Page 95 of Defended By Love

Funny—it really rolls off my back the second time around.

“The question you should be asking is—” I raise my voice. Yes, I know I just said a good lawyer doesn’t need volume, but this is the courtroom of social media. There are different rules. “How could you be so careless when you order a building to be destroyed?”

“How dare you speak to him that way!”

“She’s right,” Beth says, once again walking up to us.

“What would you know about it?” Dominic snaps.

Beth rolls her eyes. She actually rolls her eyes at Dominic. “Please. There are about fifteen different ways I could have confirmed you have some shady dealing with Hart Link Incorporated. Seriously, Mr. Price, if you treat your support staff like they’re unable to read, they’re going to read all your dirty secrets.” She narrows her eyes. “And I’ve found out a lot of yours.”

Dominic freezes. If he was livid with anger before, now he’s frigid with fear. There must be some serious skeletons in his closet.

“What do you know?” Reinhold asks.

I try to mimic his piercing stare as best I can. Really, it’s a look worth practicing for depositions and questionings, if I’m to give credit where credit is due.

“You know the war painting above the musket in your office?” I ask.

For the first time in this conversation, emotion flickers in Reinhold’s eyes. “How do you know about that painting?”

Just then, the dogs that are sniffing the rubble of the building start barking. “We have something!” someone yells.

It breaks my heart and steels my resolve.

“I know everything,” I say, my voice flat and menacing. “From the building to the scary laser beam room to the time travel. I know all of Hart’s secrets and he’s going to pay. People are not acceptable collateral damage.”

Chaos flourishes around us as crews begin frantically working at the building. Dominic and Beth are involved in a screaming match beside us (go Beth!), but Reinhold and I hold firm.

Reinhold takes a step towards me, his eyes now gleaming with emotion and promises of pain.

“You’ll find, Miss Cox, that they are.”

I note that he didn’t balk, question, or deny the time travel. I tuck that bit of confirmation away for later.

“Is that a threat?” I ask.

Reinhold’s lips twitch. “Of course not. It’s just the beginning of my invitation to talk this over with at Hart Link Incorporated’s headquarters.”

He snaps his fingers and five burly men appear from virtually nowhere. They step in on me, forming a rough circle.

I take a step towards Reinhold. “Well here is a threat: if you even think about hurting me, my boyfriend, the Garnet Defender, is going to kick your ass.”

Reinhold flinches. “What?”

Then, he flinches even harder as Grant comes down from the sky, landing beside me with a boom.

“You called me your boyfriend,” he says, smiling down at me. Really, he’s ruining the moment a bit with his dopey smile. Would it kill him to scowl the same way he does when he thinks about fucking me? That’s nice and scary—in the best kind of way.

“I did.”

“I’m really more of her future husband,” Grant announces to everyone, including the advancing muscle who now look a lot more wary about intimidating me.

“Don’t push it,” I warn him, although I’m smiling. All around, we’re ruining what should be a very cool moment.

“Wh-where did you come from?” Reinhold stutters.

I sigh. “Always the wrong questions, Cragg. The question you’re soon going to be asking is: what just happened?”

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