Lochlan

 Millie's lips parted as fear darkened her brown eyes. I almost felt guilty for speaking so bluntly, but it was a truth she needed to hear. This wasn't a game where the end prize was money. No, if by some miracle Millie was Marianna, then every part of her life was going to change, and not necessarily for the better.

She inhaled deeply and licked her bottom lip before pressing her lips together and swallowing. I hated how I couldn't stop watching her–couldn't stop wanting to touch her as she hobbled out of my reach. Her injuries were minor, little more than nuisances, but knowing she was hurt while under my roof–fuck, knowing she was hurt at all–was enough to stoke the fires of rage that smoldered constantly in the pit of my stomach. It was a constant reminder of failure.

"I'm going to go shower."

If she were any other woman staying in my house, I would make a joke about joining her, and then I would follow through on it because she would accept without hesitation. Instead, I forced myself to scrub the image of a naked and wet Millie from my mind and nodded as if she had told me she needed to do laundry.

"Try to be ready within the hour. We'll be leaving."

Millie froze mid-step and looked at me over her shoulder. I hadn't spent a lot of time in rural areas where deer were prevalent, but I suddenly understood the expression 'looking like a deer caught in the headlights.'

"Leaving. Where are we going?"

"I have work to do, and I don't feel comfortable with you staying here while I'm gone."

Her brows flattened and her shoulders rolled back. "What do you think I'd do if I was left here alone? Rob you blind and disappear."

"Something like that," I admitted.

It wasn't a complete lie. I didn't trust her or her friend Marcus, but they were here for the long game. I kept very little in the house that would fetch a high price if they sold it, and though we'd known each other less than twenty-four hours, Millie was smart enough to know I'd hunt both of them to the ends of the earth to bring them to justice. But that wasn't the entire reason I wanted to bring her to the office with me. I didn't like the idea of being separated from her. Whether she was a con artist or Marianna or a woman who was truly trying to find the truth about her past, she was now in danger by association, and that meant I had to do whatever I could to keep her safe.

"Lochlan–" Good god my name sounded good coming out of her mouth. "I can go to a coffee shop or play the tourist. Anything is better than trailing after you all day with nothing to do."

"You now have less than fifty minutes to be ready to walk out the door."

Her entire body trembled, and she opened her mouth to speak. The skin of my palm tingled with the memory of her lips against it, and I crossed the distance between us before she uttered a sound, more than willing to use last night's tactics again if it meant she would stop arguing with me. God, I hoped she wanted to keep arguing.

"Forty-seven minutes, Millie. Do I need to carry you to the bathroom and put you in the shower?"

"I can manage on my own just fine," she snapped through gritted teeth, ramming her shoulder into mine as she walked around me.

Her steps were careful, but she didn't limp. Satisfied, I raised my eyes and frowned. With the broken picture and glass in her foot, I'd failed to notice she'd slept in last night's clothes. It couldn't have been comfortable... unless she'd slept nude and dressed before coming out of the bedroom.

"Damn it," I muttered, snatching up the broom and dustpan to clean up the glass in the hallway. Women rarely frazzled me like this. I'd spent years honing my control over desire and lust, and in one day, Millie had me acting like a boy going through the first stirrings of puberty.

"Did you say something?" she called out. She poked her head out of her bedroom and watched me cleaning up the mess she made with a strange gleam in her eyes.

"Forty-four minutes, and Millie, if you plan on taking your time just to piss me off, I will drag you out of that room regardless of the state you're in when it's time to leave. I abhor being late."

That gleam vanished, and she disappeared with a squeak. With the glass out of the way, I carried the photo and broken frame into the kitchen. The frame went into the garbage, but I held onto the photo, committing every square inch to memory. It was from the day I graduated high school.

Alex and his parents flanked me, their grins wide and genuine as I held my diploma in front of me. My grin was a bit sheepish. Excessive attention made me uncomfortable, but the Reeds wouldn't allow me to crawl into my shell that day. It didn't matter that it was only high school and graduating had been an expectation, not an option. My father thought so little of the accomplishment that he didn't attend the graduation ceremony, but the Reeds were there, front and center–loud enough between the three of them they could have been a family of ten.

If they blamed me for Marianna's disappearance, they never said or treated me with any less affection afterward. Some whispered it was quite the opposite–suggesting they used me to plug the hole her loss created, but while I couldn't argue they might have pulled me closer, I would never claim to make up for Marianna's absence.

"Hello," I said, answering my cell phone without looking at the caller id.

"Boss, we have a problem."

"James." I shoved my hand through my hair and exhaled. He rarely called me directly. It was going to be a big problem. "Aren't you supposed to be monitoring Harry?"

"I did. The man left town less than an hour after you spoke to him. Got eyes on the airport and train station. He ain't been back."

"Good." Shit. It was a new problem then. "What's going on now?"

"Got word from Kevin down at the docks that a fellow from the West Coast was in town. Guy named Greg Melnyk. But most know him as–"

"The Butcher." Dishes rattled in the cabinets when I slammed my fist on the counter. This wasn't a problem. This was a potential fucking disaster. "He and Volkov had a falling out years ago and last I heard, they hadn't made up."

James hummed in agreement. "Makes you wonder what tempted him over here. Something big to be worth the risk. Something like a billionaire's missing daughter showing up."

"Fuck. You got someone on him?"

"Of course."

"Keep me posted the minute he does anything that might affect us, but otherwise keep your distance. We could be wrong, and he could be here for something else."

I ended the call and set the phone down before I squeezed so hard I broke it. Dragging a deep breath into my lungs, I forced myself to repeat the process until I wasn't seconds away from a panic attack. This was all too much of a coincidence. I'd only recently discovered the Mafia might be involved in Marianna's disappearance, and then Melnyk shows up in New York for the first time in over twenty years. Right after Millie.

The phone rang again. This time it was my alarm signaling it was time to leave, but there was no sign of my guest. Straightening my tie and rolling my neck, I shoved my phone in my pocket and charged down the hallway. I'd warned her of the consequences.

And I was a man of my word.