I scrub a hand down the front of my face.
“Work fast,” Kingston says. “Whatever it takes, get daddy to cooperate. Use her feelings, her fear for Connor, whatever works.”
“And if she figures out what I'm doing? That I’m just playing her?”
“Don't let her.” Kingston stands up and folds his arms over his chest. “You know what’s at stake if you fuck this up.”
I turn Kingston’s words over and over in my mind on the way back to the penthouse. We don’t know who’s watching but someone definitely has her in their sights.
She came here because Connor needed protection through this sham marriage. But now I have to wonder if there was another reason why Declan was so adamant about this alliance. I don’t trust that motherfucker at all.
And Tierney is never going to accept an arrangementwhere she’s stuck in a cage, no matter how luxurious it may be.
She already hates being so isolated and dependent on me for everything. But today proved how fucking vulnerable she is here and I can’t risk anything happening to her…for the mission and also because, fuck my life, she’s gotten under my skin.
But she's proud, stubborn, and smart as hell. One wrong move and she'll see right through me. And any bullshit excuses I try to feed her.
When I walk into the penthouse, I find her in the kitchen making dinner like we're normal instead of two people caught in a shitstorm of secrets, lies, and betrayal.
“How was your day, husband?” she asks, sarcasm dripping from her voice. She doesn’t bother to look up from the vegetables she’s chopping.
“Interesting. We need to talk.”
“About?”
I move behind her, my hands settling on her hips. She tenses but doesn't try to wiggle out of my grip.
The scent of her shampoo wafts under my nose and I breathe it in, savoring the second of silence before I implode her life.
“About why you're not leaving this building anymore.”
Now she whips around, the knife still in her hand. “Excuse me?”
“The people following you weren't random. They were pros.”
She scoffs. “I figured that one out myself.”
“And did you figure out they might not justbe after Connor?”
Color drips from her cheeks but her nostrils flair. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means whoever was watching you guys yesterday might want you, princess. For what you did to them.”
“Wait, you think that was the Tribunal?” She slams the knife on the counter. “And they want me for breaking into their fucking vault?”
“Maybe. We don't know for sure, but we have to be prepared for anything. The reality is they could have snatched Connor already. He’s been around. But not with you. And they didn’t show up until yesterday.”
She stares at me, her eyes sparking fire. “So what the hell do we do now?”
“We have to keep you safe. Here, with me, till we figure this shit out.”
She sticks her hands on her hips. “For how long?”
I shrug. “For as long as it takes.”
She lances me with a glare, her jaw taut. Then she turns back to the vegetables and grabs the knife. “I won’t live like a prisoner.”
“You can't live at all if they get you.”
