Ruthless Creatures (Queens & Monsters, #1)(92)

After a long, breathless moment, she exhales heavily and lowers the gun to her side.

Groaning, I throw my arms around her waist and bury my face into her belly. I hold her tightly until she sighs.

“Get off your knees, gangster. I can’t deal with you like this.”

I stand. When I try to take her face in my hands, she pulls away, shaking her head. She holds out my weapon.

“Just take this damn thing, will you?”

I shove the gun under the waistband of my jeans at the small of my back, then reach for her again. But again she withdraws, turning her back to me and wrapping her arms around her body. She goes to the sink and leans against it, looking down.

Her voice very quiet, she says, “What now?”

The relief I feel that she’s not screaming for me to leave is so overwhelming, I almost sink to my knees again. “I put Viktor in the car, but I have to…” I hesitate, not wanting to traumatize her any more.

She says, “Get rid of the body. I get it. Go ahead.”

I should’ve known she’d rally, my Valkyrie queen.

“I’ll be back within the hour.”

She turns her head, speaking over her shoulder. “Where will you take him?”

“The lake.”

She pauses. “Is that where you would’ve taken me? If you hadn’t fallen for me, I mean.”

Oh fuck.

“No more lies, gangster,” she says softly.

It’s a moment before I can get it out. “Yes.”

She turns her head away. Looking at the closed blinds over the sink, she says, “Thank you for being honest.”

It sounds like Fuck off and die, but we don’t have time to argue.

“Don’t answer the door or the phone while I’m gone. Don’t go outside. When I get back, I’ll clean up the rest of it. Then we’ll make a plan.”

“A plan?”

“When Viktor doesn’t check in, Max will send someone else.”

“I see. A plan. That makes sense.”

She’s unnaturally calm, especially considering how hysterical she was only minutes ago. Shock is setting in.

I take a step toward her, my heart aching. “Baby—”

“Just go, Kage. I need a minute to process. When you get back, we’ll talk. I promise.”

I want to hold her. I want to kiss her. I want this awful distance between us to be gone. But for the moment, I’m grateful it’s a truce.

I could be lying in a pool of my own blood right now.

And I have to move fast, because the clock is ticking.

I leave without another word.

When I return an hour later, her house is in total shambles, and she’s gone.





38





Nat





The instant the door closes behind Kage, I bolt into my bedroom, run into the closet, and rip my engagement album off the top shelf.

When I open the leather cover, David’s letter flutters out and lands at my feet. I stashed it here that day I left the bank.

Throwing the album aside, I snatch up the letter and quickly scan it. My hands shake so hard, the paper trembles.

It finally makes sense, this strange safety deposit box letter.

There’s a clue inside.

I missed it before because I didn’t have the right frame of reference. I wasn’t looking at it with the same eyes. But now that I know what I know, the logic is perfect.

David didn’t tell me about the safety deposit box because it was a secret. A secret meant just for me. His way of telling me it was something special was to mail me the key.

If it hadn’t gotten stuck in his decrepit outgoing mailbox, I would have received that key a few days after he disappeared. Maybe even on the same day we were supposed to be getting married. And if I had received it then, I would’ve shown it to the police. Without question. They would’ve tracked down the safety deposit box and had the bank open it.

And just like when I opened it, there would’ve been only a love letter inside.

Not cash. Not unmarked bearer bonds. Nothing suspicious, just a letter.

The police would’ve thought it was a dead end. But I might’ve known better.

Because of that one line that I’m so desperate to reread now, that I think will tell me everything.



Nat,

I love you. First and always, remember that. You’re the only thing that has ever made my life worth living, and I thank God every day for you and your precious smile.



I mutter, “Lying shithead men.” I skip ahead to the next section.



You once told me you always find yourself in art. You said that whenever you get lost, you find yourself in your paintings.

My beautiful Natalie, I hope you’ll find me there, too.



“Find me in your paintings,” I say slowly.

A chill falls over my skin. I raise my head and look around the bedroom at all the art hanging on the walls.

I look at all my paintings hanging on the walls.

And I remember the movie David and I watched the week before we were supposed to get married as we were sitting up in bed.

It was a crime drama called Traffic. There were several different interconnected stories, all of them set around the illegal drug trade. A judge has a crack-addicted daughter. Two DEA agents protect an informant.