Page 33 of Demanding Mob Boss

I step back from him. "She invited me to go."

What if I'd gone? Could I have stopped her getting hurt?

Lachlan glowers at me. "Why didn't you tell someone she was planning to go to a party?"

"Come on, Lach. How was Anna supposed to know that Shea was sneaking out?" Connor moves so he's standing between me and the furious man.

"She snuck out? But isn't she eighteen?"

"She's not allowed to go out without a bodyguard," Connor explains. "It's not safe. She ditched her bodyguard last night to go to the frat party."

"I thought school was out for the summer."

"Classes resume next week."

It is mid-August. Wow. Hard to believe I've already been working here for almost two months.

"I'm so sorry she got hurt."

A crash sounds from Cian's office.

"It's bad, isn't it?" I ask, my heart squeezing with pain. I like Shea.

"They found her this morning," Connor answers.

But that's not what I asked.

Lachlan's expression is grim. "She's in the hospital. And if we don't calm Cian down, he's going to do something he can't come back from."

I don't know what he means, but I hate the thought of Cian being so upset.

"Wearen't doing anything. You want this innocent colleen to beard the lion in his den." Connor sounds angry.

I'm sure they all are. And he's Cian's cousin, which makes him Shea's cousin as well. He's got to be furious about what happened to her.

"Do ye mind going in there and smiling at him?" Lachlan asks.

Um… "You want me to smile at him?"

Lachlan doesn’t look like he's making a joke. His expression is dead serious. "Yes."

"Oh…kay…I mean if you think it will help."

"Lachlan." Connor shakes his head. "If this goes sideways, he'll never forgive you."

"It won't."

It's gone silent in Cian's office. Maybe he ran out of things to break.

"You ready?" Lachlan asks.

I nod, though I'm not sure that I am. I'm just an employee with a massive crush on my boss. I don't see how me trying to comfort him is going to help Cian. They should call his mother, only that's not what my heart wants.

It wants to be the one to calm him down. Everything in me demands that I at least try.

Lachlan opens the door. "Anna's coming in, Cian. Check yerself."

Then he sort of pushes me into the room and the door shuts behind me.

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