“He means do I need to be told to keep my fists to myself.” Kane breathed in. “I’m good. This is Lovelyn’s show.”
Arran unlocked the door.
Inside the room, Lyle lurched forward. “About fucking time. You have no idea who?—”
His words dried up as he took in the men at my back, all now with masks raised, aside from Kane. My very own wall of mildly murderous support. His focus sank to me.
“Lovelyn?”
The camera view hadn’t shown me just how dishevelled and stressed the detective had become. Gone was the neat, well-kept professional. His fair hair was ruffled, and his shirt crumpled, but the red eyes and darting gaze spoke volumes. His spell in a different kind of prison than he was used to had rattled him.
Losing all sense of self-preservation, I stalked inside and pushed him in the chest. “Where the hell do you get off?”
“Me? When your father finds out?—”
“Don’t interrupt. I’m talking. You’re a cop. You’re not above the law. You tried to break into my house while I was sleeping, Lyle. You sent messages to scare me.”
He opened and closed his mouth. “You can’t prove anything.”
The confirmation in his words only boosted my righteousness. He might as well have signed a confession and stapled it to his forehead.
“Oh really? I saw you with my own eyes, and I have a neighbour who will happily play witness.” Mrs Hampton would enjoy the ruse.
I advanced a step, backing him to the shelf of sex toys. “Then I’m sure my friends here would be willing to document how a new detective was clamouring for tickets to watch a live sex show. Not sure how shiny a promotion’s going to look after that news spreads.”
“Like anyone would believe you.” Lyle flicked his gaze to the gangster wall at my back, then to the camera in the corner of the room.
A tell. He was nervous.
I pushed my advantage. “Apart from the fact you came here and had your hand in your trousers while watching the show? Against that, I’m the model of respectability.”
“Easy to tip off the press for your walk of shame out of here,” Shade quipped from behind.
I smiled cruelly. “You lost me my job. Be prepared to say farewell to your career.”
Lyle went to speak, then swore and turned away. When he came back, his features were twisted in emotion. It made him appear younger. The gentler, relationship-inexperienced version of him I’d dated.
I wanted to throat punch him. “Tell me why you did it.”
“For us. We were good together.”
My surprise caught me, but then I saw what I’d missed when we were dating. The want in him. The almost shy attraction I hadn’t shared.
Kane curled a possessive arm around me, tension in his touch. “Another word like that out of your mouth and ye won’t be leaving this room of your own volition.”
I interlaced our fingers to underscore his point. “There is no us. We broke up, and I’m with Kane. Do you understand? My choice has been made. I’m not interested.”
The challenge in his eyes fizzled out, all his energy gone. Lyle was backed into a corner, and he knew it. “I accept it. What hope did I have after that scene in the game? Can I go now?”
This was my time to leave. I was done with him, and it was over to Arran and his crew to bring Lyle to heel in other ways. But then a thought came to mind. I’d considered myself useless without the information I could provide to the skeleton crew.
Maybe there was one last act I could supply.
I twisted to Arran. “Can we have a word outside?”
The crew leader inclined his head, tugging his mask down when we exited. “Something wrong?”
I swallowed, wringing Kane’s hand in mine. “I can’t work for you anymore. My father fired me, so I don’t have access to police data. But I have something I can use with Lyle as a bargaining tool to get your people back. I didn’t want to speak without asking you first.”
