Return of the Assassin (All the King's Men) Read Free

attacked her mind in no particular order. Is this my punishment? Is this the price I have to pay for my carelessness? For all my sins? For dishonoring Gabe by trying to kill Severin? For killing Armand? My own mate, for God's sake? Is my life ever going to be normal again? It was an accident. I swear! I never meant to kill him, but he was hurting me. He always hurt me. Who am I kidding? Killing him was no accident. Only Gabe knew. He tried to make him stop. Gabe…oh, Gabe. Help me. Please! I need you. I miss you. You were the only one who ever understood…the only one who knew the truth. Malek!
    The tumble of chaos in her head screeched to a halt on Malek's name as if he were the solution. Huh-uh. He was more likely the problem. Or at least part of it. Because there was no way she would ever let him be the solution.
    Trevor barked commands into his Bluetooth. "Colby, get to my place. Grab Gina's things and grab my two black duffels from the closet and meet me at the airport in thirty." Trevor made a sharp right, cutting off traffic. "And don't fold her shit. Just toss what you can in her bag and go!"
    Gina gasped, and her stomach rolled. "I think I'm going to throw up. Pull over." She grabbed for the door, but Trevor kept going.
    He reached behind his seat, and his arm flailed until he found what he was looking for. Then he shoved an empty shopping bag at her. "You'll just have to puke in that, because I'm not stopping." He gunned the gas and flew around another corner, turning his conversation back to Colby. "No, I'm taking evasive action. They're probably tailing us. Gonna drive around Miami and lead them away from my house so you can get in and out with our stuff. Then I'm hightailing it to the airport. Call Axe and get him over to prep the jet."
    Gina eyed the bag then closed her eyes and willed herself not to vomit. She just needed to talk herself down and she would be okay. Her panic was all in her head, but knowing that didn't stop the tumble of self-defeating thoughts from hammering away at her soul.
    She had messed up in Chicago. She had almost killed an innocent male. What kind of assassin was that careless? She had ignored her gut and hadn't obtained all the facts? She had flown off half-cocked and made an incredible error in judgment. This was her fault. These panic attacks were her doing. What if she never recovered? What if they continued to get worse until she could no longer function? Her life would be over. No one would hire her, and she would have no way to survive.
    At one time, she had been a revered assassin…cool, calm under fire, and stable. Now she was anything but, and her body reminded her of that every day. Even worse, she never knew when a panic attack would strike. Their rhyme and reason made no sense.
    Tonight was supposed to have gotten her back on track. She was supposed to redeem herself and become the badass bitch she had once been. Instead, she had failed. Again. Failure was becoming a trend.
    Tears streaked her cheeks, and she bit her thumbnail as she looked out the window and tried to get a grasp on something—anything that would ground her. This was the worst panic attack yet, and fear jolted her heart that she might never gain control over the demons that assaulted her sanity on a daily basis now.
    A sinking feeling dove through her gut, and a chill cut through her as she thought back to what Malek said to her in Chicago. She was beginning to fear his words that day were more to blame for what was happening to her than she first realized. If Armand wasn't the trigger, and Severin wasn't, that left Malek, right?
    After what she had done to Severin in Chicago, she had been arrested and thrown in a holding cell at AKM. She had been despondent and inconsolable, lost to guilt and her wounded conscience. But Malek had refused to leave her. He had been a presence in her cell as constant as her pain, appointing himself her personal guard. Eventually, she became grateful for his company, even