Page 128 of Her Filthy Reverse Harem Romance Collection

I rub my eyes to dislodge the pain buried behind my lids after a week of no sleep. I thought I would have the day to get my head together after several days of radio silence. No word from her, no movement from her father or the Bratva mobster. Silence in this case is not bliss.

Today looks like that is about to change.

I eye an empty chair at the far side of a long table and notice the beige folders set out in front of each seat. Looks like there might be some new intel on the Rossé or Antonov family. Both if we are lucky. The sooner we can take Lilith’s father off the board the easier it will be to take down Antonov.

With both off the board it will make taking Lilith and fading from the map easier, too. I rather not start a war.

Anger forces its iron grip around my guts. It’s a battle to keep myself in check knowing she’ll be taking the Russian bastard’s last name and not mine if we don’t make a move soon. But I have to play the long game here—take out the criminals. Then I can keep the girl.

“It’s ’bout time you joined us, Special Agent Gabriel Priest.” A familiar gruff voice grabs my attention. His pack a day habit makes him sound like an old Blues singer. It matches his laid-back attitude until you get the bear riled up.

Shit. Ifhe’shere something happened.

“Fuck you, Mace.” I grunt knowing the crap day in front of me is gonna be a helluva an assdragger.

I use the abbreviation of my cousin’s name. Using his full name will only have him out of the chair and trying to plant his fist in my face. I don’t feel like killing family today, so I play nice. I clap a hand down on his shoulder and try to erase the crease lines of worry from my brow before our boss notices I’m in the room.

“Why don’t you ever take a day off and give everyone a break.” I didn’t mean it as a question but Mace takes it as one.

“Because the bad guys don’t take a day off.”

“What a crying do-gooder.”

His smirk is layered with sarcasm.

“Whatever you say, bro.”

I jerk a chin toward the papers and talking agents. “What’s up? Why is everyone in the office on a Sunday?” I ask.

Mace shrugs a heavy shoulder with his signaturedon’t know, don’t care expressionglued on.

“Caught some chatter through the back channels. Boss wants to get everyone together. From the sound of it, the timetable for moving on the Rossé family might be moving up. So here we are.”

“Chatter you caught?”

He nods.

“Earlier this morning.”

About damn time. Mace is here on loan from the cybercrime unit and keeps track of back-door chatter among a few of the known enforcers tied to the Rossé family.

At six feet five inches with shoulders as wide as a fucking car Mace is not the subtle type you take out into the field unless you need a bulldozer. But he’s a slayer with a keyboard and a screen. Day in and day out, he crawls through the dark web and filters back information. If our boss has pulled him in on our day off, they’ve caught something that can’t be ignored.

Mace is also really good at forging fake passports in the back of a funeral parlor on the shittier side of town. A much lesser-known fact.

Mace leans his jacked frame against the back of his chair and points at the various monitors lining the back wall. Every single detail we’ve dug up about the Rossé family is either on the screen or spread out over the table. Same goes for the Antonovs. Though admittedly we have far less on the Russian family with deep Bratva ties looking to move in and spread their reach across the U.S.

My attention hones in on Lilith’s heart-shaped face among the multiple candid shots of guards and variously known enforcers and a few new faces no doubt belonging to Kirill. But all I can focus on are her haunting blue eyes staring back at me.

Since the first day this special task force was formed and her picture crossed my desk, I always thought she was too young to look that tortured. Every day of my life has been about survival. Thirty-one years of it have me questioning every person who walks into my life.

But not her. And before you think I’m only after her tight ass, let me be the first to say you are dead wrong. She’s tamed the beast in me and has me wanting shit like happiness and laughter instead of the nightmares and a plague of darkness I’ve known since I can remember.

Her story of abuse broke my heart and I swore I would do everything I could to protect her.

I stayed away at first. I fought against my dark lusts and I won for a while.

And then I broke.

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