Bound to Darkness (Doubeck Crime Family)

I give the house one last longing look and then face forward, careful not to press the helmet into Kai’s back.

It doesn’t take long to reach the edge of the forest and park next to a black SUV. The snow here is plowed, and I climb off the snowmobile and drag the helmet off my head.

Kai grabs our bags and loads them into the back of the SUV. He’s silent, and I’m wondering if killing that man had more of an effect on him than he let on. At the time, he seemed so confident and in control. Now he simply looks…tired.

Inside the vehicle, I fasten my seat belt. Kai does the same and then sits, staring at the steering wheel. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asks.

I study him, leaning forward to see the strong slope of his nose and those sharp cheekbones. “I’m fine, but are you okay?”

He grips the steering wheel, worrying the leather until it squeaks under his grasp. “I suppose I’m worried about how that whole thing will make you look at me. Do you think less of me now?”

I clear my throat and smile, something that feels almost foreign to me. “If I recall, you made sure to warn me that you are not a good man. Someone was going to kill that bastard, if not one of us, then likely one of your friends.”

He gives me a quizzical look, his brows drawing up. “My friends?”

I grope for their name. “What does Adrian call you guys, His Five? Right?”

He nods absently and then more firmly. “Yes, you’re right. One of them would have gotten to him eventually. Men like that don’t just fall off the radar and live happily ever after.”

I settle in the seat to stare out the windshield. “Nor should they.”

His hand on my cheek makes me jolt, and I glance over at him. “What?”

He shakes his head. “Nothing, I just…it’s nothing. I wish I could take you home. That we could both go home and be safe.”

He seems solemn, and I don’t like it. It reminds me of the remote, severe man who nursed me back to health. The one who kept himself behind thick walls. “So if we’re not going home, then where are we going?”

I watch as he shifts the car into gear and backs us out of the parking lot. On the snow-covered roads, he leads us out to a clear interstate. “If we can’t go home, then we go to my old home, Chicago.”

Oh. I wince, but thankfully, he doesn’t see it. “Didn’t it sound like that man was tipped off by your sister, and you want to go there so she can get her hands on you herself?”

“I don’t think my sister did the tipping, and if she did, we would have a confrontation regardless. I’d rather face my problems head-on, not hide from them.”

I decide not to point out we’ve both been hiding for the past week or two. We settle into silence, and I consider what comes next.

A couple of hours into the drive, we stopped for burgers, and I enjoyed the easy silence between us. It’s no longer this heady thing threatening to choke me.

Another hour later, we see the signs for the city and start making our way through traffic.

We pull up to a high-rise, and he climbs out first, grabbing the bags. I scramble out after him and follow. He hands the keys off to someone I hope is a valet, and we enter the shiny steel building. I race to get to his side. “Where are we going?”

He points upward with his thumb since his hands are full. I operate the buttons on the elevator, then we step into a small hallway with one door on the end. Two men are standing there, looking very official.

I lean over. “Is the FBI camping out here? Or did we walk into a Men in Black movie?”

His lip twitches, but he doesn’t give me the smile I’m hoping for. I follow him into the apartment, and the men stay in the hall.

“They’re guards. My mother must have sent them after I requested she send a car for our trip.”

She puts the suitcase down and waves around the loft-style apartment. The view from the open windows is incredible, and I keep admiring the city gleaming to life around us. “Is this your house?”

He shrugs and then strips off his coat. “It is when I’m in the city. But I spent most of my time with Adrian at the penthouse. There’s a room for me there too.”

I wonder if there will be room for me when this is all over, or will I be cast out to fend for myself. Although I only met him briefly, Adrian is a very dour man. I can’t picture him wanting the random cousin of his wife loitering in his very fancy penthouse.

But I can’t think about that right now. “You want to give me the tour?”

He leads me through the space, kitchen, sparse living room, then a bedroom with a huge walk-in closet and adjacent bathroom. There’s another room, but he uses it as an office. It takes me a second but then I turn to face him. “There’s only one bed.”