“What if I took his place?” As the words left my mouth, Simone’s face flashed in my head. It was torture, knowing we could never be together. I might as well be dead instead of suffering without her for the rest of my life.
York cut his eyes to mine. “You’re not serious.”
“I am. Do you think they would accept my life as payment?”
He rubbed his hand over his jaw as the color drained from his face. It was all the answer I needed. If the Morosov family wanted a life, they could have mine.
“I need to go.” I opened the passenger door. I had a shit ton of stuff to do in preparation for my death.
“Don’t do this. I know he’s your brother. You feel responsible for him.” He gripped my forearm. “But if you’re dead, who will protect him when you’re gone? He’ll fuck up again. You know he will. It’s better to let him pay his own debt, and you live out your life with Simone.”
“Dammit, York! I can’t let them kill him. He’s my brother.”
“Don’t be blinded by loyalty. He’s done nothing but cause problems. He’ll never stop. You shouldn’t pay the price for his fuckups.”
“You know I can’t be with Simone, so I don’t see any other reason to live.” Dammit! I just admitted my true feelings.
“So you’re in love with her…. I’d suspected as much.”
“It doesn’t matter. I need to go.”
“Axel—”
“No, York. It’s done. I’ve made my decision. Tell your contact so they can relay it to Abram. But give me thirty minutes to get to Conrad first. They might go after him.” I got out of his car and poked my head in. “Just find her stalker… and don’t let anything happen to her when I’m gone.”
“Christ…” York gritted out, rubbing his hand across his cheek. He stared at me for a long second. It was the first time I ever saw an emotion in his eyes that wasn’t anger. “I’ll keep her safe.”
“Thank you.” I went to my truck with my heart in my throat. I didn’t have a lot of time before my life would end. There was only one person I wanted to be with, and right now, she was furious with me.
But I couldn’t go to Simone just yet. I needed to check on my brother and get in touch with Mack. If Abram had eyes on Conrad all this time, I couldn’t put Mack’s brothers in the line of fire. I didn’t want to endanger anyone else.
This was my problem and I was handling it.
On my way to the hotel, I ran through a list of things I needed to do. My will was up to date. Everything went to Conrad, so at least I didn’t need to worry about him. Not true. He’d probably lose my life insurance money at the blackjack table in Vegas. Then he’d sell my truck. Once all the money was gone, he’d probably be homeless… or dead.
Shit, would he ever get a real job and provide for himself? York was probably right about Conrad getting himself into deep shit again. Who would bail him out when I was gone?
My stomach churned. There was nobody to take care of Conrad. I couldn’t ask Will. Not when my brother had gotten mixed up with a Russian crime family. I didn’t want that shit on Will’s doorstep. I sure as hell didn’t want Simone caught up in it either.
No matter which way I looked at it, Conrad would likely end up dead or in jail within a year or less.
I swung by In-N-Out, figuring he’d be hungry. He was always hungry, like most teenagers—except Conrad was twenty-four. I wasn’t sure how we got here. Somewhere along the way, in between working and being a parent, I let Conrad down. The blame fell on me because I was older.
Putting my truck in park, I scanned the area as I did every day. Nothing seemed out of sorts. But I believed York when he said someone had been watching Conrad all this time. It was what I would have done if I’d been in Abram’s shoes.
I can’t believe this is happening.
I grabbed the bags of food and shook myself out of the funk I felt myself slipping into. Taking a deep breath, I unlocked the door and entered.
“Hey, didn’t expect to see you so soon,” Conrad said from his bed. He was watching baseball on the TV. “In-N-Out? Brother, you read my mind.” He stood and came to the table where I set the bags and dug right in.
“I can only stay for a little while.” I sat on a chair. “Anything happen while I was gone?”
Conrad snorted, drinking his shake. “Like what? A sexy maid offering to blow me after changing the sheets on the bed?”
I shook my head. “Smartass. I just want to make sure you’re still safe. The Morosovs are dangerous.”
“I know. Nothing out of the ordinary has happened.”