Page 476 of Dark Love

If I was just worried about Max stealing my hacker, it would be one thing. “My guy doesn’t handle change well. It took him six months to settle into his current living arrangements.” And stop calling Payne every thirty minutes for some strange noise. I turn my gaze to Max. “You know how hackers are. They’re squirrely.”

“Do you two need to go a few more rounds before you settle down?” Talon has that long suffering voice like we’re irritating him.

“What needs to happen is your son needs to stop proposing to my woman.”

“Max?” Talon turns to his son.

“I was a joke… mostly. You tasted her brownies.”

Dahlia made him brownies, too. My hands clench into fists. She hasn’t made me any brownies. We’re having another discussion before bed tonight. There will be no more baking for other men. She’ll go to Sweet Dreams Bakery when she needs to bring something over.

“Max.”

Talon’s stern tone would scare me, and he’s not my father.

“I have no interest in Dahlia. I never did.” Max folds his arms across his chest and glares at me. “She’s a wonderful person that’s good with kids, and Hope likes her. But that’s all it is.”

“Now can we get back to the business at hand?” Talon’s eyes shift between the two of us.

I nod, but reserve the right to change my mind.

“Good. Then we’re going to work together on this. Max, you’ll meet with his squirrel and see what you can do to facilitate the information retrieval. Then you’ll assist Vex with squashing this ring.”

“This wasn’t an offer to team up. I came as a courtesy to provide you with the information needed to protect your family. That’s all.”

Talon leans back against the ornate desk. “And we appreciate that. But if this group is as large and organized as you say it is, you’re going to need help. We should bring Kamenev in too. He’s got contacts everywhere.”

So much for keeping this small and quiet. “If a single word of this operation gets out—“

“I know the danger. Aleksei understands how this works.”

Of course, The Bratva King understands. The Bratva traded in people for generations. It’s only recently that they’ve been moving away from it.

My phone alerts me that someone is at Dahlia’s door. “One second, I need to check this.” My body moves towards the door as I pull up the video.

Dyce!

Dahlia doesn’t know Dyce, does she?

Maddox talked to her.

Why can’t anything be simple?

That woman is testing my patience and my nerves. She’s going to say something.

Dahlia opens the door.

We need to have a discussion about that too.

It doesn’t take Dyce long to wheedle her way into Dahlia’s house. I’m going to lock that woman in a closet and throw away the key until all of this is over. Maybe I’ll ship her out to some hick town in the middle of the woods. Then the only thing she can irritate is the wildlife.

“Is everything okay?”

No. “It’s fine.” Maybe I should punch Max before I go over and chuck that woman out of Dahlia’s house.

Max raises an eyebrow at me, which I ignore, barely, and shove the phone back in my pocket. Let’s get this done. “I don’t trust Kamenev.”

“Most people don’t.” Talon nods. “But we’ll bring him in any way.”

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