Page 13 of Sinister Engagement

Raph released a breath and nodded. "Fine then, we'll move it up."

"Good." Now that we had that out of the way, we could move on to another important matter. "Tell me about the motorcyclist."

He snapped his fingers, and one of his men stepped forward, producing a folder and handing it to him. Raph flipped it open and began to speak. "The man we traced using the license to the bike lives several states over—he's not involved. The bike was reported stolen last week."

I was unsurprised. No one who went after the daughter of Raphael Price was stupid enough to use a bike attached to their own name. "What else?" I prodded.

The man hovering at Raph's back flicked his eyes up to me once. By the pinch of his mouth and the cut of his gaze as he glared at me, he wasn't happy with my tone. Tilting my head back against my seat, I stared at the man for a long moment. I hadn't yet been given the opportunity to say something to the guards that had been with Angel and me when she'd been attacked. It was something I knew I shouldn’t do in front of Raphael since he might object, but it was something I would ensure happened. They needed to understand just where they’d fucked up and just what I would do to them if they fucked up again. The sooner they got that, the sooner I could lessen the risk to Angel.

“We’re tracking the true culprit,” Raph said, his voice hardening as he snapped the folder shut. “We’ll have the bastard soon.”

“Good,” I said. “As soon as you have him, let me know.” I pushed to my feet, and the man at Raph’s back tracked my movements with his gaze, narrowing his eyes on me. I smirked.

“Where are you going now?” Raph asked.

“To deal with a little problem.” Though my tone was light, I could tell by Raph’s thinning lips that he understood what problem I was talking about.

I moved around the chair and eyed the men in the room. Each one stared back, but only two were blatantly displeased with my presence.Displeased for now, at least, I considered thoughtfully,by the time I’m through, though, I’m sure they’ll all be more than simplydispleased.

“What happened out there today?” I demanded. No one responded. Heads moved down. Eyes sought the floor. Not a single one of them opened their fucking mouths. Obviously, I wasn’t being forceful enough. I moved towards the center of the room and slowly turned in a circle “Perhaps I wasn’t loud enough,” I stated, raising my voice. “I believe I askedwhat the fuck. Happened. Today?”

“We were ambushed by an attacker on a bike,” one of them finally answered. His tone was sharp and monotone, relaying the facts of the day.

“Ambushed,” I repeated, turning toward the speaker and stepping closer. His head lifted and his eyes met something behind me. He refused to look directly into my face. Smart man. He assumed if he did, I’d finally lose my temper. He was right. I was very close to doing it already. “Tell me something,” I said. “Would you ever be ambushed like that or let your charge get so far away from you if it had been Raphael Price himself?”

The tension in the room racketed up another notch. “Of course not, sir,” the man in front of me replied.

“Then what happened today was more than a simple ambush,” I stated. “What happened today was simple—you fucked up!"

Turning away sharply, I scanned the room. The darkness festered and grew, consuming me with each step.

“Your charge—Angel Price—who will soon be the next Mistress of this fucking estate nearly died today because of your incompetence,” I growled. Whipping back toward the first speaker, I reached out, grabbed him by the throat, and dragged him closer as I leaned in. “And I want to know why.”

Raph watched with a keen gaze, not saying a word. “It won’t happen again,” the man wheezed in my grip. I squeezed tighter, feeling the rage bubble upward. It would be so easy to crush his trachea in my grip. To reach into my holster and withdraw my gun and shove it into his mouth. Maybe then he wouldn’t spout such obvious nonsense.

“You’re fucking right it won’t,” I said. “Because, let me make something perfectly clear”—I needed my gun in my hand. I reached into my holster and withdrew it. Shoving it beneath his chin, I tightened my hold on the man’s neck until I couldn’t even hear the whisper of his breath anymore—“if anyone thinks they can hurt her, they’ll deal with me. And if the lot of you think you can slack off and fuck up and not suffer consequences, then you’re dead wrong.”

“If you’re so worried about yourfiancée,” the guard standing behind Raph challenged, “then why didn’t you magically keep her safe?”

I released the man in my grip and turned slowly to meet the other guard’s gaze. I left my first victim coughing and wheezing for breath as a cold smirk curled my lips and I moved closer to my new target.

“She is going to be mywife,” I murmured, moving with silent steps. He watched me, his eyes bouncing from my chest to my legs and back to my face as if he wasn’t quite sure where to look for my next action. “It wasyourjob to protect her, and you failed. Your friend was right, it won’t happen again.”

The guard circled to the side of the desk, squaring off with me as his eyes darkened. There it was—hatred. If I had to guess, he was loyal to Raphael and while I respected loyalty, he wasn’t loyal to me. Without giving him a moment’s warning, I shifted—moving quickly so that the distance between us was gone in a heartbeat. His eyes widened and out of instinct, he reached for his weapon, but it was too late.

With my free hand, I reached for my side and withdrew a blade I always kept hidden. Two seconds later, I had it pressed into the man’s side. I dug the tip in as he cried out in shock and then slammed it home.

A pained shout filled the room as I pulled the blade back and let the man slump forward, blood seeping over his fingers as he pressed against the wound. The room was frozen in shock. “Let this be a lesson,” I stated, holding up the blade in my hand as I returned my gun to its holster. Blood dripped down over my fingers. “Fail at your duties again, especially when it comes to Evangeline Price, and you will pay dearly.”

One of the guards reached for his gun with shaking hands. “You can’t just—” he started, only to freeze as Raphael held up a hand.

“Enough!” Raph barked, his eyes shutting for a brief moment. When they reopened, they were blazing with a fiery anger. “Gaven’s right. My daughter,a Price heir, was almost murdered today. You don’t have to agree with his methods but you do need to accept the consequences of what happened and the lack of respect the rest of you have shown him. It won’t happen again, am I clear? Because if it does—”

“I will gladly show you just how capable I am,” I cut him off between clenched teeth. I did nothing to hold back the bloodthirsty rage that filled me. Punishing one of the men would be enough to make my point, but I wanted more. They all failed Angel and for that they deserved to pay, but not today.

“Now,” I started after a long silence, sliding the knife back into the sheath without caring to wipe the blood from the blade. The guard’s quiet groans of pain filled the room as I twisted my shirtsleeves around my forearms. “I’m going to check on my bride,” I informed Raph as I headed for the door. “And then I’ll be making the arrangements to have the ceremony moved forward.”

My sentence ended as I turned the handle to the door and pulled it open, a small, feminine frame nearly falling over into my arms. Angel straightened quickly, her face flaming bright pink as she blinked up at me. Her gaze darted under my still half raised arm to her father briefly before landing on the guard who was injured. Her blush paled quickly when her attention returned to me.

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