Page 105 of The Sinner's Bargain

I started around him only to have his hands shoot out and grab my arm.

Anyone else, that hand would be gone, along with the entire arm, but I faced the man I trusted and respected above all others already knowing what he was about to say and beat him to it.

“Protect her when I can’t, Cy. That’s an order.”

A muscle coiled in his jaw, but he didn’t push back. I knew he wouldn’t. Cyrus was a soldier first. He would follow his orders to his last breath. There was no one I trusted with Blue more.

Accepting that the conversation was settled, I stalked to the office.

The sight of Vance shouldn’t have surprised me, but I jolted. My hand went to my gun at the back of my waistband.

He was a dark figure standing over my desk, sifting through documents with the look of a man infuriated by everything he was seeing. His glasses had slid down to the tip of his nose. They were shoved back only to have them roll down again.

“Why aren’t you in the dining hall?” I asked, startling him.

“I’m preparing the documents you need to look over after breakfast,” he said, going back to his task. “We might need to run to the club—”

“Not today,” I cut in, moving to the chair behind the desk, but not sitting. I reached into the side drawer where I normally kept my calendar only to find it gone. “Where—?”

Vance pulled it free from under his mountain of paperwork and slid it over to me. “Not to the club?”

“Any of it.” I flipped open the book.

A thick, expensive card slid free of one of the pages. I snatched it up and flipped out over.

“You’ve been cordially invited to attend the wedding of Jarrett Brixton and Naya Blackwell—”

I stopped reading and chucked it aside. It made home on a folder set to one side and was immediately forgotten for the laundry list of tasks jotted down for the day in both my and Vance’s handwriting.

“Nothing today is pressing enough that can’t wait until tomorrow.”

There was no need to look up at the man on the other side of the desk to feel his irritation and anxiety. The raw power of it billowed through the room.

“Has something more important come up?” he stressed, practically grinding the question out from between his teeth.

I finished transferring the days tasks to the next day and closed the book. “I’m heading into the village.”

Vance blinked dark eyes. “The village? What—?”

“I’m taking Blue for the day.” I slid the book to his side of the desk. “I will be unreachable.”

Thin creases cut around down turned lips, the familiar show of annoyance. “Thoran—”

My gaze flicked up to his, the warning clear. “Unreachable.”

Mind made, I left the room with Cyrus right behind me. Vance was right on his heel as I expected.

“We have a meeting with Barken this afternoon. He’s our biggest client.”

I drew in a breath. “And we are the only people who can get him what he wants, the way he wants, for cheap. He’ll reschedule.”

We reached the foyer. Ishaan’s body was gone. The pool of blood was mopped and a strong stench of industrial bleach permutated the air.

“What about the conversation we were supposed to have regarding Ronin?” I stopped and turned to the man. “We only have three weeks left.”

I was getting tired of the constant reminder. While I understood the urgency of the situation and I knew the importance of finding a wife to keep my legacy out of the hands of my idiot cousin, how was I supposed to marry anyone that wasn’t Blue?

“I don’t have an answer,” I said.

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