Something settled deep inside of him. She had believed he would come for her, that he would save her. And for her, that was all that mattered.
“She will turn on you, just like that bitch of a mother and her grandmother,” her father screamed.
He tried to move away from her, but Lila was quicker. Ian reached for her, but she shook her head. Underwood’s hands were restrained in zip ties. El and Jenner were practically holding him up. Ian still wanted to snatch her back into his embrace.
Lila stood within a few inches of the man, the room quiet except for Underwood’s labored breathing.
With no warning, Lila kneed him in the groin.
“Oof!”
Then, she gave him another uppercut like Ian had, this time hitting his nose. The crunch of breaking bones made all of them wince. Blood went everywhere and Lila’s mouth curved into a satisfied smile.
God, he loved the woman.
“Don’t ever talk about my mother or my grandmother like that again, dick.”
Then, she turned and smiled at him as she stepped back into his arms.
“Thank you again for saving me.”
“Anytime, love.”
Nineteen
Hours later, Ian was still fuming with the need to beat the shit out of Michael Underwood. Lila had first been checked out by Jenner, then the EMTs. It was then that he found out that her father had slapped her twice. She had refused to go to the hospital.
“You can’t beat him up again,” Seth said as they stood on the other side of the two-way mirror.
“You should have just let me disappear him.” He was still formulating an idea that might work. Underwood needed to understand that he would never get near Lila again.
It had taken everything he had in him to get her out of the TFH headquarters. Thankfully, his sister had played the pregnancy card saying she wasn’t feeling well. It was the only way Ian could get Lila out of the building and far away from her father. Part of that was to get her to rest. The other part was he was truly worried Lila would kill Underwood.
Seth rolled his eyes. “I get it, but we’re already on record for bringing him in. If he disappeared, then we would be on the line for him.”
Ian crossed his arms over his chest. “You don’t understand.”
“Excuse me?” Seth asked, his voice going lethally soft. A lot of people thought Seth was easy going. He was most of the time. But the former SEAL could be a dangerous enemy to have. “You do remember that I went through a similar thing with Autumn and that bastard of a cult leader?”
“I get that you had the same thing with my sister, but this is different. The CIA is going to disappear him, probably give him a new name, for any and all information. He’ll never have to pay for what he did to Lila’s family.”
“You should have more faith in your sister.” Ian slanted his brother-in-law a look. “She got hold of the FBI. They’re taking over the case. There’s also a story hitting the media about the agent who faked his own death.”
He blinked. That did sound like his sister. She could be vindictive in the best of ways. Still, covert organizations had their rules and regulations. “The CIA…”
“Will what? Want to admit they fucked this up beyond the worst FUBAR I have ever seen? Probably not, but the FBI wants him because of that crypto info, and they’ll go to war over him.”
A door opened in the interrogation room. TJ Callahan, FBI agent and husband to Charity, strode into the room.
“Finally. Are you with DC?” Underwood asked.
“No. I work here at our field office.”
“What?”
“Oh, I see.” Callahan gave Underwood a shark’s smile. “You thought I would be with the CIA. I’m not. The CIA will be informed soon, but not too soon.” He leaned closer to Underwood and chuckled. “Damn, Ian kicked your ass. Although, I understand your daughter kicked you in the balls.”
There was a long beat of silence.
