Lily thumps him in the chest and gets up off his lap. Her back is straight as she sits in the chair next to him. “How old is the child?” she asks.
“Four,” Mace replies, finally looking sheepish.
“That’s heartbreaking,” Maddie says. “Can we help them?”
“Yes,” Ash says firmly. “We can keep the Russians from turning the town into their own private hell.”
“And how exactly do we do that?” Hunter asks.
There’s only one option, and it’s one I’ve been obsessing with for days. “We get Quinn on our side.”
Hunter grimaces. “It sounded to me like she’s already picked sides. Barrett’s. Maybe that family home he’s building is for her after all.”
“She does seem to think he’s agood man,” Mace says, softening his voice in a poor impersonation of Quinn.
“No fucking chance,” I say through gritted teeth. “Give her some credit.”
Both brothers give me a synchronized smirk. “Damn, he’s got it bad,” Hunter says.
Ash drops his head, and although he’s muttering to himself, we all hear it. “The last thing I need is another brother losing his shit over a woman.”
Maddie clears her throat. “Worse things could happen, Asher. And don’t forget how you gained two highly intelligent and resourceful women in the process.” She gives me a wink when she adds, “I think Quinn would fit right in.”
Lily rests her arms on the table, leaning towards me. “And there’s only so long you can get away with picking up girls in nightclubs and having meaningless sex.”
Clearly Mace has told her way too much about what I got up to when we shared an apartment in the city. It’s fair to say I’d had fun, and so had the women I’d brought home. I’d never stopped to consider the possibility of searching forthe one, not until I saw first-hand the effect Maddie and Lily have had on my brothers. It’s not the worst idea. It’s just a shame Quinn hates my guts.
“Reid,” Maddie says, raising her voice over Ash’s loud groan. “We all know you’re the Griffin with the biggest heart. It would be a shame if you ended up a grumpy sour puss like Ash.”
Ash raises his head to scowl at her, but there’s always a softness in his expression when he argues with our sister-in-law. “Can we not get ahead of ourselves? We still don’t know who this woman is. Unless Mace has any news? Do we have any results from her DNA?”
Although Quinn had been clever enough to remove thehair sample from my mouth, I’d spotted a stray strand on the sleeve of her gym top. I’d grabbed it while she was distracted by me whispering into her ear.
Mace scrolls through his cell phone. “No matches in US databases, and if she ever had a criminal record, it’s been wiped clean,” he says. He looks up and shrugs. “I’ve thrown the net wider, but so far nothing. We can’t discount the possibility that she’s a Russian asset. They’d plant her just to get Barrett to marry her. It’s one way of tapping into the Emerson empire”
“She isn’t working for the Russians,” I say. “She was horrified when I suggested it.”
Mace shrugs. “It could be an act. It’s not like you had to explain who Ilya was.”
“No, it wasn’t an act,” I insist. “And if she is working for the Bratva, it’s under duress. She called Ilya a monster.”
“Let’s not jump to any conclusions,” Ash says, looking directly at me. “Ilya might be a man without a soul, but he can be charismatic when he needs to be,” he says. “Not all the women he recruits have to be drugged or coerced, although most succumb to the same fate.”
“What do you mean?” asks Lily.
“To Ilya, women are assets that devalue over time as they’re being used and abused. They’re either worn down into an early grave, or they’re sold on.”
“Lily and I were just brainstorming ideas to help vulnerable women,” Maddie says, her voice hoarse. “But setting up a refuge isn’t enough. We need to stop this.”
“We will,” he promises.
“Can’t you try to speak to John McConkey again?” she asks. “Does he know Ilya’s been sabotaging our businesses?”
“He does, but it’ll take more than that to pull him into this battle. He doesn’t deal in human traffickingso Ilya’s operation isn’t in direct competition,” Ash says. “And it’s probably for the best that he stays out of it for now. Poulton Springs isn’t ready for the all-out war John could unleash.”
Hunter reaches for his wife’s hand. “I’m not sure we are either, but I think we’re all agreed that we can’t stand by and do nothing.”
“I can see it’s a just cause,” Lily says. “But please be careful.”
