Where the Snow Falls (Seasons of Betrayal #2)(7)

“You’re here now,” Violet said, fingering the hem of her shirt.

“Yeah.”

“And I’m not going to want you to leave.”

Kaz shrugged. “Maybe you’ll have to come with me then.”

“Tony—enforcer, remember? He’s outside. I already told you this, Kaz.”

He barely reacted to her statement, like it didn’t faze him in the slightest.

“I didn’t think for a second that your father would be letting you run around unmanned, Violet.”

How was that going to help them?

“I’ve got a flight to catch,” Kaz added after a moment. “Are you going to be joining me or not?”

Again, she didn't hesitate. “Where the hell else am I going to go?”

She didn’t even ask how or what his plan was.

Violet just didn’t care.

He was all she wanted now—didn’t he know that?

“That’s all I need to know,” Kaz said. He nodded at the walk-in closet across the room. “Think you can pack a bag in ten minutes?”

“Probably less.”

“You might want to take some shit, Violet. Whatever means something to you. I don’t know how long we’re going to be gone, or if you’ll have something to come back to.”

She still couldn’t find it in herself to give a damn.

Not with him there.

“None of it matters anyway,” she said.

Kaz’s smile deepened. “All right. Five minutes, yes?”

“Five minutes.”

Kaz didn’t follow Violet when she made a beeline for the closet. She wasn’t even sure what he was doing as she grabbed a tote bag that was large enough to fit a few outfits and very little else. As long as she had a change of clothes, she could take care of the rest as needed.

She knew that without even asking.

Violet was well aware that Kaz wasn't the type to just jump the gun. He figured shit out and planned accordingly. If he said it was time to go, then it was, and he would take care of the rest.

Simple as that.

Before long, Violet was strolling out of her closet with the bag tossed over her shoulder. She found Kaz waiting in the bedroom doorway, holding out one of her warmer, thicker winter coats. Much warmer than the one she was currently using. While spring was a couple of months or so away, it was still chilly.

“It’s colder in Chicago,” he said when she took the coat from him. “Windier. You’ll need it when we land.”

“Okay.”

Kaz chuckled and used the tip of his thumb to rub at a spot above his eye. “That’s it? No questions or demands?”

“I told you what I wanted.”

“Yeah, I guess you did.”

“Tony is still out in the hallway, Kaz.”

He didn't even blink when he said, “I know. Don’t look.”

Violet wasn’t quite sure what he meant by that, but when he held out his hand, she took it without hesitating.

“Got everything you want?” he asked.

She passed a look at the framed photographs on her corner desk. She rarely used it for anything, preferring to be lying in bed when she was on her laptop. Over the years, she’d just filled the desk with pictures of her family and a few of her friends.

“I’m good,” she said.

Kaz drew her into his side and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Let’s go then.”

He tucked her hand around his arm as he directed them back through the apartment and toward the front door. She slipped on a pair of sneakers, foregoing the heels she had kicked off earlier.

Kaz’s hand landed on the doorknob, and once more, he said, “Just don’t look.”

Violet wasn’t sure what she thought she would see when he pulled the apartment door open. Maybe that Tony had skipped off, thinking she’d settled in for the night, and that was it.

Or maybe that was what she was hoping for.

She was wrong.

Tony was right where she had left him, still looking down at that phone of his and lost in whatever game he was playing. Violet’s fingers dug roughly into Kaz’s arm at the sight of the enforcer, as if she was subconsciously trying to pull him back into the apartment and hide him.

Kaz didn’t even react; he just kept moving forward, bringing her along with him.

Clearing his throat loudly, Kaz effectively made enough noise to draw Tony’s attention away from his phone. The second Tony looked up, Kaz was reaching for whatever was at his back at the same time.

Violet heard Kaz’s words from before still ringing loudly.

Don’t look.

How easy that should have been.

Tony stood, reaching for the gun she knew he kept holstered at his side under his jacket.

Kaz already had his gun aimed, and the hammer cocked back under his thumb.

Don’t look.

The noise was deafening when Kaz pulled the trigger. Louder than Violet realized it would be. She had never—despite growing up around men who always carried handguns—heard one fired before. Certainly not at close range.

She should have turned away.

Instead, she watched the bullet tear through Tony’s face.





Kaz merely blinked as the man dropped back into his seat, his phone on the ground, whatever game he’d been playing still going. Whoever he was, he no longer mattered now that he was dead.