No Love Lost (Masters & Mercenaries The Forgotten #5) - Lexi Blake Page 0,5

“I told you I’ll kill the first person who hurts her. She’s an important prisoner.”

“Levi, I swear if you take her, I’m going to kill you.”

Beck. Beck had said that. Why would he say that? Still, the fact that he had settled something inside her. She didn’t truly expect him to save her. Once, she would have believed those words had come from a place of love, of protection. Now she had to consider that this was more about Levi than herself. She was the bone two dogs fought over.

And it looked like she was about to get torn apart.

“I’m sure you’ll try.” A faint smile crossed Levi’s face as though he was truly satisfied. “Damon, I wish you hadn’t stopped him. I wouldn’t mind shooting him right here. Solo, your name was on the list. We know you were working with McDonald. What a pity.”

For the first time in years she felt truly vulnerable. Not merely her heart. That was always vulnerable to Beck, but now her body and soul were on the line. “That’s not true. You’re lying.”

Damon was whispering something Beck’s way, likely a plea to not cause a fight. Any impulse in Beck to help her was merely the remnants of another life. Or perhaps the desperate need to fight Levi. It was good Damon was there. He would convince Beck to take a breath and realize he didn’t want to save her.

When Beck thought about it for a few moments, after the shock of seeing Levi had fled, he would very likely come to the conclusion that she was guilty. After all, wasn’t she guilty of everything in his eyes? Including the death of his brother. At some point he would determine that this was pure justice, and maybe he would sleep again at night. Maybe then he would be able to move on.

She squared her shoulders. There was no fighting her way out of this. Not now. She would have to bide her time, wait until the right moment.

Then she would make sure Levi Green paid for treating her like a piece of property he could do with as he liked.

She needed to remember that she was alone. She was the only one she could count on.

She walked out the door and didn’t look back.

* * * *

Ezra Fain watched as his wife was walked out of the conference room, four men surrounding her like she was some kind of prisoner.

Levi Green let them escort her out, watched her with deep satisfaction in his gaze. He was taking the prize in the game they’d started long ago. The queen in their chess match.

Ezra’s queen. No. Beck’s. The man he used to be before all of this had started. Before he’d let that fucker ruin everything. Kim Solomon didn’t belong to Ezra Fain. She’d been directly involved in his brother’s death. She’d lied to him, wouldn’t listen to him when he’d begged her not to send Ezra on that mission that had proven to be his brother’s last.

Levi turned and gave him a wink before the door closed behind him.

“I’m going to kill that man,” Ezra vowed.

“I’m going to help you,” Damon promised, his voice low.

In that moment he knew it was about more than the game Levi kept dragging him back into. It was about her. It was about the Kim who’d smiled up at him the day after they’d eloped. The sun had hit her hair and she’d looked like some sunny goddess who’d wound up in his bed, and he’d felt like the king of the world.

He couldn’t let her go, couldn’t leave her in Levi’s hands. Even if it was only to honor the vows they’d made so long ago, he had to save her.

“You have to get that wild look off your face because any second now the head of MI6 is going to walk in, and we need to look good. Shaken, not stirred, if you know what I mean,” Damon whispered. “If they haven’t changed things, the security cameras are to our backs. It’s why I insisted we sit here. But the director will come in to brief us, and he’ll report back to his Agency counterparts. You have to keep your cool. Trust me. I’m not going to let you down, brother.”

Ezra took a deep breath because his boss was right. Damon knew these people because Damon had been MI6 for years. But his impulse was to chase Levi and his men down, throw Kim over his