Page 7 of Locked In Ice

Instead of telling her how he felt, Memphis spouted out a large numerical figure.A very large one.

“Excuse me?”Her other eyebrow crooked to join the first.

“Train him for a month.Let him shadow you.See how you work as a PI.And that will be your payday when you’re done with him.”

Was it hot in that club?Or was she just sweating because Memphis had offered her a nearly obscene amount of money?

“Don’t look at me that way.I won’t be paying you.Hewill.”

“Lane?”Why did his name come out as a squeak?

“He’s loaded, but shouldn’t you know that?You’re always poking and prying in everyone’s business.Kinda your specialty.Would have thought you did that on day one with him.”

“I thought his assets were frozen with his arrest.”And she’d been rather busy with other things.

“His assets were frozen.Then some jackass associates tried to steal from him while he was behind bars and his sister was fighting to prove his innocence.In the end, Lane got everything back.Sold a ton of his ventures.Made even more cash.Oh, and I think some Hollywood studio wants the rights to his life story or some crap like that, so he has money to burn.”His nostrils flared.“If I had the time, I’d train him fully myself.But like you said, I have to work on the Henry Monroe case.And I can’t just leave Lane on his own.”A wince.“You saw what happened today.We came to town together, split up for some investigation work because we had multiple suspects to run down, and the next thing I know—”

“Lane is tied up and nearly cut open?Yes, I did see all of that.Very dramatic.”She considered the day’s events.“The way he took down Thomas was also very dramatic.Pretty sure Thomas lost one, maybe two teeth in the process.”

“He’s got a lot of rage.”Memphis lowered his voice.“I understand that.”His stare never left her face.“Youunderstand that.You understand everyone, don’t you?”

She swallowed and saw exactly where this was going.“When you bring up my past, it’s hitting below the belt.Not the thing that friends do to friends.”

“We all need someone at some point in our lives.Right now, Lane needs you.And I need you with him.”

I need you with him.Dammit.Not like Memphis ever asked her for much.On the bright side, she could certainly use Lane’s cash.“You want me to be his babysitter?”

“I want you to teach him everything you know about hunting criminals.Therightway to do things.And…” A long exhale.If possible, his gaze became even more intense and focused.“Don’t let him go off the deep end.He’s got too much rage inside.I need someone to watch out for him.To make sure he doesn’t do something he can’t take back.”

The pieces slid into place for her.This wasn’t just about training Lane.

It was about leashing the monster that’s been born inside of him.A monster that had taken its first breaths when Lane had needed to fight for survival as other inmates came after him again and again.And Memphis would know that monsters were her specialty.

“Do we have a deal?”Memphis pushed.His hand extended across the table.

She stared at him.“You are asking one hell of a lot.”

“I—”

“Yeah, he is,” Lane drawled.

Her head snapped to the left.Lane stood just a few feet away from their table.A mocking grin curved his lips but the smile never reached his green eyes.“And it’s an entirely unnecessary ask,” he added in his dark and dangerous voice.The one that tended to roll over her in all of the right—and wrong—ways.“Because I certainly don’t need ababysitter.”

Ah, great.So he’d heard that part.Which meant he’d heard pretty much everything.

She put on her sunniest smile as her gaze drifted over him.

Lane Lawson.Mogul turned murderer.Or at least, that was what plenty of headlines had once claimed.That he’d gone off the deep-end and murdered women who reminded him of his twin sister.She’d read the profile on him, back at the time he’d first been arrested.She had contacts at the FBI, and, yes, his case had nagged at her from the beginning.

Something had felt off.

Lane Lawson had never experienced an easy life.Bloody and violent, not easy.She could respect bloody and violent, especially given her own backstory.One that she kept hidden from all but a select few.

Memphis would be one of those few.

Lane’s father had murdered his mother.Tried to kill Lane and Lane’s sister, Lark.Only Lane had wound up killing their dad, instead.And, when the man’s autopsy had been completed, the survivors had learned the terrible truth.

Lane’s father had become so violent and unhinged because of a brain tumor.If the tumor had been found before that terrible date when death hit Lane’s family so hard…

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