Page 47 of Indecent Demands

Silence fell in the car. I felt bad for snapping at her. I was just fucking worried about her. She was a good person. She didn’t deserve to get in the crossfire of someone else’s greed and ambition.

“What do we do?” she asked, her voice soft.

I took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. “We have to find a way to stop him,” I said. “Or at the very least make sure that he goes to jail for what he’s done.”

A frown married her brows. “Can we stop him?”

“If he’s already paid the assassin, then probably not. I’d have to find a way to figure out who the guy is and stop him from completing the task, and that would be a hard sell. In that kind of world your word is your bond. Not completing a job that you were paid for? People are going to ask questions. They’re going to wonder why. It’ll damage your credibility.”

“If you could figure out who it is, could you tell them to call it off because nobody will know that they were hired?” Ariana asked. “I mean—they were paid so it’s not like any work has gone to waste.”

I pondered that as I navigated the streets back to my home. “It’s… possible. But we shouldn’t rely on that.” If enough word had gotten out in our community then that would be a problem. You couldn’t put the cat back in the bag.

“Damien would try again,” I added. “So we would need to find a way to stop him completely.” One that wouldn’t drag either of us into it.

Ariana watched as I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel. “Why do you do that?”

I stopped. “I didn’t realize I was. It’s just a habit.”

“It’s like you’re mentally coding.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, I guess I am. It’s just how my brain works.”

Ariana smiled. “I like it.”

I definitely was not feeling anything about that. Not at all.

I managed to get us to the house safely and practically shoved her inside. “You’re in extra danger now that he’s had contact with you.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure how good of a liar I am.”

Well, that was reassuring. “I still have reason to be at the office so I’ll figure out what we’re going to do moving forward and how we can nail him.”

“What about the thefts?” Ariana asked. She looked embarrassed that she was even asking. “I’m sorry. That’s selfish of me. I just—if Damien is arrested for some reason or other then people might look into the company and they might find the thefts and what I did. They’ll want an explanation.”

“I’ll figure that out,” I promised her. I was concerned, though. She had a point. If the team brought on was as good as I was…

Well. Not many people were as good as I was. Or as Ariana was. But you couldn’t rely just on your own skills, as her ability to hack through my home security system had proven.

Ariana looked reassured by my words, though. “You’re sure?”

This woman really didn’t have many reasons to trust me. It would be so much easier if I just turned her in along with Damien when I got what I needed against him. But she still looked at me like I could really save her.

I took her face in my hands. “Ariana. I promise, I’ll find a way to get you out of this.”

Somewhere in the back of my head, Vaughn started laughing. Yeah, I was a goner. But I almost didn’t care.

Ariana inhaled sharply. “You really can’t promise me that. I know you can’t.”

“Yes, I can.” I hadn’t ever failed a mission yet and I didn’t plan to now. “Just trust me. I’ll figure it out.”

Ariana’s eyes searched my face with a piercing, demanding gaze. I stayed firm. I didn’t have the answers yet, but I was determined to find them.

“Why?” Ariana asked. Her voice was harsh, but then it cracked at the end, and tears filled her eyes.

She was scared. And probably wondering why she had any reason to trust someone when she’d been on her own for so long.

“Because…” Dammit. I wanted to look away, to hide my face, for possibly the first time in my life. I had been emotionally compromised by her from the start, and I hated it. But now we were down to the wire and I supposed it was time for me to be honest.

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