Page 55 of Lose Me In The Shadows

It was Luke who finally said, “I’m sorry, sweetheart.”

“I’m not,” Micah piped up.

“Me either,” Conor snorted.

Well. One out of three was something, at least.

“So what’s next? I doubt we can be Marcus’s house guests forever.”

The three exchanged a glance.

“We’re leaving,” Conor said.

They were leaving? She felt sick. Tried to dismiss it. Failed.

“And what, I’m staying here with Marcus, Billy, and ‘the Doctor?’”

Micah laughed. “Not even close. You’re coming with us, baby. You’re even going to get to help. But you’re going to be on your best behavior and do everything we tell you to do. Our lives—all of them—depend on it.”

15

Seattle

Her dress was cut too low.

Micah had insisted on it before they’d left. Marcus apparently had a mission for them—one they’d spent two days prepping for, because Kara “wasn’t ready to play honeypot,” according to him. And since he was bankrolling the whole mission—not to mention paying them after they “disposed” of the target—it was his call. But Micah had worked his magic, because Marcus had come around, and even Conor and Luke had only argued against it once.

Micah had pointed out, very rationally, that there was nowhere safe for Kara if she weren’t with them—so they might as well use her as bait.

“It’s not safe,” Conor had growled.

“Nowhere’s safe for her,” Luke had said quietly, and Conor hadn’t had a response.

So now they were in Seattle, breaking her in on her first job, and she was excited—or would be, if her nipples weren’t in danger of saying hi to all the attendees of this lavish party.

Kara tried to surreptitiously readjust the long black gown so that it didn’t expose so much of her breasts, aware that men in tuxes were ogling her—and that the three men scattered around the room could see it, and probably weren’t happy. Knowing that such possessive, protective eyes were on her gave her a little thrill she chose to ignore.

She was on a mission, anyway. Luke, Conor, and Micah had flown with her to Seattle, and on the plane they had explained. They had a target—Vincent Trust. A gross multi-multi-multi-billionaire who was not only helping to destroy the planet, but had wasted money that could have gone to saving the planet on buying a social media website to soothe his fragile ego. Kara hated him and didn’t feel as terrible as she should’ve that he was about to get kidnapped, tortured, and delivered to the client, probably to be killed.

She should investigate that feeling, deeply, maybe with a therapist. Because either she’d become a violent person recently based on her experiences…

…or it had always been latent in her, waiting to be woken up.

For now, though, she was a part of the team, and hell, but it felt good. It felt good to be out in the world again, even if it was at a masked gala raising money for some charity none of the attendees gave a shit about, dressed in a black satin dress that made her feel powerfully sexy, and uncomfortably visible. She had an earpiece and a small mic and felt like she was in a James Bond movie, and as long as she focused on that part, she could avoid the fact that she was out in the open and no one knew where Chris or his brothers were.

Her men would keep her safe.

But she wished she had a gun on her. Too bad her dress was too tight to hide one.

“Can I get you a drink? And maybe spin you around the dance floor while I’m at it?” A tall, slim man approached her, breathing drunkenly on her neck. She couldn’t see his face, but she could see his blonde hair, and for a moment she thought it was Chris.

It wasn’t, thank god.

She didn’t relax much, though. She didn’t want this man to touch her, not least of all because she was worried it might trigger an incident.

Sure enough, Micah appeared at her side, taking her bare elbow in one hand and handing her a champagne flute with the other.

“This dance is taken, I’m afraid,” he told the other man, who backed away with a mumbled apology before hurrying back to his date.

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