Page 61 of Lose Me In The Shadows

That had not been their best idea.

Conor almost laughed. He wanted to fuck, not take down a target. He’d always been mission oriented, but Kara was always the thing that disrupted his single-mindedness. He reminded himself of the job: sight and grab the target, take him to the second location, torture him for the information Marcus needed, and then kill him. They needed to focus and carry it out successfully, because only then would Marcus connect them to the witness to the professor and his brothers’ crimes against them.

Not that Conor wasn’t a criminal himself, but he wasn’t about to let that stop him from carrying out his revenge. The professor and the other Johnathan brothers deserved it, not only because they’d set him up and destroyed his life, but because they’d hurt Kara.

Punishing the professor for hurting her?

Making her safe?

Ensuring she got the revenge she needed to heal?

Thatwas what drove him now.

Funny how missions changed. Once upon a time, being a hero—in the world’s eyes, in his family’s eyes—had mattered more to him than anything else. Even when he’d gone down this dark, nihilistic path of taking what he wanted with no thought to who it might hurt, Kara included, part of him had still wanted to get his old life back.

But now? He had no more rose-colored film over his eyes when it came to the US military. They weren’t saving the world, they were helping bad people maintain power and punish those who got in their way. Maybe his hit jobs weren’t heroic, but at least they were honest. And ifhewere honest, he liked the work. Liked getting his hands bloody and putting the money in his pocket. But mostly, he liked having Kara by his side, as terrifying as it was to leave her out in the open. Which was why he had to ignore his dick and focus on the job at hand.

A problem, since Vincent Trust was surrounded by his people—which included a handful of big, buff, black-suited guards. There was no way through to him without drawing too much attention to themselves, unless he went along with Micah and Kara’s asinine plan to set her up as—

“—bait,” Micah was saying. “You still up for it, baby?”

Kara swallowed, nodding. She took a quick swig of champagne and handed it to Micah. “I’m ready.”

“You aren’t going over there,” Conor said. “I don’t want his filthy hands on you.”

Luke growled in agreement.

“We already talked about this,” Kara said, clearly frustrated. “I’m as motivated as you are to see this through. I want to take down Chris Johnathan as badly as you do. If you don’t let me, you might as well lock me up in a cage.”

“A cage sounds like a safe place for you right now,” Luke muttered.

Kara rolled her eyes. “Besides, you won’t take your eyes off me for a second, will you? I know you’ll keep me safe.”

“Manipulator,” Micah laughed, sounding proud.

Conor couldn’t help but agree. He sighed. “Fine, but I’ll torture him until he’s screaming for his momma if he so much as touches you.”

Kara smiled and winked at him. “Wasn’t that already the plan?”

And then she was moving through the room, adjusting her dress to show off the most cleavage.

“No fucking way,” Luke started, but Micah reached out a hand to stop him—to stop both of them.

“Let her do this,” he said. “You want her to stay with us? To want to be with us? We need to keep her invested, make her feel like she’s a partner.”

Conor did a doubletake at that. “Make herfeel likeshe’s a partner?”

Micah sighed. “She is a partner. Just…a very protected, cossetted one.”

“You’re so full of shit,” Luke said, almost admiringly.

“I get the job done,” Micah replied.

At that, Conor forced himself to stand down, and after a moment, Luke stopped fighting against Micah’s hold.

They all watched, and when Conor glanced over at Micah, even he looked worried. Conor hated every second of this, but what choice did he have?

“You better be right,” he muttered.

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