Ryan immediately noticed Robert's gaze and stepped half a pace forward, deliberately blocking Mary behind him. Whatever this man was thinking, whatever intentions hid behind that smiling face, he would not allow even the slightest chance for his wife to be harmed.
Mary, too, felt uncomfortable under that look. It was sharp and invasive, the kind of gaze that stripped people down and weighed them like merchandise. It stirred a familiar chill in her chest, one she had hoped never to feel again.
If today ended badly, she knew exactly what she would do.
She would not hesitate.
This place was called the black market for a reason. The people here had all crossed lines, some lightly, some deeply. Mercy, in such a place, was often repaid with blood.
She refused to let Ryan be dragged into danger because of her, and she absolutely refused to watch the people she loved die in front of her again. She had already lived through that nightmare once. There would not be a second time.
