Page 14 of Protecting Lanie

Archer took it without a word, his gaze flicking over the screen. The message from the unknown number was still there.

Miss me, baby?

A slow, controlled breath left Archer’s lips. He didn’t react, but she could feel the change in him.

“Did you reply?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“Good.” He handed the phone back to her. “You’re no longer going to have to deal with this.”

She gripped the phone tightly. “I don’t want to be someone’s problem.”

Archer’s eyes locked onto hers, dark and unreadable. “You’re not a problem. You’re mine to protect.”

Her breath hitched.

Mine.

He said it like it was a fact. Like there was no arguing, no second-guessing. And for the first time in a very long time, Lanie felt something close to safe.

But safety was an illusion, and she wondered if Vinnie might be closer than she thought.

CHAPTER 5

ARCHER

Archer leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled beneath his chin, eyes locked on the glowing laptop screen. The dossier on Vinnie Molina spread across multiple tabs—recent transactions, known associates, movement patterns. It all pointed to one thing.

Molina was back in business, and more importantly, he was looking for someone.

A muscle in Archer’s jaw flexed as he scanned the latest intelligence feed from Cerberus. The encrypted messages read like a goddamn horror story:

Multiple clubs in the BDSM circuit reporting missing submissives.

Pattern consistent with Master’s Market grooming tactics.

Suspected involvement of Molina.

His gaze flicked to the grainy surveillance still attached to the file—Molina standing outside a bar in Chicago, deep inconversation with a man Archer recognized from past Cerberus ops. An enforcer for the Master’s Market.

Archer exhaled sharply.

This wasn’t just business for Molina. This was personal. His gut twisted. That meant Lanie was in more danger than she knew.

There was a knock on the backdoor of his Greystone, which broke his focus. Archer left the counter of his kitchen island and opened the door, surprised to see Mason.

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