Panic made it difficult to breathe. I wasn’t enough of an idiot to think someone who raised Legend couldn’t also be deadly. Her face flushed red the longer I stood stock-still staring at her. It really sucked that she already hated me. Obviously Legend hadn’t thought about how our little fib might look to the people who knew him, and I hadn’t been using my head, either. I’d been so scared of having the guys find out about the other side of me that I hadn’t considered how any of this would sound to someone who cared about Legend.
I only had one choice. I rubbed my palms against my jeans and sucked in a deep breath. “They’re mine.”
She scowled. “What are?”
I glanced around and didn’t see anyone else. I shuffled closer, and her eyebrows furrowed until there was a deep line between them. “The clothing. It’sallmine.” I cleared my throat.
She blinked at me.
“Please, could you keep it to yourself for now? I think a few people who work for Legend already know, but it’s my life, and I’m allowed to keep parts of it separate from the Company,” I said in a rush, feeling the need to defend myself, even though she hadn’t said anything else.
She nodded and tilted her head, studying me, and I wasn’t sure why.
Finally, a small smile quirked the corners of her lips, but I didn’t get the feeling she was laughing at me. “Nah, yeah, all that stuff would probably be about the right size for you, I reckon. I had myself a look.” She pointed at me, and I stepped back. “I find out different, and that cute little Fallon will go on a treasure hunt to find you at the bottom of a creek in a croc’s belly. I hear a word of you hurting Legend in any way, and the same thing will happen. This was your one chance to leave. You sure you don’t want to take it, darl?”
Shaking my head, I didn’t know what else to say, but I’d never had a woman scare me so much in my life.
“Eat something. You’re practically all bones.” She turned away and walked out of the room. I stared after her and finally began to laugh as my heart slipped out of my throat and back into my chest where it belonged.
What the hell had I gotten myself into?
9
LEGEND
I rubbedmy throbbing temples and glared at Mercy and the amusement that danced in his bright blue eyes. He didn’t smile, but he was enjoying every bloody second of this. It wasn’t his fault that I’d chosen Ezra to run Sydney and our other cousin Koen to run Melbourne. Koen wasn’t as much of an issue as Ezra.
“For fuck’s sake, Ez. All you had to bloody do was keep your cock in your jocks, kid.” I shook my head. He wasn’t much younger than me, but at thirty-eight, he had the libido of a man in his early twenties. “Were you that desperate for a root?”
Mercy rolled his eyes, and I was glad we’d chosen to have a phone conversation, rather than a video call. They couldn’t see how equally amused I was. I should be kicking Ezra’s arse about getting into the wrong bed... again. It wasn’t the first time it’d happened. At least this time it wasn’t an enemy’s daughter.
“I have no regrets,” Ezra said, smooth and confident. “The guy was hot.”
“Who was he?” Koen asked, tone full of humor. It was hard to be mad at someone like Ezra.
I rubbed my temples and pushed the pile of files sitting on my desk out of the way, so I didn’t accidentally knock them off. They’d been sitting here for too long, but I’d been too busy to do anything with them. It took a lot of effort and time to run the southern hemisphere.
“The New South Wales commissioner’s son.” He sounded proud of himself. “The commissioner didn’t know his son was gay.” Ezra laughed. “Guess he does now. He caught me with my cock shoved into Dade’s sweet arse.”
“The commissioner? Fuck, Ezra.” Koen groaned. “Did you target him specifically?”
“Maybe.” The glee in Ezra’s tone had me shaking my head. “But, fuck, it was worth it to see Riccardo’s face.”
“Did it make you feel better?” I drawled, leaning back in my chair.
Mercy raised both his eyebrows at me, and I shrugged. There were only so many times I could put Ezra on a short leash. Pissing off the police commissioner wasn’t hurting us. There was honestly nothing they could do to my companies. They had no proof of our illegal businesses, and not for lack of trying. They were incompetent.
“Much.” There was a dreaminess in his words that had my eyes narrowing, but I didn’t say anything.
“You’re a fucking root rat,” Koen said.
“Oi, I need you two to concentrate.” I tapped my finger on the desk and stared down at the phone in the center. Now that they’d gone quiet, the bubbling from the aquarium was the only sound in the office. Mercy leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees, and the cinnamon scent of his cologne filled my nose as he got closer. “You hear what I said about the Italians? Don’t let your guard down, all right? Padulano is angling to get his hands back on our territory, and he won’t only be hitting Townsville. He’ll have the support of his friends in Italy, too. I don’t suppose they like the Irish owning what was theirs.”
“I’ve had no problems down here,” Ezra said, snorting. “I’d like to see those fuckers try.”
“What would you do? Fuck their sons?” Koen deadpanned. Behind him was another laugh that I assumed belonged to one of his brothers. He had even more siblings than I did, but he wasn’t the oldest, simply the most ruthless.
I couldn’t help the chuckle that left me.
