Page 41 of Obsessive Cravings

My alarms went up. “What happened?”

“I’m just not feeling well, that’s all. I don’t think I can walk back and…I don’t want to be alone.” Those words told me everything because Riley was too independent to ever admit that. Something had spooked her.

“Where are you?”

“I’m at the firm.”

“I’ll be there. Stay in the office.”

I hung up, rushing from my home and speeding into town. Every minute that passed was agonizing, and I tapped my steering wheel at each light. Pulling into a no-parking zone, I hopped from my car and rushed into the building.

“Thomas,” I greeted him, seeing the concern etched in the worry lines on his forehead.

“She’s in my office. She had a dizzy spell when she was walking in.”

I hurried past him and into his office. Riley had her head in her hands, and I kneeled before her, taking her hands in mine. They were shaking, and as she raised her face, I didn’t need to ask what had happened. I could see it in the fear that lined her eyes. I gritted my teeth, trying to maintain my calm for her.

“Can we go back to your place?” she asked.

“Of course.” I brought her up and wrapped her in my arms, guiding her out of the building and into my car.

“What happened, Riley?” I asked as I drove.

She was staring out the window, her hands wrung, and I could see the tension in her posture. I needed to know if my suspicion that Clint Randall was here was correct, but I couldn’t ask her because it was a part of her life she hadn’t told me about. She continued to push for us to know more about our pasts, but she was as unwilling to give details as I was. We were both hiding the parts of ourselves that connected us to each other.

“I…” Waiting for her to continue, I held my breath, not wanting to hear that Randall had gotten through my defenses. “I thought I saw something.”

“Something? Like what, Riley?” I was trying to keep my voice calm.

“It was nothing,” she said, and I cursed her obstinance. Why wouldn’t she let me into that part of her life?

Because she didn’t know I could protect her. She didn’t know who I was or what I was capable of—the body count that littered my past, the reason people side-stepped me, the reason they feared saying my name.

I glanced behind me, seeing Tinge trailing me with Den in the passenger seat. My men were always around me. I kept them more discreet than Riley’s brother did, but they were there. I wondered why they hadn’t spotted Randall. I’d deliberately left Den to guard her. If Riley had seen him, then Den would have. But he would have called me the minute he’d seen something, which told me Randall had only let Riley see a glimpse of him, enough to fuck with her but not enough for us to notice him.

The thing that made Bad Omens such piranha was their ability to hide in the shadows, to remain coiled and ready to strike when least expected. They were ghosts with killer instincts.

I gripped the steering wheel as I pulled up to the house. The home I kept just outside the city was a tall brownstone set in a row of others. I owned each one, and when my men weren’t on duty, they were in them, ready to move at the first sign of trouble.

Opening the door, I ushered Riley inside. My men would reinforce the perimeter of the house without Riley noticing. I brought her to my couch and sat her down, stooping before her. She was so pale that she looked fragile, and it hurt to see her like that. Riley had a strength to her that I loved. The sparkle in her eyes was missing, and I vowed I would slaughter Randall myself and watch the life flee from his body.

I tipped her chin, and she gave me a small smile.

“Why don’t you rest, baby girl? I’ll start a fire and you can close your eyes. When you’re ready to tell me what happened, I’ll be here.”

She nodded, and I rose, kissing her head before I got her a blanket. She curled into the couch as I started a fire and was sleeping by the time I finished. Leaving her to sleep, I strode to my office and closed the door, calling Den.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know. Everything was fine when I was trailing her, but she started looking around the closer she got to the building. I had to step back so she wouldn’t see me, and when I got the chance to move again, she’d dropped her bag, and Tom was helping her into the building. I searched the crowd and scoured the block when she was inside, but I didn’t see anything.”

“Fuck. He’s here. I know that’s what she saw. She just won’t tell me. Somehow, he got past our defenses.”

He was quiet for a minute before he said, “Unless he’s been here the entire time.”

The claw of fear that strangled my heart was enough to steal my breath. If that were the case, he knew everything she’d been doing. Every detail of her life, including me. But that in itself should have been enough to make him back off.

I ran a hand down my face. “Make sure everyone is on high alert. If that’s the case, he’s had time to watch me and find any weakness in my defenses. Make sure there are none.”

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