“What is it?” I asked.

“I have to go,” he said through tight lips. “Dawn isn’t well.”

I indicated the elevator. “Go. Keep me informed.”

He nodded and hurried away. I hadn’t heard from him yet, but I hoped she was okay. This was their first child, and he was naturally nervous.

Missy shifted, bringing my attention back to her. She was unnaturally still, her gaze focused on the outside.

“Hey,” I called. “You want to do something?”

“Do something?”

“We could go for a drive,” I suggested. As long as I was with her, she would be safe. “Get some ice cream?” Missy loved ice cream of any kind.

“You don’t have time.”

I stood. “For you, I do.” It would do us both good to get out. See something other than the same four walls. We wouldn’t be gone long, and it would help distract her. Break her out of the dark thoughts swirling in her head. The same ones that haunted mine.

I held out my hand. “Let’s go.”

We drove for an hour, finding a random ice cream place and eating cones in the sunshine of the late fall afternoon. The air was cool, but neither of us minded. The farther away we went from the warehouse, the brighter her smile got. The easier it became for me to breathe.

“When this is over, we’re leaving,” I announced.

“Leaving?” she asked, pausing between licks of her cone.

“Leaving. I’m taking you away.”

“Away, where?”

I thought of the island Matteo and Evie lived on. The endless sunshine and peace they surrounded themselves with. It had never been something I craved before now, but at the moment, it was all I wanted. To see Missy in the sun, no worries or fears—the thoughts of a madman, darkness, and cages fading away to an obscure place in her mind.

“Somewhere warm, safe, and private.”

“What about Hidden Justice?”

“I’ve done my time. It needs a new leader. A fresh set of eyes.”

“I can’t ask you to stop what you’re passionate about for me.”

I leaned over and kissed her, tasting the dark chocolate of her ice cream on her mouth. “I’m passionate about you. I want to build a life with you.” I paused, uncertain suddenly. “As long as that is what you want.”

She cupped my cheek, her small fingers soft on my skin. “It is. I don’t want to be alone or invisible anymore.”

“You’ll never be invisible to me.”

“I have some things of my gran’s—”

I cut her off. “We’ll figure it out. We’ll get everything you want.”

“It’s only a couple of items. Sentimental ones.”

“Whatever you want.”

She smiled and offered me her mouth. I pressed mine to hers happily.

“Then take me wherever you want to, Marcus. We’ll build a new life together.”

“Done.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

I winked. “You do that, sweetheart.”

She insisted on taking ice cream back, and when we arrived at the warehouse, she hurried ahead of me upstairs, and I stopped to drop off the treat she’d brought for Egan, figuring by now he’d be back in the basement. I entered his space, surprised not to see him bent over his laptop, then decided he must still be upstairs. By habit, my glance fell to the security monitors, and I frowned at the sight of the command center. It appeared empty.

Where the hell was everyone?

I watched in horror as Missy stepped from the elevator, looking around, the smile fading from her face. She rushed forward, dropping the bag she was carrying and covering her mouth at whatever she saw in front of her. She fell to her knees, out of sight, and I clicked the cameras, needing to see what had terrified her so much. She was leaning over the prone figure of a man, talking rapidly, running her hands over him. I recognized the jacket he wore, and with growing apprehension, I realized it was Leo. Beaten and bloodied on the floor of the command center. My fingers flew over the keyboard, examining every angle I could. Allen was on the floor, blood surrounding him. Egan wasn’t far away, still and unmoving against a wall. Damien was slumped over his desk, his gun on the floor. Another man I didn’t know was on the floor, more blood around his body.

But it was the still figure standing in my office doorway of the command center that grabbed my attention.

Tall, thin, with a headful of blond hair, the man I knew without a doubt was Xavier Zander was in the same room as Missy, having gotten into my building, killed my men, and had been waiting. For her.

I opened the hidden compartment behind me, choosing my weapons, even as I kept my attention on the screen in front of me. All my worry and stress evaporated, my focus narrowing to one single item. I felt a strange sense of calm as I chose my gun. I had one mission and that was to end that motherfucker.

Tags: Melanie Moreland Men of Hidden Justice Romance
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