“Well, that’s a given. You are not going up against the CEO of a massive hospitalorhis backer. Jesus, Wren. You have no experience. You have no guns?—”
“How do you know that? For all you know, I have a stack of rifles and I qualified for the Olympic biathlon.”
“Did you?”
“Well, no.” She folded her arms. “But that’s not the point. The point is, I can do this part of the plan.”
“No. Let someone else do it who is qualified.”
“I can’t. I already talked to him. He knows my voice. He’d be suspicious if he was suddenly dealing with someone else. But… I’d like you and your friends’ help with the rest.”
She mumbled her next words as she shifted her gaze away from his.
“What was that again?”
“I said, and Gina’s help.”
Elias blinked rapidly as he stared at her.
“Probably. If she can be helpful in that way. Which, from what you pointedly havenotsaid about her former career, I think she can.”
He covered his face with both hands and blew out a breath between his palms.
“Furthermore, I think she’d want to, if she knew the full extent of how badly Evan and Matthew got screwed over. And it’s about to get a lot worse for many more people, according to Kit’s research. You want to read it yourself?”
“I don’t have to read it myself.” Elias dropped his hands. “You know your stuff and so does Kit.” He shook his head “I can’t stop you. That’s not a question, that’s a statement.”
“Right-o.”
“And Barbie’s sure she can make it happen?”
“Yup.”
Elias studied her, his expression unreadable. Wren stood her ground.
Finally he said, “Okay. I’ll talk to my brothers.AndGina. We can both talk to her if you want. Pretty sure she likes you.”
Then he smirked. “You can go ahead and breathe again.”
Wren let out her breath. “So that’s why my lungs were burning. I had no idea.”
He snorted.
“One point for me. That was a laugh, mister.”
He grinned. “Fair.”
She gave him a small smile. “Thank you.”
His grin turned into a full-fledged smile. “No need to thank me, baby. I’d move heaven and earth to protect you.”
“I know. That’s not why I’m saying thank you.”
His smile turned to a perplexed frown. “Then why?”
“Because we just had a big argument and you didn’t raise your voice at me once. Not. Once. Not even close.”
He shrugged. “I told you. I don’t hurt the people I love if I can help it. So I’ll never raise my voice in anger with you, because it would hurt you.”
