Undeserving

Killian

Sera’s kindness made me feel like a fraud. Her hand, unmarred by the blood of her enemies, rested on my leg with emotion shining in her eyes, blue like a midnight sky. I’d earned none of it.

Evening dawned outside the windows. Dark would come sooner than we wanted.

Francesco was dead, and I was going to repay his betrayal by dumping him in the Delaware River.

Tommaso leaned on the doorframe, waiting for an answer, but my gaze had returned to Sera. I didn’t deserve her, but she was mine. She was mine, and Francesco had no right snarling that she was just some dollar sign too good to pass up.

And I was hers. God help anyone who tried to harm her again.

I shook my head and rose. Enough touchy-feely. There was work to be done.

“The swamp,” I told Tommaso. He jerked a nod and turned to leave, but I added, harsher than I meant to, “I’m going. I need to see this through.”

Sera jumped up and grabbed my sleeve. “I’m coming, too.”

“No,” I bared instinctively, which earned me a look so v