The Fall of East: Book 3 in the Hear No Evil Trilogy by Malone, Nana (best reads .txt) 📕

His eyes went wide. "You mean you’d let another bloke touch you? I will kill anyone who touches you."

I grinned. "Yeah, I figured.”

"Fair enough. Truth be told, I probably wouldn't be able to get it up with another woman anyway. You ruined it for little East, you see. He only sees you now. It's very annoying."

As he spoke about his dick, it throbbed against my belly. "East, my father is here somewhere."

"Yeah, I know. But maybe if you touch little East just a little, he’ll know that you're there for him and he won’t be so worried about you.”

I snorted. "You're impossible."

"Not impossible. It’s just that the woman I love is being superhot with her strapped-up bulletproof vest thing. It’s so irresistible.”

I shook my head. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do with you."

At that point, Amelia burst into our makeshift surveillance van. "Oh my God, you two, seriously?"

East grinned, not taking his eyes off me. "Don't be jealous. I do have several friends. This could be you, Amelia, getting groped up in a surveillance van."

And then Amelia burst out in a fit of laughter. The kind of carefree laughter I hadn’t seen from her for a long time. All because of East. They were becoming fast friends now, and it made my heart full. Thanks to both of them, I’d found a family.

Once we were all set, Amelia slid me a gaze. "Ready to be the bait?"

"Yep. Point me in the right direction."

Once we were done, East had me scuttling out of the van then heading into the museum. I knew what I was doing was important. I didn't even argue when East suggested it, because at the end of the day, he was right. Krista would expect me to be guarding the painting. She would expect me to be in the thick of it all. But Krista wasn't going to get what she was coming for tonight. For weeks she'd pretended to be my friend. She’d duped me and made me feel foolish. A little payback was in order.

I nodded at the two security guys at the door and then headed right into the main gallery. Denning was waiting there, pacing. "Well, it's so nice of you to turn up. You know, considering we're in the middle of a surveillance sting."

"For fuck's sake, Denning, I get it. Your whole world has gone upside down. I understand. It sucks. But again, how is this my fault?"

"God, you must be so mad at her."

"That's just it, Denning, I'm not feeling anything. I just don't think about you, actually. I'm sorry if that hurts your feelings, but it's true. Let's just do our jobs, and then we don't have to talk anymore. Besides, I'm pretty sure you have bigger fish to fry."

"Jesus, you really are mad about her, aren't you?"

"I don't know what you want me to say. Look, I never actually wanted you to be in pain. I know you probably don't believe that, but it's true. It's not something I relish, if I'm being honest. Am I glad that I'm not the only one who sees what you're like? Absolutely. I spent a good deal of my relationship with you feeling like I was insane. No one else was seeing how you treated me. And you know what? Some of that was my fault because I stuck around. Even when I knew it wasn't right, I stuck around. Because I wanted it to be right, so I accepted my share of the responsibility. But now… Now what you’ve got going on has nothing to do with me. At all. And I, for one, am thrilled about that."

All he did was stare at me, and then as if after some thought he said, "You look happy with Hale."

"I am, but again, not really any of your business."

He sighed. "Looks like he makes you happy."

"He does."

He nodded. "Yeah, and I guess I fucked up with Hazel. Jesus, Krista. I'm an idiot. Prime wanker. She really had me. I one hundred percent believed her.”

"I'm sorry. For what it's worth, no one deserves that."

"I—"

A voice in our comms interrupted what he was about to say. "Target has reached the residence. I repeat, target has reached the residence." 

Denning's eyes went wide. He stared at the painting. "How the fuck did she know?"

I was already running. "I don't know, but we’ve got to go."

Denning was right, Krista played us. She'd known that there was no way in hell we were going to put the original painting on display, knowing that she was coming for it. She was able to do this because she knew us. She knew me. I'd talked to her about AJ. Told her about Margaux. I had done this. I had put the people that I cared about at risk. Fucking hell. God, I was so dumb. But maybe I could fix it. Maybe there was time to fix this still.

Or you're too late.

I couldn't be too late. I wasn't allowed to be too late. I ran quickly through the museum with the security guys following me.

Denning was at the rear, still unable to believe what was happening.

That was the problem with Denning. He was never able to shift quickly. Never able to turn on a dime. Everything had to be so perfectly planned and staged. If it didn't go according to plan, he didn't know how to adjust.

I did.

We reached the main part of the residence, and I could see the door was open.

On the radio, I called my team. "East, Amelia, she's in the house. I repeat, she's in the house." There was no response. Maybe they were already there? Had they heard me? "I repeat, Wilson is in the house."

It was all I could do. Then I ran my ass off.

I scurried through the courtyard, then through the kitchen, and then came to a screeching halt as I turned the corner into the great room. Krista Wilson was there, and she looked like she meant business. She had a