Page 21 of Forbidden Bond

“I’m coming in with you,” she said, coiling an arm around Strat’s to walk across the forecourt with him. “I haven’t eaten properly in days.”

“You buying?”

“IOU,” she said, peeking up at him. “My purse is still in the back of Conn’s car somewhere.”

Though her wallet itself was at the loft. They’d left their bed, their room, their home, believing they’d be back in an hour, maybe two. Would everything be as they left it?

“What you thinking about?”

“The loft,” she said, ducking under his arm when he held the door open for her. “Did you go there?”

“No answer.”

Didn’t mean there wasn’t anybody there. Strat wouldn’t get inside on his own. As far as she knew, he’d only been there with other McDade men, people who’d likely have the code, or had the door opened for them.

Though what reason would Conn, or any McDade, have for barring her friend? Strat was one of them and could be key to tracking her down. As evidenced by the fact that he did.

“He’s out there, isn’t he?”

“We’ll find him, Scamp.”

Maybe, but what state would he be in when they did?

EIGHT

THE CLOSER THEY got to the city, the harder her heart pumped. The increasing darkness cocooned them, deepening with each minute that passed. Welcome darkness. Night meant activity, meant hope. The people she needed to see, the man she needed to see, thrived in the dark.

“Where am I going?” Strat asked from the driver’s seat. “Yours, mine, the cop’s—”

“I’ll take Dad back to mine,” Lachlan said. “We need to talk.”

Have at it. She’d gone beyond her tolerance level for “alone” with their father. Lachlan deserved his own stretch. There would be a lot they’d want to say to each other that she didn’t need to hear. Besides she wanted to get alone with Strat. And alone with her guy, wherever he was.

“That’s your old place, right?” Strat asked and she nodded.

“You live with him? McDade?” Ronald demanded with pure outrage. “Permanently?”

“That’s a good way to define it, yes.”

Her jaw pushed forward. All she had to do was get through a few more minutes. Thank God she wasn’t armed. Though the club, Stag’s basement, sprang to mind. What would her guy do to get some time alone down there with the good superintendent? What would she do for the same? If any of her people, those that knew her, were in there… God, she needed them to be.

Conn told her she’d never be refused entry to Stag again. What if he was gone? What happened then? Would whoever assumed control grant her access? Would she ever know the truth? This was what she did. Inhaling determination, she had tohold on, couldn’t lose it, not yet. Not until he was with her, until they were together again.

“Every minute I learn—”

“You don’t learn, Dad,” she said on a sigh. “You haven’t learned. Still you sit there judging me. How is me living with the man I love worse than you selling out every citizen of this city?”

“You believe the McDades deserved to win that vote; that their vision for our home was better. I believe the Manzani vision is more appealing.”

“Is there anything you don’t tell yourself to justify your betrayal? You sold your soul to the devil for nothing.”

“What did you sell yours for?”

“Ask me again tomorrow.”

Strat stopped the car at their destination, which couldn’t have come quick enough.

Lachlan’s head appeared between them from the backseat. “You staying with her tonight?”

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