Page 44 of King of Temptation

To his surprise, his cousin only smiled, the green of his eyes sparkling with a knowing sort of mischief. “I wasn’t entirely joking when I said Aria’s kidnapping plan was brilliant. It’s obvious this woman has you twisted up. I would wager you’d sleep better with her in your bed.”

“I won’t do that to her. Not with a war raging. And I doubt she’d look twice at me after this, even if I did kidnap her.”

A smirk tugged at the corner of Aria’s mouth. “You’d be surprised. Love covers a multitude of sins.”

Because the thought of kidnapping pretty Marigold and holding her hostage in his home, her body his to claim and ravish whenever he pleased was a bit too enticing, he simply ignored Aria’s unsettling remark and turned to leave the office.

Reagan was waiting for him outside, her impeccably cut jacket back in place and a smirk on her face that reminded him almost eerily of Aria’s. “You’re really gone over this girl, huh?”

“Shut up, Rae.”

Lifting her hands in a gesture of surrender, she shook her head. “No judgment. Just saying, maybe you should stop being so stubborn and lock her down.”

“And what?” Frustration burst out of him, giving his words more bite than he intended but his cousin took it all in stride. “Damn her to a life spent looking over her shoulder, always wondering if someone is coming after her? To wondering if her next meal might be her last, like our⁠—”

Clamping his lips shut, he silently swore at himself. He hadn’t meant to say that, especially to Reagan of all people. Some of the color leached from her face, but she managed to keep her expression impressively impassive. “Fuck, Rae. I’m sorry.”

But Reagan merely cocked a brow. “Do you really think she’s safer on her own than with you?”

All the fight seemed to drain from him at once. “I don’t know, Rae. But I have to do what I think is right. For her and for our family.”

“Here’s to hoping your thinking is correct, cousin.”

Goldie

* * *

Sleep eluded her, and the worst part was she didn’t even have her work to distract her. She had managed to dig up an old pair of headphones that by some stroke of magic still worked, and for the past hour she’d been lying in her old bed, staring up at the stars on her ceiling that still had some glow left in them, listening to playlists of some of her favorite bands from high school.

It was all very dramatic and angsty teen girl of her, and it did, actually, make her feel a bit better.

Not a lot. But a bit.

The phone in her hand buzzed, and her heart leapt to her throat when Aria’s name popped up on the display.

* * *

[Aria: Your dad had my whole family arrested. Need you. Meet me at the precinct, I’m on my way there now.]

* * *

Oh, god. He wouldn’t.

Scratch that. The version of her father she’d seen tonight, overprotective to the point of being a complete asshole, absolutely would go after the entire O’Rourke clan if he thought for one second any of them had anything to do with what happened at the warehouse. And while she’d be perfectly happy to let Brody rot in a jail cell overnight, it wasn’t fair for her father to target the rest of the family when they probably didn’t even know what he’d done.

* * *

[Goldie: On my way.]

* * *

Ripping the headphones off, she tossed them aside and rolled out of bed. Not even bothering to change out of the pajamas her father had unearthed for her, she hurried down the stairs, pausing only to snag her coat and purse before bolting out the door. Thankfully, one of her dad’s officers had brought her rental car over, which she’d explained away by lying through her teeth about her car being in the shop.

In the car, she hooked up her phone and stabbed at the button to call her father. The call rang through once before going to his voicemail.

“Motherfucker,” she snarled at the display, pressing harder on the gas pedal. Just let one of those assholes pull her over. She was dying to give someone in blue a piece of her mind and she didn’t really care who was on the receiving end.

Despite pushing the limit well into reckless endangerment territory, she made it downtown without being stopped, then risked another ticket by parking very illegally rather than waste time with the gated visitor’s lot.