Devil You Know(Lost Boys Book 1)(120)

“We’ll get him, but let’s focus on Gallagher,” Cam said.

“Razor, you’re going in. Gallagher doesn’t know you but Thea will know we’re here.”

“On it.”

“We need to bring the cops in on this.” Cam was thinking long term on nailing Tim, and he wasn’t wrong, but my focus was getting Thea out of there.

“They come in now, they tip him off that we’re on to him. You back a man like that into a corner and it doesn’t end well,” Guy said.

“I agree. Razor will secure the scene, I’ll go in through the bedroom”

“We’ll go through the bedroom.” I knew that tone, Anton wasn’t going to be swayed, I didn’t argue. I like the odds better with him. “We go through, get Thea out and it’s all over. The cops can then stroll in and make the collar.”

“As soon as she’s clear, you call.” Cam was all cop right now.

“Done.”

I reached for the door of the van, but Cam stopped me. “Protect her.” There was the brother.

“With my life.”





My heart dropped at the knock at the door. The man I had called uncle for as long as I could remember had planted himself in front of the door. He knew I was planning an escape and he wasn’t going to let that happen. Bile rushed up my throat, fear making me sick to my stomach as the door was yanked open. For a few seconds I stared mutely convinced I wasn’t seeing what I was seeing. Then he spoke. “You rang.”

Razor walked into my apartment, stopped and gave me a blatant once over before he winked. “Didn’t know there was a bonus to this job.”

Tim moved fast, grabbing Razor by the collar. “Hands off. Understood?”

The expression that followed made Razor look like what he was pretending, a killer. “Tap her, but don’t tap her. I get it.”

“No guns. It has to look like an accident.”

“Got it. That’ll cost you extra.”

“Just get it done. Tonight.”

Tim turned to me. “Hired help is not what it used to be. I am so sorry it came to this. It’s not personal.”

“It feels fucking personal.”

He walked over to me and snapped off the necklace from around my neck. “I’ll get Rosalie and Cam through this, just like I did with your dad.”

“You won’t get away with this.”

“I already have.”

He started for the door, but stopped. “How did you get here so fast?”

My eyes flew to Razor who was as cool as ice, but Tim didn’t wait for an answer and moved with surprising speed to haul me against him. A gun appeared, digging into my back.”

“Your weapons on the table.”

I brought my foot down hard on his before throwing my head back. He released me and I ran right before I heard the shot just as someone fell on top of me, taking me down in a bone-crushing hit. Another shot, then voices coming from down the hall. I tried to move, but whoever was on top of me wasn’t moving. I thought it was Tim then realized it was probably Razor and he wasn’t moving. The shuffling of feet, the weight at my back lifted and then I was being lifted and pressed against a chest. Cam.

“Razor.”

“I’m here, babe.”

“But, who was…” I pulled from Cam and turned to see Damian on the floor, Mic and someone I didn’t recognize working on him. There was blood, so much blood.

“We need an ambulance right the fuck now.”

My head spun right before everything went black.



Damian had taken a bullet intended for me, threw himself in the path of it to protect me. He had come out of surgery, but he had lost a lot of blood and had slipped into a coma. I sat at his bedside, his big hand in mine. I couldn’t lose him. I couldn’t live in a world without him. I pressed my face to his chest and prayed. Prayed for him to come back to me.



The box of letters that I had written to him sat on my lap. The doctors said he could hear me, that hearing my voice was important, so I sat in that hospital room and read the words my younger self had written, words that still rang true. And when I had read them all, I read them again.



It had been two days. Mom tried to get me to go home, but I didn’t want Damian to wake and me not be there. The gang was in the waiting room. They took turns bringing food. I couldn’t eat, hadn’t in two days. I stayed right at his side, willing him to wake up.

“I’m putting snakes in your bed if you don’t wake up—lots of snakes slithering around your legs and over your face. I’ll even feed them right on your stomach. Don’t test me, Damian. I’ll do it.”

He was so still except for the even rise and fall of his chest. “There was nothing in Dad’s box to implicate Uncle Tim. His own guilt tripped him up. He had had Dad killed before he made the connection, but Dobbs is testifying against him, the recording of him hiring the hit on me, his attempt on you. He’s going away for a long time, not even he can get himself out of it. And all his cases are being overturned. Jacob Hunter was re-arrested and is facing another trial.” I stroked his arm and touched his face. “There was something in Dad’s box and it was addressed to you. It was my grandmother’s wedding ring. Daddy knew, I think he knew something was going to happen to him. He sent Cam his files and me the key. But Daddy’s last gift to me wasn’t the key, it was you.” I dropped my head because the tears I had been trying so hard to hold back rolled down my cheeks. “You promised me a lifetime.”