Mine To Protect (Mine #6)(66)

She’s not okay. Zoe is dying. I can’t let her die.

Please, God, don’t let her die.

He ran for the big, shining doors that led out of the Vine. Jasmine was with him, racing at his side. The others just gaped. Pity was in their eyes.

As if…as if Zoe was already gone.

She was limp in his arms, but she wasn’t gone. Not yet. Not Zoe.

“I love you,” he whispered again.

But Zoe didn’t respond.

“I love you.” He would say it a thousand times. A million. He needed her to understand. She wasn’t just a case. She was Zoe. She had his heart. She had his soul. She owned every single part of him.

He heard the shriek of an ambulance’s siren.

“I love you,” Victor whispered again. He stood there, Zoe in his arms, her body too still, and he felt tears on his own cheeks. “Don’t leave, baby. Stay. I’ll give you anything you want…just stay.”

The ambulance roared to a stop in front of him. The attendants rushed out. They took Zoe from him.

“Victor…” Jasmine reached for his arm. “Victor, I am so sorry.”

He climbed into the ambulance. The EMTs were frantically working on Zoe. She wasn’t responding. “I love you,” he told her again.

Someone slammed the doors shut.

“I love you,” Victor whispered to Zoe.





Chapter Eighteen


Five days later…

Victor Monroe stared through the thick jail bars, his gaze on his prey—Xavier Thomas Winters. The lawyer wore a garish orange prisoner uniform, stubble lined his jaw, and the nose that Victor had broken—it was still swollen and twisted.

Not so perfect now, are you?

But the guy was smiling. That smug-ass smile that Victor hated.

“How’s my Zoe doing?” Tom asked him.

Victor didn’t blink.

Tom’s fingers curled around the bars. “The story I’ve heard is that she didn’t even make it to the hospital. She died on the way there.” His lips twisted. “Such a shame. Why didn’t you protect her better, Special Agent Monroe?”

“I’m not a special agent any longer.”

Tom blinked. “You’re not…here for a deal?”

“There won’t be any deals with you. You’re exactly where you belong—and exactly where you’ll stay…until you die.”

Tom’s smug look was long gone.

“How long do you think you have?” Victor mused. “Before a hit is taken out on you?”

Tom licked his lips. “I have a…lot of information…on Luther…on—”

“Luther’s prison is my next stop. I have to go break the news to him about his daughter. Tell me, how do you think he’ll react? To knowing that you ordered the kill?”

Tom’s breath hitched, coming faster and faster. “I wasn’t going to let her leave again. I got her back. Worked too hard. She wasn’t going to leave again. You knew the deal. You were supposed to walk away. She stayed. That was the arrangement. She stayed.”

Victor glanced around the small cell. “And now you’ll stay here. Have fun.” He turned on his heel and headed for the exit.

“Wait!”

He kept walking.

And Tom started laughing. “You…loved her, didn’t you? Sonofabitch…I see it now. You weren’t just using her. You’re so f*cked up in the head because she’s gone. You’re broken. The big, bad agent. All lost because Zoe is gone.”

Victor looked back at him. “You loved her, too.”

That stopped Tom’s laughter.

“And you broke when she left you. That’s how you became this sick thing that I see now. You couldn’t handle life without her.”

“I was getting her back…”

“You became the same monster she’d always hated.” Victor’s lips curled in disgust. “Know this, though. At the end, Zoe loved me. Me. Despite everything, she still loved me.” He flexed his fingers. “And I will always love her.” He exhaled slowly. “Enjoy life behind bars. You deserve every bit of hell that you have coming.” Once more, he started walking toward the exit—and toward the uniformed guard who waited there.

“I want to make a deal!” Tom shouted.

Victor motioned for the guard to open the door.

“Did you hear me? I want a deal! I’ll talk! Give me a deal! Get me out of here!”

The guard opened the door.

“I want a deal!”

“Too f*cking bad,” Victor said without looking back. “Because I already told you, I don’t deal with the devil. Not anymore.”

He left that cell. Marched outside and wasn’t particularly surprised to find two familiar cops waiting for him. Cain Blair and Michelle Lane. Michelle still had bruises on her body, leftover reminders of her time with Tom. Victor was sure that was she was itching for some alone time—and payback—with the guy.

Cain stared at him, pity in his eyes. Victor had been getting that look a lot lately. His heart ached every single time he saw it.

Cain strode toward him and offered Victor his hand. “I’m sorry it didn’t end…differently.”

Victor didn’t speak. He just nodded as he took the guy’s hand.