Free The Undoing by Shelly Laurenston Page A

couldn’t handle it.
    Ski got back into his car and drove until he could make a legal U-turn.
    She is really shy, he thought to himself. Because that had to be the answer, right?
    He couldn’t be that repulsive, could he? Could anyone?
    Â 
    â€œSee,” Chloe pointed out to Rachel. “There she is.”
    Hours after having left, Jace ran into Chloe’s office, dropping to her knees right inside the door and panting hard.
    Patiently, they waited for Jace to get her breath back.
    When she did, she practically screamed out, “I have a job!”
    â€œWhat job?” Rachel demanded in that tone that pretty much ensured she’d never be the leader of the LA Crow Clan. She was just too bossy. They’d all rise up and kill her one day.
    â€œWith the . . . the . . . the . . . Protectors. Translating text. From . . . Russian to . . . something.”
    â€œMost likely English,” Chloe filled in for her.
    â€œProbably.”
    â€œThat’s great,” Chloe said.
    â€œIt is?”
    She glared at Rachel. “Of course it is. It’s a job that’s out of this house. All good.”
    â€œI start . . . tomorrow.”
    â€œExcellent.”
    â€œWait.” Rachel shook her head. “The Protectors? Isn’t their house in Pacific Palisades?” Eyes wide, she demanded, “Oh my God, did you run all the way there and back?”
    Jace, now curled into a ball on the floor, shook her head. “Danski Eriksen drove me part of the way back, but . . . but . . . he kept talking to me.”
    â€œAbout what?”
    â€œJust chitchat!”
    Rachel leaned down a bit and asked the struggling-to-breathe girl, “Would it have killed you to make small talk with someone? Anyone? ”
    â€œ Yes! ” Jace screamed, startling them both. “ It would have! ”

C HAPTER S IX
    J ace passed Lev’s care off to one of her sister-Crows, knowing she’d take care of her baby.
    Yes, she was now at the point where she considered Lev her “baby.” She’d never thought she’d be one of those dog owners, but here she was.
    She smiled a little, thinking how annoyed her grandmother would be. Nëna considered animals either food or protection. There was no in between for her.
    â€œDon’t get so attached to that goat, little inat ,” she’d say. “He’s probably tomorrow’s dinner.”
    Her grandmother never said those sorts of things to be cruel. In her mind, she was just toughening up Jacinda to the harsh world around them.
    â€œYou are too sweet, little inat ,” she liked to say, using the Albanian word for “ire.” “You can’t be so sweet. Boys will only use you to make their lives easier. And I never want that for you.”
    Jace stopped walking. She couldn’t keep thinking about her grandmother. It only hurt her heart. The memory of Nëna’s face when she’d tried to see Jace but they’d stopped her. She hadn’t seen her grandmother since. Jace had been too ashamed to let her grandmother know how weak she’d been for staying so long.
    And, of course, for choosing. Jace had made a choice and for that Nëna would not forgive.
    After giving herself a moment, Jace started off again. She made it downstairs and was about to head toward the hallway when a hand clamped down on her arm and another around her mouth. Then she was yanked back until she was under the stairs.
    A few seconds later, she saw Rachel and a couple of Crows from Rachel’s strike team appear in the hall. The three women stood there, looking around.
    Looking for Jace.
    Jace rolled her eyes. Rachel was trying to push herself into this, too. Trying to “help” Jace out.
    Jace couldn’t express, in words or actions, how much she did not want any help from Rachel. Not when it came to her life in general. During a fight? Sure. Help away. But any other time, Rachel just irritated the fuck out of