“We’ll take things slowly,” Mace promises, which is a contradiction to his posturing earlier when his wife wasn’t in the room.
“A good start would be me going back there.”
All eyes fix on me, and I could have predicted it would be Mace who objects first. “No fucking way.”
“The whole town hates us,” Hunter adds.
“Even so, the security guards didn’t recognize me, and they’re local hires,” I argue. “It could just be Barrett’s staff who’ve been warned to look out for us, and there’s only four of them.”
“In that case, why don’t we all go back?” suggests Hunter.
Maddie sucks in a breath as an idea strikes. “Lily and I could come too.”
“No,” all four of us say in unison.
“But there’s even less chance of them recognizing us, surely,” says Lily.
“No one else is going except Reid,” Ash announces. Pointing at Mace and Hunter, he adds, “You two idiots need to stay close to your wives. If the Russians spot you in Poulton Springs, they could take advantage of the situation and come here for them. And if I try to step foot in the town, that’s definitely going to escalate the situation.”
My chest puffs out. Despite my recent disaster,Ash has faith in me. “All I need is some time alone with Quinn. She doesn’t only hate Ilya. From what she said, she has a problem with organized crime in general, so she needs to know exactly what we do and don’t do.”
“Could she be working undercover for the FBI or another agency?” Maddie asks.
“I don’t think we can completely discount it,” says Ash, “but we have contacts who say otherwise. And Mace hasn’t been able to find a connection either.”
Mace simply scowls. He’s still brooding. “So, we’re just going to let Reid loose on the town and hope he wins them over with his natural-born charm?”
“What can I say? I play to my strengths,” I reply. Before he can slap me down, I add, “It might help if we made ourselves a little more visible. And by that, I mean ease back on the restrictions you’ve put in place to stop us showing up in the public domain.”
“Do you know how much time and effort I spend keeping our names and faces out of search engines?” Mace asks with incredulity.
“And I’m sure it’s served us well, but this situation requires a different approach,” I tell him. “People are quick to believe we’d burn down a factory and kill an innocent man because they don’t know a thing about us beyond being rich motherfuckers. If I’m going to win them over, they’re going to need more than just my word that we’re the good guys.”
“They’llneed? Orshe?” Mace asks.
“Fine,she’sgoing to need more than just my word,” I clarify. It’s pointless trying to fool anyone, including myself, that I care about anyone else’s opinion other than Quinn’s. All I want is for her not to hate me. That’s it. I wrinkle my nose. That’smostlyit.
“It’ll take a bit of time,” Mace says, looking to Ash for final approval.
“If we do this, you’re not going back there with just a team,” he says. “Jake goes with you,” Ash says, appointing our head of security as my personal bodyguard. “And I expect you to follow his instructions when it comes to your own personal safety. Don’t make me regret this, Reid. You don’t take chances, and you come back in one piece.”
“I’m not going to do anything stupid.”
“I’ll fucking kill you if you do,” mutters Mace. He loves me really.
Chapter 4
Quinn
After a day spent arguing with contractors, I can’t face another evening holed up in a tiny room in Poulton Springs’ one and only guesthouse. Walking along Main Street, I scan the store fronts and cross the street towards the liquor store. Light’s fading and so is my confidence. Barrett’s deadline is looming, but it’s not the completion of the building work that worries me. It’s what comes next.
I can do this, I tell myself, inhaling the sharp February air and pulling back my shoulders. And I will do this – just as long as Barrett doesn’t fire me in the meantime. He wasn’t pleased when I told him how I’d invited a Griffin onto his property, and although that particular conversation was two weeks ago, his voice still rings in my ears.
“How long was he in my house? Where did he go? Did you search him before he left?” Barrett had asked, barking each question and not giving me the chance to reply. “Could he have planted a bug while he wandered around the placeunsupervised?”
“It was only a matter of minutes, and yes, I searchedhim before he left,” I’d said while my thumb skated over the finger I’d pushed into Reid’s mouth. A shiver ran down my spine that wasn’t entirely unpleasant.
“Were you thorough? Did he resist?”
