m starting to. And for the first time in years, I feel hopeful about my life. Tony kept me down for so long that it fucked with my thinking. This time away from him is helping clear my head.” She paused and moved even closer to me. Smiling up at me, she placed her hand on my cheek and said softly, “You don’t have to take care of me anymore, King. I can do that myself.”

It could have been her touch, or maybe the way she looked at me differently to how she had since she’d been here, or fuck, it could have been my screwed-up thinking while talking to her, but I found myself agreeing to something I never thought I would. “You can leave. Not today, though, but probably tomorrow. I’ve got something to take care of first.”

Tags: Nina Levine Sydney Storm MC Romance
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