It was hard to breathe. The forbidding gleam in Connor’s eyes was so hot and visceral it singed her skin and closed up her lungs. She bit the inside of her cheek hard enough to draw blood, and the coppery flavor coated her tongue and throat, threatening to choke her.
“No,” she said. “I’ll find a way to get you to Knox. But not Dom. Please.” Her face collapsed from the force of Connor’s murderous glare. “He’s my brother.”
“He’s a killer.”
“He didn’t kill Maggie.” A strangled sob flew out. “I understand why you want vengeance, but Dom didn’t kill her. And even if he had, I still wouldn’t be able to stand there and watch while you killed my brother.”
“The same brother who was willing to marry you off to a man you despise?” Connor spat out.
“Whatever he does, good or bad, he’s still my brother. He can go to prison for the rest of his life to pay for his crimes. He doesn’t have to die for them.”
Another silence stretched between them, a deep, gaping chasm that Hudson knew she’d never be able to cross. Connor was slipping away from her by the second, his empty eyes and hard jaw telling her everything that his silence couldn’t.
When he spoke, she didn’t expect the hoarse unsteadiness of his voice.
“I’m only going to say this once.” His breathing grew ragged. “Take me to Knox and your brother, and you and I can wipe the slate clean. I’ll forget that you lied. Maybe I’ll even trust you again one day. It might take some time, but you know me, Hudson – I don’t make false promises. I’ll try to forgive you.”
The sheer arrogance of that statement sparked a burst of indignation. “And if I refuse?”
“Then you leave this camp and never come back.”
All the oxygen left her body in one shocked rush. “Are you serious?” she snapped, trying to keep her rising anger in control. “If I don’t take you to my brother so you can kill him, you’re going to exile me?”
His curt nod made her want to slap him. He’d told her he was a ruthless bastard and that he wouldn’t hesitate to slit her throat if she betrayed him, but this… this?
They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. She waited for him to back down, but he didn’t. He waited for her to give in, but she didn’t.
She refused to sacrifice her brother’s life, especially when she wasn’t certain that Dominik was even in control of his life. If Ferris had turned him into his pet monster without Dom’s knowledge or consent, then he wasn’t at fault for his actions.
“I won’t do it,” she said quietly.
Connor’s gaze flickered with disappointment. Maybe even regret. But then his lips curled and his head tipped toward the door.
“Then save your declarations of love for some other fool and get the fuck out of my camp.”
20
He’d banished her.
He’d actually banished her.
Her duffel bag, one of the Ducatis, and her life – that’s what Connor had sent her away with, and even hours later, Hudson was reeling from the shock of what he’d done. He hadn’t allowed her to say good-bye to Rylan and the others. He hadn’t let her say good-bye to Hope. He’d simply cast her out in the middle of the night as if she were a piece of trash, while the people she’d come to care about slept in their cabins, oblivious.
Would Rylan have tried to stop her from going? Would Xander? Kade? Pike?
She would never know the answer to that question now.
Her eyes were dry – finally, blessedly – as she killed the engine in front of Lennox’s dark house. She’d cried herself stupid on the long drive, but she was all cried out now. The wind battering her face hadn’t helped, and as she dropped the kickstand and headed for the door, she knew her red, swollen eyes were broadcasting the devastation she’d endured tonight.
It was late. So late that Lennox and the girls were no doubt asleep and would probably mistake her for an intruder and shoot her on sight. She almost hoped they did. She couldn’t imagine a bullet hurting any worse than the agony she was already feeling. If anything, it would put her out of her misery.
So fucking ironic. She’d chosen her brother over Connor, and yet chances were she’d never even see Dom again. As much as she wanted to warn him about the drugs he might be taking, she wasn’t going back to the compound, not when Knox was still there. She wasn’t going anywhere near that sadistic bastard.
Irony, all right. She was alone. No Connor. No Dom. Nothing but an empty hole in her chest where her heart used to be.
As she knocked on the door, she found herself praying that Tamara was there. At this point, the woman might be Hudson’s only hope of landing somewhere safe. Maybe she’d even join up with the bitch, she thought bitterly. They could be partners in crime, smuggling goods through the colony together, two coldhearted women who were feared and unloved.
Hudson jerked when the door swung open and the barrel of a shotgun appeared in her face.
Lennox lowered the gun the second he recognized her, his brows drawing together. “Hudson?”
She opened her mouth, but all that emerged was a shaky sob.