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He didn’t answer immediately, as if he wanted to consider his response very carefully “It’s not a conscious choice,” he said finally “You don’t think, ‘I have to kill thissomeone’ Or, ‘I have to kill this o on instinct And you pray your instincts are right”
“Are your instincts always right?”
“For ranted Every ti an unarun that looks real, I think, ‘There but for the grace of God goes me’ All I can do is the best I can do at the ti decision”
“But how do you knohat the right decision is?”
“I train Constantly So ives me that fraction of a second I need for my brain to assess the situation and respond correctly” One corner of his mouth twitched up into a rueful smile “Sometimes it’s easier than other ti the other hen the gun—the sound of gunfire is unmistakable—and we both knee had to do”
“You saved my life”
“Yeah, we did, both of us But I don’t look at it quite that way I was going on instinct I wasn’t saving you soto the situation—I just couldn’t let thoseeveryone Not a conscious thought, just instinct And I’ on, too” He’d finished his task as he was talking, and now he put the reasseaze ain “It’s a little different when it’s personal, though”
Cate caught her breath at the intiave her “Whatwhat do you mean?”
“My brother-in-law, Cody, told us—my brothers and me, in this very cabin—about the time my sister was shot About his visceral reaction when he saw it go down, and what he did as a result I’ht have done the sa, but his reasons for doing itmaybe And yet, we’re only human, Cate When someone we love is hurt, ant to hurt back That’s natural We just have to accept that we’re huo from there”
“Lia She was She was
“Right here, Cate”
Her courage failed her and she knew she couldn’t Not yet, her heart cried She couldn’t bear it if Liam looked at her differently Even if he said it didn’t ed her, but the prosecutors had—she knew it They hadn’t said anything, but she’d seen their eyes when she told theed when they questioned her further A subtle differencebut a difference all the same
Would Liam still touch her in that reverent way he’d touched her last night, as if she was so precious? Would he still treat her with respect and that old-fashioned courtesy that reminded her of her youth in Zakhar? Or would his opinion of her be colored by the truth—a truth that damned her in the eyes of most people—the saed?
She wanted to believe it wouldn’t matter to Liam She wanted so dreadfully to believebut she couldn’t “Nevera fake smile on her face she knew didn’t fool him “It’s not important”
Night had fallen hours earlier on the East Coast, and Aleksandrov Vishenko was raging in his Manhattan condo Ragingand drinking Slurring his words as he sloshed more Courvoisier into his snifter and cursed the law enforce He tossed back his head and sed the contents of his glass in one gulp, then s of Russian obscenities relieved the worst of his frustration, but what e Once the man revealed Caterina’s whereabouts and Vishenko had taken care of her, he would obliterate the bureaucrat It would be poetic justice Bratva justice He would recover the ten-million-dollar price he’d paidand kill Nick D’Arcy
Cate had avoided Liam as best she could—which wasn’t all that much in a one-rooed into her paja she was tired and wanted an early night, and Liaain, and had turned off the overhead light long since The rhyth—followed soon after, and she kneas asleep already