Page 34 of Savage

It seemed Lachlan and I were on the same wavelength regarding that, though. Whoever had broken in had been afterthe key card, and thatdefinitelywasn’t what my vigilante had been interested in.

Lachlan glanced back at me as he reached for the door, and I gave a hesitant wave, then he pulled it shut and was gone.

I let out a sigh, looked around the enormous room, and headed over to the windows. Just as I’d suspected, there was a spectacular view of the city hiding behind those curtains, confirming we were in a high rise, probably at the very top.

Wherever Lachlan had brought me was definitely not cheap, that was for sure.

My curiosity took over as I started to move around the suite. He hadn’t mentioned anything about staying in one room, so I decided to do a little investigating. I made my way to a set of French doors that opened into another room decorated in much the same way. The difference was the enormous bed situated to face the stunning view.

Holy shit.That bed was definitely bigger than a king, and the amount of pillows on it engaged some childish urge to run over and launch myself on them.

I didn’t of course, because how embarrassing would that be if Lachlan came back and saw me face-planting into the plush bed—but seriously, who lived like this?

Well, notlived—Lachlan had said this wasn’t his place. He’d also implied he was going to talk to his team somewhere in this building.

So was this where he worked? Doubtful. What kind of security firm had a penthouse with a multimillion-dollar view? Unless it was some kind of safe house? He did say that was where he was taking me, but every “safe house” I’d seen on TV was some shithole or cabin in the woods.Not some upper-class Manhattan address. It screamed money. Excess. Luxury.

Which made me wonder…

I fished my cell out of my pocket and headed back to the main living space. Maybe I could get my location through the Find My Phone app.

I swiped my phone open and saw no signal. Not even one bar.I’d figured a place as decked out as this would have cell reception. But maybe it was like hospital—they always had shit service. Something about thick walls and all the technology in it.

That was probably it: he ran a security company, and if this was part of it, the walls were probably fortified or something. But surely he had some kind of Wi-Fi setup.

I opened the settings on my phone, but nothing appeared. Not even some random neighbor with a weirdly named router that was unsecured. It was like every kind of possible signal was jammed.

Fuck.I glanced around the room, suddenly feeling paranoid. Had I trusted the wrong guy after all? Had I been…kidnapped?

No. That was just ridiculous.I’dcalledhim, for fuck’s sake. But still, I didn’t know where I was and couldn’t call anyone to get me the hell out if this wasn’t on the up-and-up. That had me rethinking my choices.

I started toward the door, my steps getting progressively faster as the very real possibility that I was?—

I was locked inside this apartment.

Well, shit.

14

LACHLAN

ALOW, MISCHIEVOUS laugh echoed off the stone walls the second I crossed the threshold that led to the private Libertine headquarters.

“I leave for a few weeks and this is what I come back to?” The end of a clove cigarette—or kretek—sparked in the dark, and then the sweet and spicy smoke floated in my direction. Theodore “Theo” Rinaldi stepped out from the shadows, a smirk tilting his full lips. “Seems like you’ve been up to no good, Lachlan.”

“And let me guess—you approve?”

“Always.” He grinned and joined me to head into the meeting room. He offered me the kretek, and I took a drag before handing it back to him.

“You really should quit this shit. It’ll kill you.”

“I’d rather go out this way than by King’s hand. From what I hear, you may not last the night.”

“From what you hear? Let me guess, Benoit?”

“Your indiscretions reach far and wide, my friend.”

Great.Now not only did I have to deal with the fallout from bringing Cooper here, but now the rest of my brothers knew the extent to which I’d fucked up.

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