Page 100 of Forbidden Wish

“So by association I’m wholesome and respectable too?” The twist of her lips failed to conceal her amusement. “Sometimes right is right, and that has nothing to do with the law. Saving that woman was right. You won’t hear me apologize for what went down tonight.”

“And if someone finds out? A Manzani?”

“No one will find out. How would anyone find out?”

Her gaze cooled with a prickling intensity. Sersha McLeod’s dark thread glowed from beneath its shroud.

“You’re not like Lach. You’re not like him at all,” she said, just getting it. “He believes in the system. He has limits.”

“And he’d thank you for noticing.”

“You don’t believe in it? What your father, your brother—”

“Have dedicated their lives to? Not recently. You’ll find me more cynical. Good isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. People are complicated.”

“You grew up surrounded by it. It should be all you know.”

Wasn’t that her problem though? Being ensconced in suburbia growing up, she hadn’t acquired the shell her dad and brother built as a shield against the threats coming from all sides. All she knew was safe and secure, yet that was what she fought against. Sometimes just being related wasn’t enough to imbue someone with the same values and limits. The men in her family knew what made sense. They understood the darker side of life that had passed her by.

“I’ve come a long way from being the woman who wouldn’t deliver an envelope,” Sersha muttered.

“What does that mean?”

“I’ve always known I would never be good enough. Lachlan desperately wants to be, so he falls in line. I do my own thing. I am not a model McLeod, believe me.”

“You can’t live up to your father’s expectations and I can’t shake my father’s expectations of me.”

“Seriously, you’re overthinking it with Strat.” The doors banged again. One person was wheeled in with another hot on their heels. “All you have to do to make him happy is show up. He’s a low maintenance guy. What do you expect of him?”

What did she…? What did she want her father to do? That was a good question. Thrust her into danger, encourage her to leap into the unknown? Being protective was a father’s job. Oh, wouldn’t he be thrilled to hear about that night’s antics?

“I should probably call him before he gets back to the garage to find us gone.”

“Yeah, he’ll worry.” A group of people came in, talking, shuffling, coughing. It went on and on, people and people. “What the hell is going on?”

When Sersha got up, she was quick to follow. The door banged again.

“Move! Move!” someone called out.

The endless gang parted, and she jumped out of the way with Sersha.

That was a fireman on that gurney.

The people, the gang, skimpy tops, barely there skirts, heavy makeup.

“Oh my God,” she whispered.

Sersha slapped a hand on the admit desk. “What’s going on? Where are these people coming from?”

“The hotel.” Despite whispering it, Sersha’s head snapped around. “They’ve come from the hotel.”

“Old Carlyle went up,” the guy behind the desk said, dealing with something else. “Still going they say.”

“Oh, shit,” Sersha said, pulling her along to the end of the desk, out of earshot. “Call Strat.”

“Ford and Jagg were in that building.”

“I know. Call him. Call your dad.”

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