Page 46 of Cold Hard Truth

“Lyla doesn’t trust me.”

No shit.

“But I need to protect her.” He scratches the scruff on his jaw.” I’m not risking my only living daughter over some stupid club vendetta.”

“Then why’d you have me lure her back here when you found her? You and I both know she was safer where she was at.”

It might have been a shit apartment in Denver, but she was off the grid. Working. Happy. Or so she seemed from the surveillance footage. She was living under the radar, not making waves and keeping to herself.

Mostly.

The only reason we even figured out where she was is because she just couldn’t stop digging.

While we thought the club was safe after going to war with the men who took Ellie’s life, Lyla didn’t seem to buy it. On the outside, she stayed under the radar, but she was still searching for answers as to who killed her sister. She tripped an online trap Kane had one of his best tech guys set up, and that’s the first time we got wind of her in years.

Using that tip, we traced Lyla back to Denver, and Kane had Terrance keeping an eye on her. He’d been sending surveillance footage to Kane daily and giving him updates.

“Someone’s been watching her.”

I hitch an eyebrow.

“Someone besides me.”

“How do you know?”

“Terrance found signs someone broke into her apartment.”

My fists clench at the thought of someone getting close to her again. “That’s why you had me lure her back with that text?”

Kane nods.

“Well, she’s not going to agree to stay at the clubhouse.” She hated that place by the time she left. “And it’d be a shit idea to put her in there with the guys even if she didn’t mind it.”

“Which is why I don’t want her there,” Kane snaps. “Hence the debt…”

He dips his hands in his pockets and leans back, his gaze darting from me to the stalls behind me, and back again.

“No.” I shake my head. “I’m not putting up your fucking daughter.”

“She can’t stay where she was, and I can’t have her at the club with all those handsy assholes. There’s no one else I trust.”

“I’d rather just kill someone.”

“Me too,” Kane agrees. “But until I know who deserves a bullet, she needs to be kept safe. Keep an eye on her. Give her a job at the shop if she gets bored. Do whatever the fuck you have to, and don’t take your eyes off her.”

I open my mouth to argue, but he holds up a hand.

“Settle the debt or don’t. It’s your choice, but we both know you want to.”

I do, but I’d rather annihilate another club than be stuck babysitting the girl who planted a landmine in my chest and then stepped on it.

“You owe me,” Kane reminds me, like I don’t already know.

“I’m not a babysitter.”

“If I wanted a babysitter, I’d hit up one of my friends in the city and have her crash with them for a while.” Kane steps closer, darkness overshadowing any light in his eyes. “I need someone who understands what needs to be done if anyone tries to get to her. Someone who isn’t afraid to do it. Can I count on you, Sage?”

He knows he can.

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