“Can we be quiet?” Priest asked.
Harb chuckled. “You’re a selfish bastard, aren’t you?”
Cleo looked from Harb to Priest.
“I think silence would be best.”
“And you’ve given no thought to your woman and how she’s feeling? How did you even become a priest? You’re supposed to listen to people,” Harb said.
“You shut your fucking mouth.”
“Why don’t you get your head out of your ass, see what the problem is, and be a human for half a second. She’s about to meet her father, she’s on the most-wanted kill list, and her life is in danger. All you can think about is yourself.” Harb looked toward her. “She’s scared out of her wits. Have I covered it so far?”
Cleo’s eyes swam with tears. “I’m fine.”
“I get it. You’re falling apart at the seams and right now the weather seems like the most honest thing to talk about,” Harb said.
Priest glared at the other man. “My woman isn’t your fucking concern. Do your damn job and watch the road or we’re going to have a problem.”
“Yeah?” Harb goaded.
Priest rose up in the van, a hand on the ceiling, the other on his handgun. All the guys in the van started cursing, trying to calm him down, and urging him to sit back down. Boss told Harb to shut the fuck up.
This wasn’t good. None of this. Cleo didn’t want to go and meet the man who quite frankly had abandoned her and clearly awakened the killing instinct in the only men who’d shown her any kind of care.
Priest was different.
Boss kept staring at her. The van felt way too small right now.
The men were assessing her as if she was going to turn into some flesh-eating disease or something. Did they expect her to fall apart? She didn’t want to be seen as weak.
It was all rather nauseating. On top of that, she’d been on cloud nine because having Priest in her bed, holding her, loving her, that had been something. Hearing him call her “his woman” was a fantasy turned reality. She wished the whole world and all its problems could just go away so they could be alone together again.
She was being torn apart on the inside, and the only person to see that was … Harb. No, she knew something was going on inside of Priest. Even in the short weeks she’d known him, she found he became quiet and irritated when he was upset about something. Boss said her father killed someone important to Priest, so she hoped he didn’t blame her for that fact. She wished she could get inside his head and learn all the twists and turns in his mind.
“You okay?” Priest asked. He gave her thigh a squeeze to comfort her.
Cleo glanced at him, feeling a little sick. She knew something about her father was a soft spot for Priest but didn’t know the details. Ever since talking with Boss before they left, he’d been off. Quiet. A million miles away.
“Nervous. I don’t know what to do. Do I have to, like be silent, or not look at him? I’m not sure what to do. I mean, I spent years thinking about the moment that I would meet my parents, but a contract killer or a monster, I never suspected that. I’m rambling again. What happened to my mother? If I have parents, then why was I put into foster care?” She rubbed at her temple, feeling her stomach swirling with sickness and the start of a headache coming on.
Priest took hold of her hand and locked his fingers with hers. “Just because he donated sperm does not make him your father, Cleo. You do not have to do or say anything you don’t want to. We’re going to be right by your side. We’ll protect you. I’ll protect you.”
“But I’m the enemy, aren’t I?”
“No, you’re not,” Boss said. “You’re a victim, Cleo. You are under our protection, and it will be you calling the shots in there, not us.”
“I have no idea what I’m doing.”
“You’ll do fine.”
The vehicle came to a stop at a very fancy, architectural building.
“I can do this.”
Harb pulled the doors of the truck open and stepped out. He held a gun in his hand, and Cleo realized there was a chance they were being followed. She could die tonight, before ever meeting her father. That was a rather depressing thought, but she hadn’t realized how much danger she was in.
All the men were heavily armed, like some kind of elite tactical team without the legal credentials.