“My dad is going to kill you,” Tasha said with a quavering breath.
Levi sneered her way. “Your dad is dead. Taggart isn’t your father. All you are to Ian Taggart is an obligation. He took you in because he fucked up and got your real dad killed. He was a prick, too. The stories I could tell you about Sasha, the traitor.”
She took a deep breath. It made her sick, but she had to do it. She had to convince him she wanted to go with him. “Levi, let Tasha go and I’ll be a good girl.”
He studied her for a moment, his eyes going up and down her body. “I don’t think you have a weapon on you. You’re out of practice.”
“I haven’t run an op in years, but I know when to quit, and you were right about Beck. He’s never going to care about me.” She glanced over to the two men edging closer and closer and really wished a little of the old Solo had come back. He was right. She wasn’t carrying a weapon. “He hasn’t forgiven me. All he cares about is his son.”
A brow cocked over Levi’s eyes. “I’m supposed to believe you don’t care about your son.”
She prayed Roman never had to know what she was about to say. “He’s a good kid, but do you honestly think I’m cut out to be a mommy? Do you have any idea how boring the last seven years have been?”
They hadn’t. She’d needed them to prove to her what she wanted. A quiet life filled with love and family and people who did the right thing because the world was good for them. Because they worked hard to make it good. People who didn’t hide behind patriotism to fuel the greed of a few. There were good people working in intelligence, but she couldn’t do it anymore because they always had to fight the faction the Levis of the world aligned themselves with.
“I don’t know if I believe you.” But there was a hesitation in his tone. He wanted to believe her. His sick mind wanted to believe he would get everything he desired.
“Let Tasha go and I’ll prove it to you.” She used her husky voice, the one she dragged out when she needed to pretend she wanted some dumbass so he would give her information.
Yeah, she hated that part, too.
“So I’m supposed to believe that you want me now.”
“I want out, Levi. Beck has it in his head that I should be his housewife. I’m supposed to take some desk job at McKay-Taggart and hand over everything to him. So if getting out of that means going with you, then I’ll give it a try. He’s holding Ezra over my head.”
“Yes, that wasn’t well done of you.” Levi nodded. “Boys, take the kid out.”
“No!”
She tried to shield Tasha but the man on the left was a good shot. He managed to avoid Kim altogether. He struck Tasha in the right thigh.
With a dart.
Tasha slumped to the ground. God, she hoped they had the dosage right.
“I’m not stupid. Killing Tag’s daughter would irritate him. She’ll take a nap and maybe she’ll learn a lesson,” Levi said, looking down at the teen. “Maybe Tag will be too busy dealing with his fucked-up adopted mess to look for me. Now, I believe you said something about wanting to come along.”
Could she get close enough to fight him for the gun?
“Come on. We’ve got a car waiting about half a mile from here. I want to get on the road before they find the girl. She’ll cost them some time.” Levi gripped her elbow and pulled her close.
“Where are we going?” She forced herself to stumble a bit to slow them down.
Levi merely pulled her along. “I’ve got a safe house in the Philippines no one knows about. And luckily, now I have your money. We’re going to clear your accounts out so we have some working capital. I have to pay these guys. I don’t get to call up a Special Ops teams anymore. You know I’m really going to miss the perks.”
How slow could she go? “I was surprised you didn’t clear out my accounts when you had the chance.”
“Beck blocked me. I’m sure he was planning on finding you and getting his hands on it. He went to your banks with a couple of lawyers and made sure the government wasn’t able to access the funds. But now I’ve lifted the freeze on your accounts, and we can march right down to the bank and transfer the funds. We’re going to need them for our new life.”
“In the Philippines.” The grip on her arm was starting to hurt. She wished she knew the land better. They were surrounded by trees. She was certain they were heading southeast, away from the lake. They couldn’t be far from the house. It hadn’t taken them more than ten minutes to walk down to the pier.
If she ran, would he kill her? She’d been perfectly willing to die seven years before when he’d had her in that limo. There had been a part of her that had been disappointed Beck had stopped her from finishing it. Her life had seemed like such a misery at the time.
She didn’t want to finish anything. She wanted to watch her son grow up, wanted her second or third or fourth chance with Beck.
“In the beginning we’ll stay there.” Levi stopped and forced her to look up at him. “I’ve got plans. Don’t think I can’t take care of you.”
“It sounds like I’ll be taking care of you.” She couldn’t let him get her in the car. She had to time this so they wouldn’t go back for Tasha, wouldn’t be close enough to the house to catch one of the kids. But she wanted her
