26. Nik

CHAPTER 26

Nik

I’ve never been so grateful for my father’s training in impassivity as I am now, escorting Brie to the security room. She doesn’t say a word the entire time, and neither do I. My heart feels like it’s withering away in my chest, dying atom by atom, but I can’t worry about it right now.

Because if I lose focus at this crucial time, someone might hurt her, and I’d never forgive myself. I don’t have time right now to wallow and worry. That can come later.

Later, when I figure out how to fix things between us.

In the security room, Holden is hunched in his usual corner, but there’s something different about him now—something haunted in the hollows beneath his eyes, in the way his shoulders curve inward like he’s trying to make himself smaller. Sleep deprivation, paranoia, not eating. All red flags.

And the room itself feels wrong. Usually it’s a hub of controlled chaos, with security personnel calling out strip-miners at the poker machines or tracking potential card counters. Now it’s much quieter, the team giving Holden’s corner a wide berth like they’re afraid whatever is wrong with him might be contagious. I count four of the security personnel pretending to watch their monitors while actually watching us approach Holden.

Banks, the throat-bobber, straightens as Brie approaches. Even in this fluorescent hell, Brie manages to look like she just stepped off a magazine cover, but there’s definitely something wrong with Banks. His eyes are red, and I don’t think it’s from strain—or drugs. This guy is having personal problems, is my guess. Those red eyes dart between Brie and Holden as he catches her attention. “Mrs. Colombo,” he murmurs. “Could I have a word?”

I position myself where I can watch both the door and Holden while Brie leans in to talk to Banks. “He’s been here non-stop, ma’am. Nearly twenty-four-seven.” Banks shoots another nervous glance at Holden. “The last shift says he was talking to himself. Keeps rewinding the same footage over and over. It’s…well, the team’s getting concerned.”

Brie nods. “I’ll make sure he gets some rest.” Her voice carries that note of authority that usually makes my heart skip. Now, though, it just reminds me of the growing distance between us, of how easily she wore one mask with the Colombo men upstairs and now wears another down here with Holden.

I wonder if I’ll ever see the real her again.

“Are you…alright?” Brie asks after a pause, taking in Banks’s face.

“Uh, yeah,” he says, ducking his head. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

Out of habit, I think, she looks at me, and I can still read her thoughts— what’s this guy’s problem? I give a small shrug, she looks away, and the moment is gone.

She approaches Holden carefully, like he’s a spooked animal. But when her hand touches his shoulder, he jerks violently, nearly knocking over his coffee cup.

“Christ!” His hand presses against his chest. “You scared me half to death.”

“Have there been more threats against you?” Brie asks softly, and I notice how she positions herself between Holden and the rest of the room, shielding him from prying eyes.

Holden’s laugh has an edge of hysteria. “Not yet. But it’s only a matter of time, isn’t it? They’re everywhere. Whoever’s doing this—” His fingers drum against the desk in a nervous rhythm. “I wouldn’t be surprised if I wake up dead tomorrow.”

“Holden, Frank said he didn’t know how serious it was, that he would have helped out if you really needed?—”

“Now you think I’m overreacting?” he demands loudly. “Is that it?”

“I don’t think you’re overreacting,” Brie says, “I just?—”

“I need to leave , Brie. I need to get the fuck out of Vegas. I’m going . Tonight.”

I step closer to examine the papers plastered across the wall around him. Timeline diagrams, a map of the offices within the casino—all covered in Holden’s increasingly erratic handwriting. It’s halfway to something out of a conspiracy theorist’s basement.

“What exactly are you working on?” I keep my voice neutral, though the sight of his wall of evidence alarms me. This is what obsession looks like.

“Trying to follow Terry’s movements those last few days.” He gestures wildly at his wall of madness. “I mean, and everyone else’s movements the night Terry died, too. For crossover. There has to be something we missed. The will— someone must have taken it. If I can just figure out who was where, when…” His hands shake as he rifles through more papers.

“Any luck?” Brie’s voice is gentle. She’s seeing what I’m seeing: a man coming apart at the seams.

“Maybe. I don’t know. Everything’s starting to blur together.” Holden rubs his bloodshot eyes. “I’m so tired, but I can’t…I can’t…”

“You need to rest,” Brie says firmly, the same tone she used with Larry and Vince upstairs.

“Rest?” Another of those awful laughs. “How am I supposed to rest with a target on my back? Where are you staying that’s so safe, hm?” His eyes narrow accusingly. “You get to hide away somewhere while I’m stuck here, waiting to be picked off. I won’t do it anymore, Brie. I want out. I need to get away?—”

“Nik has been keeping me safe,” Brie cuts in, though I notice the way her shoulders tense when she says my name. It’s like a knife between my ribs, that tiny tell that shows how much things have changed between us.

Holden’s lip curls. “How convenient to have your own pet bodyguard.”

I’ve been called worse—much worse—but something about his tone, the implication that I’m just another of Brie’s possessions, makes my teeth clench. Before I can respond, though, Brie’s voice cracks like a whip: “Nik is not my pet, and I’m getting tired of people around here disrespecting her.”

There’s vehemence in her defense of me, despite everything. For a moment, I see a flash of the woman who kissed me like I was her salvation.

But Holden flinches at her tone, and Brie immediately changes tack. The mask slides back into place so smoothly it’s almost beautiful to watch.

“I’m sorry,” she says. “We’re all running on empty lately.”

“I mean it,” he says stubbornly. “I’m leaving Vegas tonight.”

“You can’t leave,” I tell him. “Brie needs you.”

He glares at me. “Don’t fucking tell me what I can and can’t do. I’ve done what I can for Brie, and now I need to think about myself?—”

“Of course you do,” Brie breaks in. “Of course you do, Holden, and I want you to understand that I’m thinking about you, too. If you stay here just a little longer, I’ll make sure you have somewhere safe to get to, outside Vegas. Out of state, even. You’re tired and—and you need to rest. But please, let me protect you a little longer, and stay here in the hotel tonight.”

He still looks dubious. “You just want me to work on the footage some more.”

She rubs his arm. “No, I don’t, silly. I want to spend some time with my bestie. That’s why I’ll stay here tonight too.”

Holden smiles. “Really?”

“A word?” My hand on Brie’s elbow is firm as I guide her several steps away. “First of all, I don’t know that manipulating Holden into staying in Vegas if he doesn’t want to is a great idea.”

“I’m not manipulating him,” she snaps, but at least she has the grace to look guilty.

“Okay. Well, either way, the casino and hotel aren’t safe for you , and I don’t want you staying here.” She’s gearing up for some imperious order, I can see it in her face. “You’re really gonna get yourself killed just to spite me?” I ask in a low voice.

That seems to get through to her, makes her sigh and look down. But I still don’t like what comes out next. “Look—I just need a little time apart from you, Nik.”

“But—”

“My head understands why you met with Eva,” she says. “It was business. And it’s not like I didn’t expect you to go running to her with intel. So like I said, my head gets it. But my heart…” She shakes her head, golden hair tumbling around her face. “My heart isn’t there yet.”

I feel sick. “You can’t just wander around the casino unprotected. And your suite?—”

“Was ransacked, I know.” She crosses her arms, unconsciously mirroring my defensive stance. “But what about Holden’s suite? There’ll be casino security at the door, and Holden still has his gun, the one Terry made him carry. You can give me one, too, if it makes you feel better.”

“I should be there too.” It comes out with a touch of desperation, but every instinct I have screams against letting her out of my sight, especially here, especially now.

Brie’s quiet for a long moment, studying me with inscrutable eyes. I’ve seen those eyes sparkle with mischief, darken with desire, flash with anger. Now they’re just sad. “Listen…maybe you should think about what you really want, Nik. You said you wanted a family. Loyalty. But there’s no guarantee I’ll end up running the Colombo Family. I might have to reinvent myself again completely.” Her voice softens, but somehow that makes it worse. “Maybe it’s time you did the same, instead of always putting your needs second to someone else’s.”

The words lodge in my heart like little splinters of ice. But I keep my face carefully blank, refusing to let her see how deeply she’s wounded me. “If you don’t trust me to keep you safe, there’s not much I can do about that.” I’m relieved to hear my voice stay steady. “But I still want to meet with the security officers who’ll be guarding you.”

“Fine.” One clipped word, and then she turns away.

I watch her walk back to Holden, feeling the distance between us grow with every step. Behind her, the security monitors keep their endless vigil, recording everything but revealing nothing.

She thinks I need to figure out what I want? I already know. I want her. I want us .

I want the way she looks at me when the masks come off. I want the truth of her, even if it hurts.

But wanting isn’t enough. I’m watching the woman I love slip through my fingers like smoke, unable to show her that she’s wrong, so wrong.

I’m not putting my needs second to anyone. Protecting her isn’t duty or obligation. It’s choice. It’s freedom . It’s the truest thing I know.

If only I could make her believe that.