“Wake up, Scar,” I whispered against her ear.

It was time. I didn’t want it to be. Fuck, I would have given just about anything to be able to crawl back into bed beside her. But what I’d be giving would be any hope of keeping her safe, and I couldn’t do that. I wouldn’t, no matter how much it killed me to let her go.

She opened her eyes as her face went pale, and I moved my ass out of her way as she flew off the bed and made a mad dash for the toilet. I followed her and held her hair back, knowing this might be the last time I could do this for her. After this morning, she would have to face this and everything that came after alone.

I hadn’t given up hope that I’d survive, but let’s face it, the odds hadn’t ever exactly been stacked in my favor. I’d found Scar though, even if I’d had no right to take her the way I had. Still, all the shit I’d lived through, it was worth it to have had this bit of time with her.

She sat back hard against me when her stomach had finished revolting, and I held her. I just held her because, in a few minutes, I was going to have to let her go. I’d been up most of the night, but I’d let her sleep until the last possible minute. She’d looked so exhausted, and honestly, I was half-afraid she’d find some way to talk me out of this.

That meant this was goodbye. So, I did what I always did. I buried it down and smoothed my features into an unreadable mask—though it was more difficult to do than ever before.

When her stomach had settled and she’d washed her mouth out, I helped her get dressed. She probably didn’t need my help, but I didn’t want to stop touching her. Not yet. Just not fucking yet.

I even kept hold of her hand to retrieve the envelope I’d set aside for her in the closet. It contained the bank account information she’d need to access my accounts, money, deeds to the properties I owned, and a will that bequeathed all of my worldly possessions to her. I wasn’t going to need them where I was going. No doubt, far wealthier men had tried to buy their way out of hell and failed.

She didn’t ask what was inside when I handed it to her. She was looking past it, to the wall inside the closet. There was one picture tacked up there—my wall of family portraits, I supposed. A single picture of Marcos and I outside one of his private estates in the Cayman Islands. She reached for it without a word, and I didn’t stop her when she pulled it down and slipped it into the envelope.

My eyes stung though, so I released her hand and turned to busy myself with random shit. Not only was it a pussy thing to do, but I didn’t get to cry. I’d created this mess, and I deserved this, to have to force her to leave and watch as she drove away with my fucking hard in her hands. I deserved this.

She stepped ahead of me and grabbed one of the boxes from the floor by the bed. I had no idea what was in it, but I didn’t care. Maybe she intended to make good use of the wicked clamp toys after I was gone. Who the fuck knew, but aside from the sexy image it put in my head, what difference did it make? It was all hers—everything I owned.

“Time to go, Scar,” I said. My voice actually sounded hoarse. Maybe I was coming down with something.

She nodded, though she made no move toward the door. She stood there with the envelope and box hugged tight to her chest. I could see the tears dripping down her cheeks, and I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her so close despite the box and papers between us.

Eventually, we made it down the stairs. Michael was waiting there. I’d given him her boarding pass, and one for him—in case he wanted to go with her and leave Mexico behind to deal with its own messes. He was tempted—I could see it. Scar had that effect on people. And it brought me comfort to think she’d have him there to help her.

“I’ll join you as soon as I can,” I told her, brushing her hair back from her brow. I wanted to be able to see her whole face one last time.

“You better,” she said, her voice fierce.

It made me smile. She was going to be OK. Scar was strong. I didn’t know anyone stronger. Hell, I wasn’t sure a stronger person existed.

When I kissed her, her lips were just as fierce as her voice had been. I was glad. As much as I loved her submissiveness, I didn’t want that right now. I needed to feel her strength, to know she was a fighter. To know she was going to be fine without me.

Then she was gone. I led her to the garage and watched as Michael drove off with the most important person in the world. The woman with my heart in her hands disappeared down the drive, and she was gone.

Gone. Pain tore through the empty cavity in my chest. She was gone.

I watched the gate close through blurry eyes. Tears—fucking tears!

But with my heart now gone, it was time to be the cold motherfucker I was deep down. I wiped my eyes and strode back into the house. There was no fucking way Mateo Lopez was walking away today. I might die too, but I was taking that son of a bitch with me.

I brewed coffee and made breakfast. Showered and dressed. Then I sat on the sofa with a scotch in my hand and waited. No last-minute planning. No going over the plan again and again in my head. I knew the plan. I wasn’t nervous. I was ready. Ready to kill, and ready to die. It was for Scar, so I was ready.

Three hours later, my phone rang from where I’d placed it on the coffee table. I expected it to be Mateo or one of his goons confirming the time.

It wasn’t.

“Derek, I don’t know what the fuck happened, but she’s gone.”

Michael’s words didn’t make sense at first. Gone?—of course, she was gone. I’d put her in the car and watched her drive away.

Fuck, I caught up fast. “What do you mean, she’s gone? Gone, where?”

“I don’t know. We stopped at some shitty diner because she was starving and because she was dancing around on the seat like she wasn’t going to be able to hold it a minute longer. She made a mad dash to the bathroom and never came back out. Fuck, I’m sorry. I’m already back on the road looking for her, but I don’t know where the fuck to look. If they got her…”

“They didn’t,” I said with absolute certainty. Maybe I hadn’t wanted to see it. Maybe I just hoped she’d see reason once Michael had her away from here. But now, I knew exactly what had happened.

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I know Scar. I should have seen it, but I was so busy making plans to keep her safe, I wasn’t paying attention to what I should have seen all along. She never intended to go along with it. She’s on her way back here, Michael. She’s going to be there when Mateo shows up, and he’s going to…”

I couldn’t say it. I couldn’t say out loud what I knew. That if Mateo got his hands on her, he’d rip her apart before my eyes just to make me suffer. “Fuck!”

This wasn’t fucking happening. My heart pounded so hard I could feel it in my fingertips, and all I could see was red. The entire world had been shrouded in a red gaze. Even my mind was shrouded by it, making it impossible to think.

I needed to get it together. Right. Fucking. Now.

“Michael, head back here. You know where Lopez will be. Meet me there in two hours, behind the rear hangar. If you run across Scar on the way back, get her off the road. Ram her car into a fucking ditch if you have to. Whatever you have to do.”

The guy hadn’t signed up to go head-to-head with Lopez. For all I knew, he was going to drive off in the other direction, but I didn’t think so. Hell, I knew he wasn’t going to do that. He genuinely seemed to care about Scar, and beyond that, he had a personal bone to pick with Lopez. What it was, I didn’t know, but I hadn’t forgotten the way he’d responded when I’d told him his name. Between his affection for his long-lost niece and his hatred for Lopez, Michael would be there.

“I’m on my way,” he said, as if in confirmation with my thoughts.

I was racking up debts I’d never be able to pay, but if it kept Scar alive, I didn’t give a fuck. I’d play his personal errand boy for the rest of my life to keep her safe.

I hung up the phone and ran through the modifications I was going to have to make to the plan. And entertained for the briefest of seconds what I was going to do to her when all this was over. When thoughts of what Mateo would do to her crept in though, I lost all interest in disciplining her. Alive. I just wanted her to live. That was all that mattered.