Dead Drop (The Guild #2)(25)

I liked to think no, but that could be my ego taking over my logic. This woman wasn’t the woman I’d thought had fallen in love with me back on my island. She had been a total fabrication. So I had no clue how the real Danny DeLuna would react. But I was about to find out.

“Thank fuck,” she muttered on a long exhale, her posture softening slightly. She must have decided Mo was alone after all. And she was, much to her own stupidity.

Still, Danny made no move to rush down there and speak with my sister. She just waited… which I had to admit was smart. Who knew whether someone was lurking just out of sight, right?

Mo must have been calling, because a moment later Danny shifted to pull her lit phone from the pocket of her black pants. She was all in black, the darkness making her skin and hair stand out in stark contrast.

“I’m here.” My sister’s voice cut through the night from across the street and echoed quietly from Danny’s phone. “And I’m sure you can see by now that I’m alone. Are you satisfied?”

Before Danny could respond, I stupidly shifted my weight, and a board creaked.

We both moved equally as fast, our guns pointed at one another before I even stepped out of the shadows, and Danny gave a furious snarl.

“No, Moana, I’m fucking not satisfied,” she snapped to the phone still in her hand. She’d drawn a Smith & Wesson M&P from her hip and held it like an extension of her own body as she glared pure death at me.

I smiled. I couldn’t help myself. She was so fucking beautiful, and I’d been dreaming about her every night since she ran from me. “Tell Mo to leave,” I ordered Danny. “You and I are overdue a little chat.”

“Is that Kai?” Mo shrieked, her voice bouncing out of the phone. “Fuck. Fuck. Danny, I swear I didn’t tell him—”

Danny didn’t react, just ended the call, cutting off my sister’s apologies. As smooth as silk, she rose from the floor and tucked her phone away, never taking her eyes or her gun from me.

“I wish I could say I was surprised,” she told me in a hard-edged voice, so totally different from the Danielle I’d known. The only sign of the chilled air around us was visible in the vapor when she spoke. “You must have some kind of death wish, Malachi.”

Her use of my full name made my eye twitch. No one called me that anymore, not since my father had died. Hearing it on her lips sounded so impersonal, like she was deliberately pointing out the fact that we were strangers.

“Funny,” I replied without even a hint of amusement. “I think we both know you only called Moana so you could see me. So here I am, ika ātaahua.”

I’d be willing to bet she was irritated not to know what I’d just called her. According to our research, she spoke seven languages damn near fluently, but te reo Māori wasn’t one of them.

“I’m amazed you managed to sneak up on me; with an ego that large, you must have had trouble getting up the stairs.” Her words dripped sarcasm, and I didn’t even try to hide my answering smile. She loved my smile, and I didn’t think she’d been lying about that. She’d told the truth about Stanley… I clung to the hope that she’d been genuine with other things too.

I stepped closer, and she didn’t flinch.

“You told Mo that you needed her help. I guarantee you, ika ātaahua, I’m the one you need.” I tilted my head to the side, holding her gorgeous gaze as I took another step closer. Could she hear the deeper meaning behind my words? Could she hear how badly I wanted her to need me? The way I needed her back in my life?

Fucking hell, if this didn’t work, my team would shoot me themselves. They were thoroughly sick of me pining for a ghost.

“Kai!” Moana yelled from the street below. “Malachi Arden, I’m going to fucking kill you if Danny hasn’t already done it.”

Danny’s perfect lips twitched with a micro-smile, and I gave a small sigh.

“Fuck off, Moana!” I shouted back, letting my voice boom through the bell tower.

“Screw you,” she shouted back. “Danny, are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

This time, my siren’s smile spread wide, and mirth sparked in her sapphire eyes.

My pulse raced and I wet my lips, almost dizzy with the need to touch her. “Yeah, Danny,” I mocked, “did I hurt you? Did you feel like you’d been stabbed right in the chest with a poison blade that day in Venice when you realized I’d been playing you?”

She scoffed. “You fucking wish, Malachi. I called Mo because I wanted her help. Not yours. I suggest you tuck tail and run before I decide to complete my contract and kill you.”

Victory swelled my chest, and satisfaction settled over my shoulders like a warm blanket. She had been contracted to kill me and chose not to follow through.

I took a step closer, near enough that I could almost reach out and touch her. Almost. But I was still undecided whether she would shoot… even a non-fatal shot would be unpleasant.

“Malachi, back the fuck off,” she ordered me with a slight edge of frustration. “Don’t make me kill you for being a stubborn prick. I seriously doubt your sister will help me if I shoot you tonight.”

I gave a small laugh. “You’re right about that, kaikohuru iti.”

Her jaw clenched as she gritted her teeth, and I took another step closer. We still had our guns on each other, but with every step I advanced, I grew more confident she wouldn’t use hers.