Risky Temptation (5 page)

              Tobias gave me a look of impatience. “You of all people should know that you were living in danger long before I came around,” he said. “And no matter what the illusion was that you two had built for yourself here in England, you are
still
in danger. You choose to love a man like Marco Desmond, you’re choosing to love a life of danger and risk.”

              “But you’re putting him in direct fire,” I argued. I remembered the rage on Marco’s face as he slammed his fist into the Black Saints henchmen. “On our own, we never would have put ourselves in such direct fire.”

              Tobias eyed me evenly before flicking his gaze down towards my cup. “You’ve let your tea go cold,” he said. With fluid grace, he rose to his feet. Standing over me like a statue, he held out his hand. Reflexively without thinking, I put my hand in his.

              Long fingers closed over mine, gripping my hand tightly. With a swift tug, he pulled me to my feet.

              “This room,” he said, meaning the sitting room, “is connected to two rooms. To the left is my room. To the right is yours.”

              “Mine?” I croaked, realizing the severity of the situation. He had no intention of letting me go. He meant what he said. He would keep me until Marco did as he wanted.

              Tobias nodded. “This floor is my personal quarters. No one is allowed up here without my express permission so know that you are safe,” he said.

              What a ridiculous thing to say. How could I be safe when I was the only other person on a floor with Tobias Lestrade?

              Tobias’s lips twitched as if he had realized the same thing. “Why don’t you go on in and rest. You must be tired.”

              I saw that to the right, there were polished dark wood double doors, clearly leading to what would now be my room. As horrifying as it was to realize I was truly kidnapped, I wanted space away from Tobias at least.

              I moved towards the doors when Tobias suddenly jerked me back by my hand. I stumbled and fell against him. Craning my neck, I looked up and saw his eyes narrowed towards me.

              “Please remember,” he said calmly, “this floor may be my personal space but there is security everywhere. Five floors between you and the front door and possibly several dozen men who would have no qualms about breaking your neck. So please, no pathetic attempts to escape or sneak off.” His green eyes turned icy. “You wouldn’t want to displease your host.”

              I swallowed. Not knowing what to say and only knowing I wanted to get away, I nodded quickly. As soon as he released my hand, I ran off towards the double doors, anxious to get a breath of fresh air that didn’t include Tobias Lestrade’s glowing green eyes.

Chapter
Five
Marco

              I spit another mouthful of blood into the sink. The red glob almost glowed against the white porcelain of the sink.

              Looking into the mirror, I can barely recognize my own face. It is mottled and swollen and covered in blood. I grimaced then hissed as the grimace had made my busted lips open up again.

              I had taken off my blood splattered shirt so I could see the damage. I had carefully probed my chest and was sure I hadn’t broken anything. But some of my ribs were certainly bruised. It felt like knives every time I breathed.

              And although I knew the four men who had attacked me would be in similar conditions as me, if not worse, I found no comfort in that fact. Because in the end, Halle was still gone.

             
Fucking Lestrade.
Fucking Black Saints!

              I leaned over the sink, my head pounding in rhythm with my heart. Godfuckingdammit!

              I slammed my hand on the marble counter, making the mirrors shake violently.

              As soon as Lestrade had left with Halle, I had fought against the four fucking lackeys with a rage I had never felt before. I stretched my right hand, a jagged cut crisscrossing my knuckles. I had punched one of the fuckers so hard, his tooth had come out in my hand.              

              The downstairs was a mess, covered in blood and broken furniture. No matter how hard I had fought though, it had still been four against one. They had left, two of them carrying one of the men on their shoulders, but they had left, successfully having allowed Lestrade to get away with Halle.

              And I had been left slumped against the wall, exhausted to the point where tremors ran up and down my body as I fought to keep myself upright.

              I must’ve blacked out at one point and when I came to, my muscles were aching with stiffness and my body was sticky with dried blood. I had made my way upstairs and sure enough, on our bed, was a slim black phone.

              Seeing it made my anger flare up again.

              Of course I had worried about the Black Saints. They were a dangerous and all reaching organization. But I had assumed that when I finally made my way into Europe, I would be so under the radar that no one could possibly care to find or bother me.

              But then I had met Halle and plans had changed. We had left the States in a much flashier way than I had intended—on the heels of a murder. And I hadn’t had a chance to enact a lot of my fail safes to obscure our presence in Europe. But I had done my best to keep us low and under the radar. I had worked hard to make sure that we kept a quiet life that would allow us to live in peace and safety.

              So many times I had caught myself staring at Halle and Jamie and thinking,
this is all I need.
Watching her face light up in laughter at something Jamie had said or hearing her talk softly in that sweet voice of hers, I knew I would lay down everything to protect her. I had done it once already. I knew I could do it again.

              There had been something off as soon as I had opened the door tonight. I would’ve immediately pushed Halle back onto the street and hustled us off but I could tell there were men waiting outside as well. I couldn’t see them but I could feel them. They had trapped us neatly.

              Lestrade.

              We had met a handful of times before. The Desmond Family had several holdings in Europe and any sizeable holding always crossed paths with a member of the Black Saints. And any crossing with the Black Saints means a crossing with Tobias Lestrade.

              The man was dangerous.

              He was one of the only outsiders to figure out my name despite all the aliases I had used. He had worked for several European Families and had been very successful. His elegant lean body didn’t seem suited to killing but the man was a trained murderer. He was a notoriously good shot and had often been recruited by other Families because of his abilities.

              Then suddenly he disappeared.

              There had been no warning, no notice. He just disappeared for six years. Families went crazy thinking he went rogue and was plotting to take them out. There were large, reaching searches to find the man. But of course, no one ever found him.

              Until six years later when he reappeared as the Enforcer for the Black Saints. And since then, he had been unstoppable. No one could be sure exactly how many deals, hits, mergers, elections, campaigns, recalls, buyouts, or treaties he had been apart of but essentially, if it was on the news, I was sure Tobias Lestrade’s hand had played a role.

              Not only were the Black Saints a shadowy and vague organization but they were also notoriously closeted. They worked with
only
Black Saints approved members. Even the lowliest delivery boy was carefully vetted and approved to work for their ring. That was how they maintained their shadowy obscurity—by keeping meticulous records of who knew about their existence.

              So for them to reach out to an outsider was very telling. And what it told me was that something dangerous and risky was waiting for me at the other end of that sleek black phone.

              It was something they didn’t want to dirty their own Black Saints hands with and
that
was very telling since their hands were already fucking filthy.

              I sighed and winced as my ribs ached at the movement.

              I grabbed my own phone and quickly sent a text.
Boston Terrier.

              I waited, holding my breath, hoping for small mercies.

              Within a minute, my phone lit up.
Giant Schnauzer.

              I sighed.
Thank god.
At least Jamie was safe.

              We had agreed upon codes in cases of emergency just like this. I had wanted to use simple military code but Jamie thought it would be more unique and therefore more reliable to use odd food combinations.

              “Anyone can say Alpha Foxtrot,” Jamie argued. “But how many people can say Broccoli Toast? Or Lobster Croutons?”

              I had rolled my eyes. “These are codes that we will have only spoken about in person. There’ll be no record of them anywhere. If we all keep our mouths shut, regardless of whether we say numbers or colors or the fucking alphabet, only
we
should know the codes. So let’s just keep it simple.”

              “But what if someone finds out our codes? What if someone finds out about Alpha Foxtrot?” Jamie wheedled.

              I raised a brow. “The only way someone would know my code word is if I told them. Are you suggesting that I would give up the words to the first person who tried to throw a punch at me?” I leaned forward. “You think your big brother is some kind of little pushover?”

              Jamie took his chance to roll his own eyes. “Nooo but—”

              “Dogs!” Halle had interrupted, clearly having had enough of our argument. “What about we each pick a type of dog?”

              And that had settled it. I didn’t really know any breeds except German Shepherds but Jamie insisted I be something more unique. I was Boston Terrier. Jamie was Giant Schnauzer. Halle was Labradoodle, which I had thought was a made up name Jamie was trying to pull on me.

              Either way, once the code words were spoken and received, it meant danger was afoot and to keep an alert. I now knew Jamie was safe and he knew that something was wrong and to keep a keen eye out.

              Not too many people knew about Jamie but even still, as a Desmond, he needed to have his wits about him.

              I tossed my phone and sighed. With that done, next came a more unpleasant type of phone call.

              I walked stiffly towards the bedroom and picked up the black phone. In it was only one number. Lestrade’s.

              At the moment, I had no choice but to call Lestrade and listen to his offer. I had no idea where the Black Saints headquarters was or if Halle was even being kept there.

              For now, I would play his game.

              I hit dial on the number. I listened as the phone rang.

              But Lestrade and any fucker from Black Saints should know, I would do absolutely everything to find Halle. I would tear London down brick by brick if I had to and whatever Lestrade’s reputation or skill was, I would rip out his teeth with my bare hands to find and bring back Halle.

             
That’s
what Lestrade was getting when he met me.

              I’ve been a caged tiger before. For years, I had to play by Roy Desmond’s rules and pretend to be under his thumb. I know what bondage like that feels like.

              But in the end, who was lying cold in the ground with four bullets pumped into him?

              Not me, that’s who.

              “Hello?”

              “Tell me where and when, Lestrade,” I said shortly.

              “Gladly,” Tobias replied.