Lochlan

The traffic cam footage replayed for the sixth time. Millie leaned against the coffee shop's outer wall. She pulled her phone from her pocket, swiped open the screen, shook her head, and pocketed it, only to pull it out again and repeat the motions. When it went into her pocket the second time, she glanced toward the street and tensed.

I leaned forward in my chair, studying her closely while fighting back the rage that had not stopped simmering in my gut the first time I watched this video—the first time I witnessed her freeze with fear before being dragged into the road by the man who, luckily for him, was now dead so I didn't have to risk ruin killing him myself.

"You still can't find what she's looking at?"

James clicked a few buttons, swapping cameras to get a better angle as Millie shook her head at whatever spooked her.

"No. I've got some guys running facial recognition on the video we've pulled, but the crowds were dense that day."

My teeth ground together as I nodded. No use snapping at James. If anyone could work a miracle, it would be him. But with every replay of the footage, my frustrations mounted. It couldn't be a coincidence that Greg Melnyk had been spied nearby just before the accident—No, I corrected the statement. It wasn't an accident. It was an attack, and there was only one explanation for her fear. She recognized the man.

Proof Millie was exactly what I thought she was: a liar. I closed my eyes and inhaled and exhaled slowly, hoping to calm myself before I ground my teeth to nubs. Only, instead of a blank canvas behind my eyes, I saw bruises on smooth skin and soft curves that felt like heaven beneath my hands, and I knew it didn't matter anymore. Whatever mess she was caught up in, I was going to everything in my power to get her out of it.

I could keep telling myself lies. That I was only doing it to keep my family safe, but after this morning, I couldn't fool myself anymore. In just a few days, Millie Gordon had burrowed beneath my skin, twisting me with want and bringing out the fierce protectiveness I'd once thought limited to the Reeds.

Turning my attention back to the video, I watched as the now deceased man walked up behind Millie, put his hand on her, and whispered in her ear. She turned to look at him, her arm twisting unnaturally, and replied to him with enough venom I could feel it through the computer screen. I might have cheered if I wasn't so pissed about what came next.

The man pulled her into the street. Millie fought the entire way, even attempting to use a large red purse to separate them. I flinched when a car nearly hit her. Then she kicked, catching her attacker behind the knee, sending them both to the ground. She landed on her arm, tearing her jacket and likely earning the bruise that ran from her shoulder to her elbow.

"Calm down, Loch," James warned as the bastard on the video rose to his feet and pulled Millie by her hair.

"Don't tell me to calm down. I'm fucking calm." My knuckles were white, and the edges of my nails were tearing into my palms.

Millie put her hands around her hair just below where the man held her hair. It gave her a moment to get her feet under her before she charged at the man, striking him in the chest and sending him directly in the path of an oncoming vehicle. She lost her balance when he let go of her, nearly pitching forward but managing at the last second to fall to her side.

"Enough," I said when James started from the beginning. Bile soured in my throat, and I didn't think I could watch another replay. Scrubbing my hands on my stubbled cheeks, I considered our options for the next steps. "We still don't have an official ID on the man?"

James perched on the small sofa against the office's inner wall, shaking his head as he typed something. "No, the ID the hospital has on file is a fake, but..."

"What?"

The man ignored me, clicking through whatever was on his screen, his eyes widening and his legs bouncing. All signs he was excited about something.

"James." My tone was full of warning. Everyone on the team knew better than to rush him most of the time, but if left unchecked, he would lose himself in the data and forget what he was doing.

"Sorry." He swiveled the laptop around and tapped on the screen. There were four images—all the man who'd attacked Millie. "On a whim, I asked for the guys to pull the footage from the cameras near the shops and restaurants Mrs. Reed and Millie went to throughout the day. He shows up on every single one of them."

"He was following them all day. Motherfucker," I swore, shoving back in my chair and standing so fast it toppled over, hitting the polished hardwood with a crash. "And Troy didn't catch on?"

"He's been let go."

Pity. I would have enjoyed firing the man myself, but this was probably better from a HR standpoint. "I want more men around my apartment building."

"Already on it."

"And Millie isn't to leave that building unescorted. Not a tail. Not someone in another vehicle." None of that would matter soon because the moment I got home, I was going to make it very clear she could either fess up or be stuck with me for the unforeseeable future. She was going to be fucking lucky if I didn't make her sleep in my room.

Images of her in my bed temporarily derailed my thoughts, and only the magnitude of our current situation got me back on track. Still, I was grateful the computer consumed most of James' attention because my black slacks did nothing to hide what just thinking about Millie did to my body.

"Also," I choked out, picking up my chair, "let's get someone on Marcus. If Millie won't talk, we might get something out of him."

"Got it." James picked up his ringing phone, then swung his eyes toward me. "Yeah. Okay. I'll tell him."

"What?"

"Alex and Millie left the apartment about an hour ago."

"What the hell?"

Coming to the office hadn't been part of my plans today. In fact, I'd been two seconds away from storming down the hallway and demanding answers when James called me, saying they had the information I'd requested. I called Alex over to keep Millie out of trouble, not to take her out of the house and directly in the path of danger.

"Why didn't we hear as soon as they left?"

James winced. "Parker and Hugh said Alex has his men with him today. They thought we approved the hand off, but I made the new orders very clear."

"Good," I snapped, opening the app that showed me where Mrs. R and Alex were as long as they were sharing their location with me. Neither would agree to more invasive tracking measures, so I settled for this. For now. Considering recent events, that might change.

My eyes narrowed to slits when I saw where Millie and Alex were currently. Was it already time to deliver the invitation to the bastard? Thank fuck he wouldn't actually come, but I hoped to god, Millie stayed in the car. My father was almost next to the Butcher on the list of people I didn't want her in a room with, and if he got wind, I had any interest in her...

I shook it off. At least they were safe there. My father took more security measures than I did. After sending a quick message to Alex telling him to bring Millie back to my place immediately, I powered off my computer and grabbed a stack of files James brought in at the beginning of our meeting that had been ignored in favor of the video. I would peruse them later in my home office. In fact, I made a note to tell Luis I would be working at home all of next week, and if Millie argued over being stuck in the house with me, I would chain her to the desk.