Page 118 of Hide Little Traitor

“Come on, Duchess. Let’s get you out of here,” he murmurs, dropping his hand from my throat and wrapping it around my waist instead.

I’m so distracted by the feel of his lips on mine that we’re almost at the end of the alley when I realize we’ve started moving.

Damon moves me to his other side, pushing me toward the wall as his mask of indifference slips into place. “If you move from this spot before I tell you to, the denial Kingston put you through will look like a fucking walk in the park compared to what I’ll do. Got it?”

I open my mouth to respond but quickly snap it shut again.

Did Damon really just threaten me with sex?

CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE

KINGSTON

THEN

TEN YEARS AGO

Chloe’s been asleep for almost fifteen hours, and I’ve checked she’s still breathing every twenty minutes since she drifted off.

It’s irrational, but I can’t help it. I can’t shake the unfamiliar anxiety that riots through my veins, and the only thing that I’ve found to help is watching her breathe like a creep.

Dragging myself out of the bedroom, I close the door behind me and cross the hall to my office.

As much as I would love to have someone else handle the business while she’s here with me, it’s not practical. Not when I’m only just starting to trust some of the men who work for me, but nowhere near enough to give anyone the keys to the kingdom.

Taking my phone from my pocket, I swipe through my notifications, each one making my shoulders tighten.

None of this matters.

Nothing matters but the woman sleeping in my bed and the baby growing inside her.

I drop into my chair and fire up the laptop.

Work has boomed recently, with more and more people getting wind of both sides of the business. The legitimate security and private investigation side and the services we offer by invitation only.

Taking out the scumbags of this world is the whole reason I built Hawk Security in the first place. After working for Salvatore Lombardi my entire adult life, I needed a change. I need a way to repent for my sins, and I haven’t looked back since that first case.

The mother of a teenager who was kidnapped on her way home from school contacted me after being turned down by every other private investigator in the area. She was desperate for someone to help her after police were convinced the girl ran away.

But she didn’t. She was taken and brutally tortured by an upstanding member of the community until she took her own life just to escape the pain.

I was too late to save her, but I could exact revenge, and I made Lenny Price pay for every single time he hurt that poor girl.

Our other services mean we can help these families for free, and if the perpetrator is someone with money behind them, we distribute most to the victims’ loved ones, keeping a percentage for ourselves to grow our reach.

We invest some to increase our portfolio, while the rest is used to hire more guys.

I glance at the door, fighting the urge to check on Chloe again, but instead I read through a few reports from cases.

Eventually I won’t be able to personally be around every case we have, but for now I like to make sure we’re crossing our t’s and dotting our i’s, especially when we dabble outside of the law.

A name catches my attention, making me pause.

Sebastian Vega.

The heir to the Vega crime family and all-around piece of shit if the tabloids are to be believed. He constantly draws negative attention to the family, forcing his father to clean up his messes at every turn.

But this is the first time his name has crossed my desk.