Deep (Chicago Underground #8)(59)

I couldn’t believe he thought I’d do that. “How dare you? God. You’re just as bad as your brother!” I thought I saw the faintest flinch from Philip, but I was too far gone to stop. “You hurt people. You hurt me.”

Philip’s eyes narrowed. “And what’s your point, kitten? I made it clear what kind of man I was, and you still asked me to handle this for you. You still wanted my help.”

“That’s right,” I said, desperately latching on to that. “We made a deal. A deal that you would pay the ransom and get my brother back. That’s it. Not risk his life. Not get him killed. And I know you’re a man of your word.”

Philip looked enraged, but he pulled his gun back, palm up. “Fine. Is this what you want? The money’s in that bag.” He gestured to a dark satchel I hadn’t noticed before, tossed against the floor. “You think that’s what this is about? Money?”

“Everything’s about money,” I said breathlessly. “That’s what you taught me. Money and violence. Power.”

“And now I have them both,” Marco said, pointing his gun at Philip.

“No.” The cry was torn from my throat. I launched myself at them both, catching his arm and falling with them as a shot rang out. There was a loud thud and then a rain of pebbles around my head as I landed hard on a jumble of bodies.

A hand grabbed my wrist, and I was yanked away. I tumbled to the ground, the smooth concrete floor hard against my knees. I rolled to the side, struggled to make out who was where. They looked so alike—Philip and his brother. So alike.

Then Philip stood, and I knew it was him—by the way he stood half in front of me, protecting me with his body. He pointed his gun at Marco.

My brother launched himself forward with a cry of denial. “No!”

But it was too late. A shot rang out, blasting our eardrums and shaking the whole cavern. Red bloomed on Marco’s white dress shirt. He fell in slow motion, right into Tyler’s arms.

“Marco,” Tyler whispered urgently. “No, no. Please no.”

I couldn’t make sense of his concern for a man who had hurt him, who had raped him. I could only fall back in relief that it was over.

Except it wasn’t over.

Philip looked at me, and his eyes were savage. “Is that what you wanted to see? Me killing my brother? Spilling my own f*cking blood?”

I was shaking, clutching my arms around myself as if I could hold myself together that way. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. That hadn’t been what I wanted, but it had also been necessary. There was no payment I could give him for that, no way my body could be recompense.

And then I saw the worst thing of all, glittering in Philip’s dark eyes. Tears.

He was crying over shooting his brother. This man who was nothing but steel bars.

My heart twisted painfully. I reached out for him.

But he was already gone.





Chapter Thirty-Five

A FAINT RUMBLE was the only warning we had. The rocks came down on our heads in a flurry of dust. The ground tilted sideways, and I was falling. A sharp pain in my shoulder told me I’d been hit by a large rock, and I gasped.

Then a warm body covered me, strong hands grasping my arms.

The world shifted as I was pulled to the side. I landed with an oomph on hard stone floor. A heavy weight shielded me. Rocks fell on the floor around me, but the body above mine caught the blows.

Silence rang in my ears, and I heard a low animal sound.

“Are you okay?” I whispered, already knowing who was with me.

My skin always felt electric when he was near me—and when he was touching me? God, I burned.

He pushed to the side, rolling off me. “Fine,” he said roughly. “And you?”

“In one piece. Are we alone?” I stood up and felt along the wall—cool to the touch. It was too dark to see. All I could make out was dust falling in front of my eyes, more of a feeling than sight. I couldn’t hear anything but the tumble of small rocks. They had separated us from Tyler and from his Marco’s body.

Philip’s voice was a low vibration in the dust-filled air. “I pushed us deeper into the tunnel to avoid the rocks. Everyone else went the other way.”

“Tunnel?”

“It was a part of the underground railroad a long time ago. Now it’s just a f*cking hole in the ground.”

“Oh.” I squinted my eyes against the dust, struggling to see down the tunnel—away from the pile of rocks blocking our path to the church. “Can we just…follow this? It must lead somewhere.”

“No. It’s not structurally sound, and more importantly, the ground is uneven. We don’t have a light. Our best bet is to wait here until they clear the rubble.”

I was afraid of that. “Rose and Drew probably went for help. They’re the ones who brought me here.”

“I know,” he said curtly.

I pressed my lips together, feeling the clench of panic again, the way I had locked in his bedroom. My chest got tight—filled with dust instead of air. I clasped my hands as if that could keep me calm. I couldn’t curl up on the ground again. Couldn’t fall apart again. Not in front of him.

“Philip,” I whispered. “I’m sorry about your brother.”

Silence. “He wasn’t right in the head. I saw that from the first time I met him. I tried to get him help but…”