Page 131 of Forbidden Need

“Or they’re setting us up.”

“Then you know what to do.”

“Uh… excuse me…” She raised a flat hand and the half dozen guys turned to her. “It might’ve been me.”

“What?”

“The fire at the Carlyle…” She slipped her laptop onto the couch at her side. “I started it. The Carlyle fire was me.”

Everyone’s attention swung around to Connel whose cool gaze stayed locked on her.

“Okay.” Niall broke the silence. “So it was us.”

“If there’s going to be payback—”

“Up security at every site,” Conn said, “guys go out in doubles or groups. Take inventory. Everything gets restocked. If they want a war, we’ll give them a war.”

“Heard,” Niall said.

“Now get outta here. All of you.”

After they were alone, he waited just a breath.

“Why?”

“It was an accident. A sort of accident.” She stood up. “All I meant to do was create a distraction. It’s not my fault their electrics were shot or that they used dodgy building materials.”

“The Carlyle is the Manzanis primary site for their girls.” Their working women, trapped under the Manzani boot. “Why did you need a distraction?”

She went around the desk to prop herself against it at his side.

“It wasn’t for me, it was for Imogen, Strat’s daughter.” She filled her lungs. “It’s a long story. Basically, investigation for an article led her to the Carlyle. The Manzanis, under Silvio’s purview, it turned out, were making snuff movies there. Imogen wanted in.”

“For the snuff movies?”

“No, because the stars of those movies, the ones being killed, weren’t hookers.” Not that it made a huge difference. “Women were going missing; she was looking for the abducted women—”

“That’s where you found Jane Doe.”

“Yes.”

“She was their next star.”

“I couldn’t leave her there. The building was on fire and she was padlocked inside it. We had to bring her out.”

“We? Imogen was with you?”

“Yes, though no one except Strat knows that. I told Imogen to deny all knowledge, that if anyone asked, she met me at the hospital after it.”

“Why? That puts all responsibility on your shoulders.”

“I couldn’t let anything happen to Imogen.”

“You protected her.”

“I know more about the Manzanis than she does. And I have relationships there. At least if anyone came after me, I had the Evander card to play. They’d have killed Imogen without hesitation.”

“It was her story.”

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