She could go home? She could go back to Malta and have her bookshop and Roman could go back to school.
But there was zero way Levi let her go.
“So we need to figure out what we’re going to do,” Ian was saying. “Because he’s planning something. I don’t know what it is, but he’s got something up his sleeve, and we all know he could wait a long time before he springs the trap. It could be days or months or fucking years, man. I think it’s time we flat-out assassinate that fucker.”
Mitch shook his head. “Dude, not in front of the lawyer. How many times do we have to go over the fact that you can’t plan murders around me?”
“The only reason I didn’t do it today was his entourage of soldiers,” Ian admitted, ignoring the attorney the same way he apparently ignored legal advice.
“I’ve thought the same thing.” Beck stared at the screen. “We should take him out. I’ll take the fall if we get caught.”
“We’re not assassinating him.” At one point she’d thought about doing it herself. She’d even planned it out. Then one pregnancy test had changed everything, and she wasn’t going to lose Beck now that she’d just found him again. Found him for Roman. Roman would be hurt if his father went to jail. “I need some time to think.”
“Think on the plane,” Tag commanded in that I’m-the-boss-of-the-world way of his. “Theo should be landing soon. He’s bringing you all back to Dallas. The best thing we can do is act as normally as we can while we try to figure out what Green’s doing.”
“Normal for me is on Malta.” Though it seemed odd to think about going back. How could she resume her regular life?
“No,” Beck said. “That was where you hid.”
“It’s where I made a home.” She said the words, but she didn’t really believe them. She hadn’t made a home. She’d taken a room in a place that didn’t belong to her, that could have gotten her uncle in trouble. She could move them over the bookshop.
She didn’t want to leave Beck.
Not even one day back in his company and she didn’t want to leave him. She wanted the excuse of fear to force her to stay.
That was what Levi had done. He’d taken away her need for protection. He was forcing her to make the decision to stay or leave.
“Solo, the very least you need to do is come to Dallas for the time being,” Ian said. “The case against you is done, but I want to figure out why there was a case in the first place. If he did it, he had a reason, and we need to figure out why.”
“Or I should take the fact that he’s walked away as my cue to do the same.” What if the war was over? Not that she thought Levi was telling the truth, but he did have the power he’d always wanted. What if that was enough for him? “Maybe he has what he wants, and he knows keeping this war going could cost him. You know a man with something to lose is far easier to deal with than a desperate one.”
“Ian, we’ll be on that plane,” Beck announced. “She’ll stay with me at my place until we can figure out what we’re doing.”
“Excellent,” Ian replied. “I’ll see you here tomorrow. I’ll have one of the guys go out to your place and make sure your security system is working at full capacity. Send me a list of whatever else you need and someone will go shopping. I don’t want Solo walking around Dallas for a little while, and I definitely want someone with the kid until we figure out how to quietly off Levi.”
“Agreed. See you soon,” Beck replied, and the screen went dark. “Jax, can you pull up the replay? I want to go over everything he said again.”
“I’ll do you one better.” Jax had a remote in his hand. “I finally got the Wi-Fi working and I can throw it to the TV screen so we can all watch it. I’m going to send a copy to Eve. She’s been working on a profile of him for a long time. She might catch something we miss.”
“I don’t need to watch it again.” Something about the way Beck had simply made the decision for her rankled. “I need to figure out how to get home. I’ll go and see if Ezra can get the boat again. I don’t want to make you late getting to your plane.”
“You can’t be serious,” Beck replied.
“We’re going home?” Roman stood in the doorway, his eyes wide. “But what about the bad man?”
Beck put his hands on his hips and frowned as Ezra showed up behind Roman. “I thought you were watching him.”
Ezra winced. “He can be slippery when he wants to. Sorry. But I’m also kind of worried about the bad guy. Could I watch the tape so I know who to look for? If we’re going back to Malta, I should know who might…show up.”
She knew what Ezra had been planning on saying. Who might murder us. But what the hell was she supposed to do? She couldn’t simply allow Beck to walk in and take over. It had been one thing when she had no other options, but now she did.
“Set it up, Jax. Owen, see if you can get an ETA on Theo and the others,” Beck said, obviously taking charge. “I’m going to have a talk with Kim, and then we’ll get ready to move out. Roman, I’m not going to leave you. No matter what. Do you understand?”
Her son slowly nodded his head. “Yes. You won’t let the bad guy get
