Page 24 of Illicit Temptation

“She has our name. We protect what’s ours.” The brutal psycho leans forward. “We also have a particular interest in Archer Crest.”

I go still. Does he know about the incident I had with him last August? Should I have reported that I stopped him from striking her? “I took care of the dosser.”

“Indeed, you did.” He peers at me.

I don’t start blabbering excuses. That will make me look weak. “I roughed up him. Honestly, I lost control with the way he was speaking to my... Your sister.” I take a breath. “After, I worried there would be repercussions. I made a deal with him to keep quiet and away from her.”

Lachlan picks up a long, serrated knife and plays with it. He lives in a world of dubious guilt. Not reporting a danger that Shea faced could be seen as a betrayal, and punished harsher than the person who tried to hurt her. Guards are held to an impossible standard. But I’m not just a guard, I’m a Quinlan and Archer Crest isn’t just some slimeball billionaire who got nasty with his sister. He’s dangerous.

“Has he contacted her?” I ask, calming myself.

Balor would have said something while I drove him around for months.

“No.” Lachlan’s jaw ticks. “Not that we know of.”

They must not be one hundred percent confident in Balor’s ability to track everything she does. The guy’s got an insane amount on his plate, not to mention he’s falling for a woman whose father is some kind of cyber-criminal.

I lean forward, my blood pressure ticking up to stroke level. “Is Crest planning on...hurting her?”

“I don’t think he wants to hurt her. He’s kept tabs on her, though. Talked to the wrong people about her whereabouts. I think he’s an obsessed maniac who isn’t above abducting her and keeping her tied up in a basement somewhere.”

Hiding my rage, I ask, “Does Shea know he may be planning something?”

“No.”

“I think she should know, sir.” I don’t mention all the trips she takes to Manhattan.

Lachlan might put her on lockdown and she’ll absolutely contact Archer herself to try to smooth this over.

“Even if told her, she thinks she knows him and won’t see him as that kind of threat.” Lachlan sounds frustrated.

I nod, because I see her trusting her judgment and won’t accept that he has trained killers who will hurt her. She wants nothing more than to avoid being any trouble for her family.

Lachlan puts down the knife. “Doesn’t matter.We’vedeemed him to be a threat. He’s cagey with his communication, and I’ve done this long enough to know when someone is planning something. But I can’t just go slit the throat of a guy with ties to African crime lords he pays off for his diamond mines.”

Crime lordshave something to lose, nice houses that can be burned to the ground. Crest hasmercenariesin his blood diamond world. Ruthless killers who board cargo ships inthe middle of the ocean to sneak in and out of the country undetected.

I meet Lachlan’s eyes. “I’llslit his throat.”

Although, I’ll be putting Griffin’s new house at risk. Fuck it. She’s my wife, damn it, they’ll understand. And help.

Lachlan smiles. “When we have enough on Crest that even his brothers will want him dead, you got the kill shot, Quinlan.”

I shudder, thinking I should just drive to Manhattan right now and run him over. People die every day. But it will be too much of a coincidence, and I don’t have enough game pieces in place now to fully cover my tracks.

For all we know, there may be a standing order if he dies suspiciously, and a strike will be launched.

“Without knowing this intel, Shea thinks she doesn’t need a bodyguard,” Lachlan says with a growl. “She’ll...be difficult.”

Especially to a bodyguard who is her secret husband. I’d checked all the filings in New York and Nevada. She hasn’t petitioned to divorce me. Given Balor has hooks into all those systems, he’d have said something to me. Shea’s more afraid of her brothers finding out she got married without telling them than breaking the chains of matrimony that bind us for life.

“How do I protect a princess who doesn’t want to be guarded?” I ask to get out of my head.

“If you want to survive this job, don’t call her princess.” Lachlan smiles.

“Noted.” Even though I recall she liked me calling her princess while she sucked my cock.

“Shea’s your client, Quinlan, but you work for me. You do what she tells you, but remember, I’m your boss.” He stares into my eyes looking for a crack in my armor. “Instead of taking out Crest right now, we’ve come upwith another solution.”

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