Page 53 of His Temptation

Daragh bent down, his face inches from Sebastian’s. “You think I care about MI5? You think I haven’t spent my life dealing with men more powerful than you?” He let out a low laugh, dark and full of promise. “You’re a parasite, Wolfe. You’ve been bleeding this city for years. But tonight? It ends.”

Sebastian’s mouth opened, his throat working as if he wanted to beg. Siobhan never got to hear whatever pathetic plea he had been about to make.

Daragh pulled the trigger.

The gunshot echoed through the warehouse, reverberating against the steel walls. Sebastian’s head snapped back, a clean bullet hole between his eyes. His body slumped, lifeless, his blood seeping into the cracks of the floor.

CHAPTER 15

SIOBHAN

Siobhan swallowed hard, but she felt no remorse. No guilt. No regret. Sebastian Wolfe was dead, and she was finally free.

The silence that followed was thick, broken only by the distant sounds of Finn and Murphy securing the rest of the area. Siobhan didn’t move as Daragh straightened, rolling his shoulders as if the kill had done nothing to him. Maybe it hadn’t. Maybe he was so used to death that one more body on the ground meant nothing.

Except she knew better. This wasn’t just another job. This had been personal. There was a time she might have been afraid of him. No more. Instead, she wanted to throw herself into his arms.

The screech of tires outside snapped her out of her thoughts. Daragh cursed, turning toward the entrance just as a team of MI5 agents breached the wall and stormed inside.

Siobhan tensed, her fingers tightening on the grip of her stolen gun. The agents spread out, their weapons raised, their eyes scanning the scene. Their leader—a man Siobhan recognized instantly—stepped forward, his face impassive—Agent Jonathan Marks, MI5’s golden boy.

He barely spared Sebastian’s corpse a glance before his gaze locked onto Daragh. “Well,” he said, his voice carrying the clipped precision of a man used to being in control. “That was… unfortunate.”

Daragh’s fingers twitched at his sides, but he didn’t reach for his weapon. Not yet.

Marks sighed, tilting his head toward Siobhan. “You know we have to take her, O’Neill.”

Daragh didn’t flinch. “Not happening.”

Marks glanced at Sebastian’s lifeless body again before looking back at Daragh. “You’ve made quite the mess.”

“Cleaning up messes is what I do,” Daragh said easily.

Marks lifted an eyebrow, then looked toward Siobhan. “You should come with us. We can protect you.”

Siobhan let out a humorless laugh. “Like you did last time?”

Marks’s expression didn’t change. “Last time was different.”

Daragh took a slow step forward, his dominance filling the room like a living thing. “You’re not taking her.”

Marks met his gaze, unflinching. “You don’t have the authority to...”

“Actually,” a familiar voice cut in.

Siobhan turned just as Con O’Neill stepped into the warehouse, flanked by two of his men. His presence changed the entire energy of the room, the weight of his name and reputation settling over everyone like a storm cloud.

Marks tensed.

Con smiled, slow and full of dark amusement. “You were saying?”

Marks hesitated, his hand twitching toward his gun before he seemed to think better of it.

Con strolled forward, casual as ever. “Now, if you were smart, you’d turn around and pretend you never saw a thing.”

Marks clenched his jaw. “You think MI5 will just walk away from this?”

“I think,” Con said, still smiling, “that if you try to take her, you’ll start a war you can’t win.”

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