Page 52 of Unlawful Seduction

I grabbed the phone, furious with the man for not asking me if he could bring it with us. Had he tried to get into my phone?

All I had to do was to look down at the notebook on his desk and the notes he’d taken. There were so many of them, enough I finally sat down so I could read every last one of them.

Valenti. There was that name again. Definitely mafia. Princess. Who was the princess? Certainly not me. I shifted throughpapers, trying to absorb as much information as possible. The way he drew a chart was almost like sketching a family tree.

And his name was included.

Right underneath Lucian Valenti’s.

He was a high ranking official in the organization. No wonder they wanted him dead.

I continued searching and reading, constantly glancing toward the door and listening for any sounds.

When I found the notes he’d written on my phone, I was indignant, yet of course I’d known he wouldn’t find anything. I had nothing to hide.

Except he’d found the one thing that was near and dear to me, something so private just knowing he’d seen the photograph brought anger and sadness at the same time.

My hands were shaking as I grabbed my phone, trying to shove aside tears as I navigated toward the photographs. His picture was the last one on the camera roll. Him. Beautiful, mysterious, frustrating Damen. At the end, he was someone I realized I hadn’t known at all. The man I’d tried to forget. How could I ever do that? The photo was the first one captured after purchasing my new phone.

When our smiling faces were brought up, I lost the battle with the tears, strings of them trickling down both sides of my face.

Now I was entirely too emotional, so much so just gasping for air made both my head and my chest ache from extreme pressure. A crime syndicate. Weapons. Security. Being hunted. It all came crashing down, my synapses incapable of forming any rationalthoughts or concepts. The single emotion that furrowed like hot lava relentlessly searching for a channel for release was anger.

Beckett was the one who’d invaded my privacy. With the notes he’d written, it was clear as a bright sunny day he’d checked my background, discovering aspects about my life no one had the right to learn unless I told them.

Goddamn the man. I needed answers and I would have them. Period.

I spun around, not paying attention to where I was going.

Then I hit a solid wall of muscle and bone and a chiseled face peering down at me.

“What in the fuck are you doing in my office?”

CHAPTER 13

Beckett

The doc’s stare was laced with a combination of disdain bordering on indignation with only a slight hint of fear. She also didn’t appear as if she had any intention of answering me.

Sweet and innocent Mallory was too busy attempting to hide the tears sliding down her face. As she rubbed her skin, she looked everywhere but at me. Memories had resurfaced.

I dropped my gaze to what she was holding in her hand. Her phone. I’d locked the fucking door on purpose to avoid any possible confrontation. The lovely Mallory had gone from being a caretaker and victim to breaking and entering at a record pace.

Anger was about to cloud my judgment with her. I took a deep breath, doing what I could to temper my fury.

“I’m going to repeat myself and you will answer. What are you doing in my office?” My voice boomed in the small room and she jumped as if I’d hit her.

Jax was suddenly in the middle of us and she immediately dropped the anger in her expression, now favoring her adoration of my pup.

“Discovering.” Her voice was so soft, so full of fear and angst.

“Yeah? And what did you discover, sunshine?”

She finally lifted her head. “That you’re a very bad man and I have every right to be terrified of you.”

The words hung in the air. “You bet, Doc. I never lied to you about that. Did I?”

She finally shook her head, her mouth twisting as her mind processed the information she’d found.

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