The threat, whatever it had been, was neutralized.
Andro came in the room. "What is going on here? Carmine, you have some explaining to do." Andro’s bodyguard came in behind him, panting like he had been given the slip and was desperate to catch up.
Joey stepped forward. "Who is this guard, and how did he get assigned to us this morning?"
Andro narrowed his eyes. He nodded toward Carmine, and Carmine dragged the alpha to his feet.
The man’s eyes blazed with anger. He strained against Carmine’s hold.
“What is your name?” Andro asked.
“Shaughn, sir.”
“You haven’t worked for me for long.”
“No, sir. This is the first time I’ve been to the house, sir. I worked at one of your warehouses.”
Andro turned to Nil, wordlessly asking for an explanation. “Recent promotion. We brought in four new guards to the house recently who’d completed their training. He volunteered to help fill in this morning since Davy needed to leave early.”
“Take the kids out of the room, please,” Andro said.
Jeremiah and Connor gathered the children and left the room, leaving Andro, Joey, Cord, and Avery, along with their guards, myself, and Carmine to deal with Shaughn.
“Carmine, please explain yourself. I trust you have a reason to have a knife to one of my men’s throats.”
The knife had been lowered from the guard's throat, but Carmine was prepared to use it. He kept it in his hand.
Joey went to Andro’s side, and they laced their fingers together. Andro brought Joey’s hands to his lips and kissed it.
“We were in here talking. Nil, Davy, and this asshole were standing guard. Nil and Davy were keeping the room secure as expected. Shaughn was listening to our conversation.”
That surprised me. A guard’s job, especially for the omegas, was to keep them safe, not listen to their conversations.
“When Theo took off toward the door because he wanted ice cream, Shaughn went to go pick him up.”
I winced. No one was allowed to touch the children. Unless they were in imminent danger, only family or extremely close friends handled the children.
“And you acted then?” Andro asked.
“I told him not to touch Theo. He didn’t listen. When I asked a second time, he rolled his eyes. My intuition told me something was off, and I began questioning him.”
“You felt it was your place to do such a thing?”
Carmine shook his head. “No, sir, and normally I wouldn’t, but when it comes to the children, you cannot be too careful. He’s here as a spy. He probably thought if he got close to the kids and earned their trust, he could use them as leverage.”
Andro studied him for a moment. The moment seemed to stretch for an eternity. Carmine’s fate hung in the balance. I hadno doubt that what he said was true. An investigation would occur, of course, but I trusted that my mate wouldn’t act without cause.
“Sir,” Nil interrupted.
“Yes?” Andro said without looking away.
“We took the liberty of going through Shaughn’s phone. He sent a text today saying that he volunteered to babysit the brats, his words not mine. He was then told to get on their good side. Earn their trust.”
“Boss, this is ridiculous! Are you gonna believe this rat-faced omega fuck instead of me? He’s nothing but a slu–”
Carmine sent an elbow to Shaunghn’s temple, and he collapsed into a heap on the floor.
“I think his instincts were spot-on,” Joey said. “As much as I don’t enjoy the violent aspects of your work, if you want to make this man really regret his actions, I’d appreciate that.”
