Page 49 of Miki

“Definitely not. It’s my own. I got it from a source of mine and, like my breaking into Mathieson’s office, it is not part of a legal investigation. As you had already surmised, I am investigating Mathieson alone in my own time,” she told me, confirming my original belief.

Marko settled on the sofa opposite, and I glared at him.

“Don’t you have stuff to do?” I asked, gesturing with my head that he needed to leave.

He chuckled and stood.

“Yes, boss,” he replied with a two-finger salute. I rolled my eyes. Cheeky bugger! If he wasn’t channelling his inner Sonia, or Ash, it was Trigger.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” he said, winking.

Eilidh chuckled, and I shook my head.

“Get out of here,” I said, my lips twitching as he headed off to his room, making loud smooching noises like the fool he was.

As Eilidh stuck the tracker into her backpack, I was glad she’d only found that one and not the one in her car or the cameras I’d place around her house. I doubted she would be in quite such a good mood if she had.

“How did you break into his office, anyway?” I asked and was amazed by her answer and especially how she came about her very specialised skills.

If I hadn’t been there, she might have been caught, but otherwise she had done a good job of scouting the place out, gathering the intelligence needed, getting into the building, and searching the office. And, of course, breaking into his safe was a truly impressive feat.

My sexy detective was obviously good at planning things out, and she’d thought of everything. Her only problem had been doing it all alone. With no proper backup, she’d been vulnerable.

It struck me just how alike we were. Both of us liked to plan things out and each of us was doing illegal things behind a legal façade, and both doing them to avenge our family. Not only that, but we had a common goal: to make Mathieson pay for his crimes.

Of course, our idea of how to do that might not be the same. I intended to kill the bastard when, no doubt, she intended for him to go to jail. That didn’t matter, Aiden Mathieson would be mine in the end, no matter what.

For now, I would concentrate on taking him down, along with her colleagues. Those guys could go to jail if that was what she wanted, but Mathieson would go to the C.

“Your cousin Joe certainly taught you some useful skills,” I said, observing her reaction.

This Joe character had been a criminal who’d gone straight, and Eilidh obviously overlooked his past and loved him despite it. I was a criminal who wanted to go straight. Did that mean she could love me, too? My heart gave a leap at the thought.

“He sure did. Although I never expected to put them to use in real life,” she said ruefully.

“I guess not,” I replied, pursing my lips.

Despite being enamoured with Eilidh and determined to make her mine, I knew I had to tread carefully. She was still a police officer after all, and until I had her loyalty, I would need to ensure I didn’t divulge all of my family business or all of my plans to her.

I’d fallen hard for this woman, but no matter my feelings, I couldn’t jeopardise my family’s safety. Before I told her everything, I needed to be sure she wouldn’t betray me. Gaining her trust and loyalty was therefore vital.

At some point, I would need to tell her precisely who and what I was, but I wasn’t ready to do that yet, and I doubted she was ready to hear it.

Dinner arrived, and we settled down to eat.

As I poured a glass of wine for myself and some water for her, I mulled over how best to start building her trust. Being as truthful as possible was the best way, I decided as I chewed a piece of steak and thought of how to begin my story.

In the end, I told her everything I’d learned about Aiden Mathieson and his vendetta against my family, his involvement in Krissa’s death and the recent attacks against our businesses.

Eilidh must have seen just how hard it was for me to talk about Krissa, because she reached over and took my hand.

“I’m so very sorry about Krissa, Miki. That must have been very hard for you,” she said, squeezing my fingers.

My heart clenched as I looked at the sympathy on her face. It felt good to have someone acknowledge my feelings. Usually, I hid them behind a mask of authority, unable to appear vulnerable in my position, but with Eilidh, it didn’t seem necessary. Opening up and being vulnerable with her felt right.

Finishing my story, I glossed over my father’s part in Ewan Hughes’s arrest, pretending my dad was just a businessman who’d come across some information about a corrupt banker and anonymously passed that information along to the authorities, only to have his involvement discovered later by Mathieson.

It was all true. I just omitted any mention of my family’s involvement in the Bratva or our illegal activities.

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