Page 84 of Killian

“I hired a hacker of my own to do what I couldn’t. He did what I needed him to do, then he started asking questions. Doing some digging of his own. Unfortunately for him, he agreed with what you did so I took him out.” The man shrugs.

Greer steals the knife from my hand and jams the knife into the man’s thigh, making him scream out. “You killed him?” she demands.

“I did, this morning. Right after I got what I needed. Can’t leave loose ends, now can we?”

I reach forward removing her hand from the hilt as Bash pulls her back from the man. Twisting the knife into his leg, I pull it out. “Do you know what we do with men like you?”

“What?” the man whispers with dead eyes.

“We torture,” I tell him, looking him dead in the eye. “A ghrá, I need you to leave us. I’ll come find you when we’re finished,” I tell her over my shoulder.

“I should stay.” She looks like she is trying to be strong, but I saw the hesitation.

Moving toward her, I cup her jaw. “You don’t need to see this, love. You are strong and independent, but sometimes it’s okay to rely on me. Let this blood be on my already dirty hands. Go check on Conor for me. Make sure he’s not giving the lovely lady doc any trouble.”

She swallows hard, leaning up to press a kiss to me.

“Make him pay,” she whispers before she turns and walks out the door.

“How’s he doing?”I ask softly as I step into the room Mia has Conor set up in.

“He’s doing okay. Pulse is steady. His eyes have started shifting. I would expect him to come too soon.” She smiles from her seat. She’s sitting close to him so that she can get to him in a flash if need be but out of arm’s reach.

“That must be some bag of tricks you carry around with you,” I say while looking at the straps.

Mia follows my line of sight and laughs softly. “It’s something Lo demanded I always have in my bag. All the men are much larger than me. His biggest fear is me getting hurt on the job.”

“You always have a guard though,” I say, pointing at the man across the room from us.

“Angelo is always with me. But you know how these guys operate. Extra precaution is never enough.”

“I get that.” I sigh, thinking about how I failed when it comes to being cautious lately.

You should have known his son would retaliate.

“So it’s been a while. How have you been?” she asks awkwardly, pulling me from my thoughts.

“We don’t have to do this,” I blurt out.

“Do what?” She frowns.

“The whole small talk thing. We hardly know each other.”

“Fair enough. I hope that will change though.” She gives me a small smile. “Bash asked me to bring your bag in from the car. I set it over there next to another chair.”

“Thanks.” I smile weakly as I walk toward the bag.

Maybe I shouldn’t have been such a bitch. Shaking my head, I let my guilt go. Today has been hard. I think I will be forgiven for my outburst.

Sitting down in the chair, Mia and I fall silent. Reaching into my bag, I pull out my laptop and get set up. Once the laptop is started and I triple-check my security measures, I get to work on clearing Killian’s name. Now that I know who took the money, the how is easy enough. I finish cleaning up the mess and shut my laptop right as Conor starts to groan.

“Easy, Conor,” Mia says soothingly. “Everything is okay.”

I stand and walk toward him, stopping at his side. “Hey, do you want me to go get Kill?” I say softly.

I watch as Conor’s eyes flare with anger. “I’m going to kill you,” he rasps, making Mia and I gasp.

“You touch one hair on her head, Conor, and I’ll kill you myself,” Killian says from behind me. I feel him step up next to me, resting his hand on my lower back.