Page 531 of Dark Love

“Valen Linckester won’t hurt Piper. But he probably won’t stick around long either.” Colin reaches across the table for a sour licorice. “Where is Piper anyway?”

“He asked her to eat lunch with him.” Savie points her needles in that direction and then reaches for a jelly-filled shortbread.

Is anyone but me wondering how Colin found out so much about this guy in such a short time?

“Since she has all of you watching over her, I think I’ll go for a swim.”

“That’s not a good idea right now,” Keely warns.

“Why not?”

“Because the spicy romance authors arrived.” Savie smirks. “They’re already eyeing you up since you’re sitting with us. But if you take off that shirt of yoursand venture away from our protection, they’re going to talk you into being a cover model for them.”

Colin chuckles. “I think I’ll just stay right here for a while.”

He would have made a good cover model to be fair.

No Safe Choices

Vex

“We need more information.” There isn’t a single approach we can make without risking lives. “We need to know everything about those previous cases.”

“That’s a lot of information. It could take weeks… months maybe for me to get it all without a trace. Unless…” Shock closes the laptop.

Don’t say it. Don’t say it.

“…you can get me access to Vincenti’s tech again.”

No.

Payne turns from where he’s staring down at the club. “Every person opens us up for a leak. If it’s the government, we can’t afford a single slip-up.”

“It could just be a wacko.”

Shock is grasping at straws, and we all know it. The chances that this is a wacko that hunts odd twins are slim. But it’s still a possibility. At this moment, it could be anyone for all we know. “There are too many variables. We need more information.”

“We can trust Vincenti, but he has a huge family. That’s a big ask.”

“It’s Barb,” Shock says what we’re all thinking.

Barb is one of us.

“It would just be simpler to get Barb some cosmetic surgery and a new identity,” Payne spitballs an idea.

“You’re not touching her face.” Shock almost leaps at him.

Touchy much? “We aren’t playing games here, Shock. You and I can’t take on the government.”

“We don’t know it was the government.”

He’s right. “We need more information.”

“Get me Vincenti’s tech again.”

This isn’t a risk I can ask of Vincenti. “Fine. I’ll make some arrangements. But I’ll need my phone to do it.”

“You have to be careful about what you say.”

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