Page 10 of Twisted Contract

“We’ll need your name while you lay your weapon on the ground.” I do as they say because I don’t want any trigger-happy bitch acting up and accidentally shooting me. Meanwhile, the paramedics lead Claudia to the ambulance and begin to work on her arm from the back of the vehicle.

“Well, if it’s not trouble himself.” I recognize the cop approaching me. Antony Philomeno smirks and extends his hand while giving me a shake of his head. “Connor MacNamara. I didn’t expect to see you over here and getting this young lady mixed up in anything shady.” My eyes move toward her. Fuck. They seem to gravitate toward hers involuntarily.

I see her looking our way, and I wonder if she’s able to hear our conversation. “Who says this has anything to do with me? The little baker was the one shot, and I wasn’t even supposed to be here. I came here as a last-minute change of plans for my future sister-in-law. Maybe the bullet was meant for her,” I say, tilting my head toward the gorgeous baker. With each word out of my mouth, her eyes turn to round saucers and her mouth widens, so it’s clear the sexy little thing heard every syllable.

“Yes, that is interesting. That’s a possibility with her father’s position,” he says. “As the governor’s kid, you have to have a target on your back. She should have a security detail. I’m surprised he doesn’t have one on her even just because she’s freaking a beautiful woman.”

I could feel the color drain from my face before it returned to beet red with fury. “Did I hear you correctly? Claudia Murphy is the governor’s daughter?” My eyes narrow as I lift my head toward the woman sitting in the back of the ambulance. She’s Saunders’s daughter? My muscles constrict, tightening with rage, blood boiling with pure anger.

“Are you telling me you didn’t know that, Mr. MacNamara?” he scoffs, tilting his chin downward.

“I am. She told me her name was Claudia Murphy, and according to my sister-in-law, she saw her videos on social media. That’s the only reason I’m here as I’d rather be sleeping right now instead of running errands. I don’t even like sweets, and I hate cake.”

The cute little baker huffs on the last little bit as if it’s an insult that I’m not a fan of sugar. I’d lick some fucking frosting off her cleavage, but that doesn’t mean I care for it regularly.

Of all the women to find hot as fuck and to be completely irresistible, it has to be her. She ishisdaughter.

As much as I want to get my ass out of here, something about the situation demands that I stay. Maybe it’s the fact that she was shot when it’s obvious the bullet was meant for me. Fuck, those pricks are going to have hell to pay when they realize they screwed up and hit their boss’s daughter instead.

Some shit isn’t adding up one damn bit. We really have been set up. How did Nora find this woman and pick her out of the hundreds of bakeries in the city?

I have a million questions, but right now I’m going to get the answers with the cops around. No, all my answers are going to wait until the other side of the law is able to play.

“What questions do you have for me? I have to get out of here.” I’m growing more and more antsy by the second.

“Tell me went down in the bakery.”

“I came for a cake testing. I was about to take a bite when I noticed someone standing outside the bakery and just as I did, they opened fire. I pushed her to the ground, but I wasn’t fast enough. She’d been shot, and when I had a moment, I openedfire long enough to send them running. They took off, but not before they did all this.”

“Did you get a look at them?”

“No. Unfortunately my head was ducked down trying to keep it on my neck.”

“You aren’t trying to bullshit me so you can seek your own vengeance, are you?”

“No, because I don’t need to do that. Whoever this was, if they were after me, they were just hired guns. The real bastard pulling the strings would get away with it. I can’t go around hunting people. I have a club to run, a family to help, and a dog to take care of. Do you understand the amount of work on my plate?” I say, adjusting my now blood-stained cuffs and checking my expensive watch as if I’m annoyed with his insinuation.

“You’re a great liar, MacNamara, but remember—we’ll be keeping an eye on you.”

“I don’t care. Go ahead because you’re not going to find anything. My gun is legal, and my actions were in self-defense today,” I remind him. I have a conceal and carry and make sure everything I do is above board when I deal with the police—at least when I want them to see me.

“Keep your actions clean, and we’re good.” He gives me a stern look, admonishing me, but he doesn’t believe a word I’m saying.

“I will. Now—if there are no more questions, I need to check on the baker. My sister-in-law is still without a wedding cake, and she’s going to be pissed at me. You know how bridezillas can be. She won’t care if we were both shot.” I wink at him and walk away. Nora will probably cry when she finds out what happened, but these assholes don’t need to know it.

I walk up to the fucking lying cunt in the back of the ambulance. “Well, hello, Miss Saunders. It seems you lied, and I saved your life for nothing. Is that why you wanted me to leave before I found out about your fucking secret? Were the cakes poisoned?”

“I would never poison anyone.”

“But you set me up.”

“You’re nuts. I didn’t do anything, and I didn’t tell anyone that you were coming to the bakery. Hell, I didn’t know you’d be there.”

“No.” I grab her by the throat, and I’m so close to her that it seems so intimate, like we’re about to kiss. “You were going to let someone kill my brother and my sweet innocent sister-in-law.”

“I wouldn’t,” she stammers, but she doesn’t fight me. I’m not sure if she’s afraid or that fucking submissive.

“Don’t fucking lie. You’re scum, just like your father, and I’d watch your back if I were you. The second I have proof, I’ll forget that I had any sympathy or desire for you.” I push my hand off her throat and storm away from the ambulance.

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