I sighed and tossed back the covers, then stood up.

  “Jesus,” Wilder hissed. “Cover up.”

  I glanced back at him over my shoulder. “Why? You’ve seen it all.”

  He ran his hand over his face. “Fuck, Oakley. We have to deal with the real world this morning. I need my head on straight.”

  Knowing I affected him was a balm to my soul.

  “Okay,” I replied but continued strutting naked as I made my way to the bathroom. “Do I have time for a shower?”

  “Yeah.”

  I smiled brightly at him before letting the curtain fall closed. Turning on the shower, I waited for the water to warm before stepping under the spray. I heard the other men come inside. I hurried to finish, and when I opened the shower door, I saw a folded pile of clothing with a pair of my panties and a bra from my house on top. They’d brought me something of mine to wear.

  Happy at the idea I wasn’t going to be drowning in a sweat suit meant for a large man, I got out, dried off, and dressed in my jeans and a lightweight cream sweater that hung off one shoulder. Once my hair was towel-dried enough and I found a toothbrush and toothpaste to clean my teeth, I headed out into the room that was now full of men. All of who I knew.

  My eyes went to Sebastian. I hadn’t seen him in three years. I smiled at my old friend, who had been there for me when I needed it. I was glad to see him.

  “Hey,” I said when a slow smile tugged on his lips.

  “Hey, Oak,” he replied.

  Wilder stepped in front of me then, and all I could see was his back. “Let me talk to her about all this, and then we will meet y’all at the house.”

  “We need to get moving,” Thatcher demanded. “Just tell her now.”

  “He’s gone territorial. They fucked, and he’s messed up over it. Give him a little room,” King added.

  Wilder moved, and I reached out to grab his arm with both my hands.

  “Wilder,” I said as he tried to pull free from me without jerking me too hard.

  He stared back at me, and the fury in his eyes startled me. His head swung back around toward the others.

  “Easy, tiger,” King said, holding up his hands. “I was on your side.”

  “Does anyone care about the issue here, or do I need to let Blaise Hughes walk in here and make sure everyone is on the same fucking page?” Thatcher drawled.

  I stepped beside Wilder. “All right, boys, what is happening?” Then, I looked up at Wilder. “I don’t need protecting.”

  His eyes narrowed, and I turned to look at the others again.

  “See, Oak wants to know,” King said.

  “Maxon Carda has been captured and is being held in our underground in Ocala,” Thatcher said, then looked at me pointedly. “You know him as Hamilton. That’s not his name. And your friend Daphne? Her real name is Lyra Carda. She’s Maxon’s younger sister by thirteen months and five days. Tanner, her boyfriend, is in fact Tanner Angelos.”

  “Carda?” I asked, making sure I had heard him correctly.

  He nodded. “Yes. Carda. As in Carda Global Marketing. Your former employer.”

  “I think I need to sit down,” I whispered and walked over to the sofa. This made no sense to me. Why the alias names? Why get close to me?

  “We need to know when and how you got that job, but first, we have to prepare you for what has to be done,” Thatcher said. “Maxon isn’t talking. We weren’t aware that the people we were dealing with, importing the lethally laced drug, were from a powerhouse like Carda. We assumed it was low-level criminals, the Miltos to be exact. A gang out of Atlanta. There is more to this that we need answers to. That’s where you come in. You are all we have that holds any power over Maxon.”

  I shook my head. “We haven’t been dating that long, and he put a bomb in my car.” How did that give me any power? He had been using me. I just had no idea why? And Daphne… I thought we were friends.

  Thatcher shrugged. “That might be, but you worked for his father for over three years. He has known you longer than you realize. And he’s”—he waved a hand at me—“affected by the package. Like these two were. Are.” Thatcher waved his finger at Sebastian, then Wilder. “We need you to talk to him. Get answers. See what he will tell you.”

  “No,” Wilder snarled, causing me to jump. “She’s not getting near him.”

  Thatcher raised an eyebrow. “Want to tell Blaise that? Because he’s waiting on us to bring her to him.”

  “FUCK!” Wilder roared.

  “Maxon is chained up,” King said to him. “What are you worried about? He can’t hurt her.”

  Wilder ran his fingers through his hair and then fisted his hands. “She shouldn’t have to be mixed up in this!”

  “But she is. And we need goddamn answers. Carda is a big deal, and if we take them on, then Blaise is going to need to call in all the family’s backup,” Thatcher told him. Then, he looked at me. “Are you willing to do this?”

  I nodded. I had to. They were right. I was already a part of this. I just didn’t know why.

  “Why me? Why did they befriend me? I don’t understand,” I said still trying to grasp this all.

  Thatcher shrugged. “Not sure. Perhaps they found the connection to the family by way of Wilder, when you applied for the job. A background check would have been run on you. They would have seen your relation to him. It’s interesting that after you quit working for them Daphne kept the connection, introduced you to Maxon. They were keeping you close.”

  “I’m going in with her.” Wilder’s words sounded like a demand.

  “He knows she’s connected to you. He probably knows about your past with her. They are thorough in their research. If he thinks you’re protecting her or laying a claim on her—like your territorial ass did the moment Sebastian spoke to her—then it’s going to work against us. You can’t go in with her. But Blaise said he’d have his best men there. Nothing is happening to her.”

  “What do I need to do?” I asked before Wilder could say anything more.

  “We have a flight to Ocala, and I’ll run through it all with you,” Thatcher assured me.

  I stood up. “Okay. Then, let’s get this done.”

  “Do we know who the guy”—Wilder paused and glanced at me—“that Maxon is demanding we return is?”

  Thatcher’s expression didn’t change. It remained cold and unaffected. “Tanner Angelos. His sister’s fiancé.”

  I felt the blood drain from my face. Tanner? Funny goofball Tanner? He wasn’t dangerous. And they weren’t engaged. Was that yet another lie?

  Maxon had a different air to him. Something that made me believe it was possible that he could be a bad guy. He was smart. Too smart, too educated, too refined for an underwear model. He tried to hide those things, but they showed up. I hadn’t thought much about it… until now.

  “Tanner Angelos was behind a drug that is similar to crack, but is laced with shit that causes the user to become cannibalistic and at times attempt to eat someone alive. That is, if it doesn’t kill them first. We don’t want it in this region, and it’s showing up in high schools. Kids are getting ahold of this. The Carda family had been working with him on infiltrating this into the states for the past five years,” Thatcher said. “They’re killers. All of them. But we need to know more before we kill the Carda heir.”

  Kill. They were going to kill Hamilton. No … Maxon. And cannibalism? I shivered. That sounded horrible.

  I took a deep breath. “Let’s go.”

  I turned to Wilder then, who was watching me, as if he was considering throwing me over his shoulder and bolting. “I’ll be fine,” I assured him.

  He didn’t say anything. Instead, he stalked out of the cave.

  “He’ll calm down,” King said, then nodded for me to follow.

  Sebastian moved over to walk beside me. “You’re still breaking hearts and taking names, it seems.” His tone was teasing.

  I glanced at him and gave him a pointed look. “That’s not true, and you know it.”

  His eyes went to the door ahead. “Looks like things have changed with him.”

  I felt hope trying to burst free in my chest. Last night had been eye-opening for both of us, and then the sex had been … life-altering. We hadn’t gotten a chance to talk about it though.

  “I think so,” I replied.

  “He’s an idiot. He always has been when it comes to you.”

  I smiled, but it didn’t meet my eyes. He had his reasons, and they weren’t mine to share. But I didn’t blame him. Not now that I knew the truth.

  Thirty

  Oakley

  Thatcher went over everything with me, just like he’d promised, during our flight on a private jet that was owned by Garrett Hughes—Blaise’s father and the former boss of the family. Wilder, on the other hand, remained silent and rigid the entire flight. He stared out the window, and the only movement he made was the clenching of his jaw. I wanted to go reassure him that this was okay and I wasn’t in danger, but I didn’t think it would help.

  Sebastian and King hadn’t come with us. They were staying back home. I’d heard them talking and I now knew that Wells was at the Shephard house with Storm. I had prepared myself to face Wells or attempted to mentally go over how to greet him. It had been years but there was so much bad water under that bridge. Thankfully I never had to face him. He’d made sure of that.

  My main focus was on what I had to do. Wells was the past and the day would come that I had to face him and get over that awkwardness but I had bigger issues right now. We all did. The threat had been laid down, and just because Maxon had been caught, Thatcher said it only meant they had something to hold the Carda back. Not stop them completely.

  During our ride to the Hughes Farm, where I was told we would be going, Wilder sat beside me but continued to remain silent. Thatcher wasn’t much of a talker after he was done giving me the details. I glanced up at Wilder a few times, but he remained tense and detached. Once we drove through the arched entrance of Hughes Farm, my mouth fell open in awe. I’d thought the Shephards were rich, but this … this was insane.

  The stables were three times the size of my dad’s house and as elaborate as the mansion up ahead. The SUV came to a stop, and the driver—who Thatcher had spoken to some on the ride over—opened his door and got out. He had blond hair, tattoos, and looked younger than me. He didn’t fit what I’d expected in this Mafia family thing.

  Thatcher turned back to me. “I’ll go down with you,” he said.

  “Am I allowed in the fucking underground?” Wilder asked in a tight voice. “Or am I supposed to hide from Presley?”

  Thatcher shrugged, as if he didn’t care. “Gage is in Madison still. He was left there on purpose. Until you’re out of sight. As for going underground, it depends on if you can stay out of the room. Carda doesn’t need to know you’re there.”

  “I can,” he clipped out.

  “Then, let’s go,” Thatcher replied. “Boss is waiting.”

  Wilder opened the door and climbed out, and then his eyes finally met mine. He held out his hand for me, and I quickly took it, thankful for any connection with him. I slid over and got down. Wilder’s hand squeezed mine before letting it go.

  I wanted to go back to last night, but we couldn’t do that. We had to keep going, not reliving the same moment over and over. But if we could …

  “This way,” Thatcher told me, and I fell into step behind him.

  We walked to a door that looked like it led into a building. Once inside, the blond man walked over and pressed something, and the wall began to open.

  “You first,” he said with a smirk.

  Thatcher went inside, and I followed. There were stairs leading down. Wilder was close behind me. Having him there made this entrance into hell less terrifying. When they’d said underground, I hadn’t actually pictured walking into tunnels under the ground of a wealthy ranch.

  A man stood at the bottom of the stairs. He was tall with wide shoulders, dark hair cut very short, tattoos, and a scowl on his face that made me pause. He was huge, and I wasn’t sure he wanted us down here.

  “Huck,” Thatcher said as we reached the bottom.

  “Levi’s in there with him,” the man he called Huck said. “Boss is handling an issue we are dealing with here at the moment. We are to start without him.”

  He turned his attention to me and gave me an unimpressed glance before looking back at Wilder.

  “She’s yours then,” Huck said. “Might make it easier with Gage in the future.”

  Although Wilder didn’t clarify anything, I saw a hint of a smile tug on the corner of the giant’s mouth.

  “Wilder, you come with me. Thatcher, third room on the left.”

  Thatcher led the way, and I started to follow when Wilder’s hand wrapped around my wrist. I quickly turned to look at him, but he pulled me in and covered my mouth with his in a hard, possessive kiss. When he let me go, I felt lightheaded and blinked several times, trying to focus.

  “Jesus,” I heard Thatcher grumble.

  Wilder nodded his head at me, and I turned to continue following Thatcher down the tunnel, passing different rooms before we stopped.

  He glanced back at me. “Ready?” he whispered.

  I simply nodded. This was Hamilton. The sweet, nice underwear model. If I told myself that, then I wouldn’t be terrified. I could do this and get it over with. Thinking of him as something more, as someone who had watched me, controlled me, possibly sought me out to hire me in order to use me against Wilder—I couldn’t go there in my head.

  Thatcher opened the door, and I followed him inside. However, my hand flew to my mouth, and I let out a shocked gasp at the sight of Hamilton—I mean, Maxon—tied up by his wrists, his toes barely grazing the ground beneath him.

  His eyes swung to me, and a slow smile slid across his face.

  “Oakley,” he said, as if seeing me had brightened his day.

  “Hamilton,” I replied. Thatcher had told me not to call him Maxon. To let him tell me who he really was. “What is going on?” I asked, careful to say exactly what I’d been coached to say.

  His gaze shifted to Thatcher, then to another person in the room. I turned my head to see who it was. An attractive man with a black cowboy hat on his head and dark brown hair, pulled back in a man bun, peeking out from underneath it. He smiled at Thatcher but ignored me.

  “You know what’s going on. They didn’t bring you down here without filling you in,” Maxon said, bringing my attention back to him.

  “Yes, but I still don’t understand this. I thought … I thought you liked me.”

  His expression softened briefly, but he covered it up almost immediately. “I do like you. Our relationship has nothing to do with the issue.”

  I swallowed hard. “But you put a bomb in my car, Hamilton. You were going to kill me.” I managed to put the emotion in it that Thatcher had requested. I even bit my lip, like it was hard for me to think about.

  He shook his head, his brows drawing together. “No. I didn’t put a bomb in your car. I was protecting you. I asked you not to leave the house, remember? I told you I would come get you. Take you to get groceries. I was on my way to you, but I was three hours out.”

  I wanted to glance at Thatcher to check on how I was doing, but he had made it clear that I wasn’t to look at them. It would give me away. Make it seem as if I trusted them.

  “You didn’t put the bomb in my car, but you knew it was there?”

  He looked torn. As if he was actually upset about this. “There is a lot you don’t know.” He glanced at the other men. “Things they’ve not told you. Or have they?” His focus was back on me.

  I blinked, as if fighting off tears. “They told me about the bomb and then made me call you, but that’s it. The next thing I knew, I woke up in a room they had me locked in, telling me that they had you. I wanted to see you. I didn’t believe you could do this.”

  He glared at the other side of the room, but I didn’t dare look in their direction. I kept my eyes on Maxon. He had to think I was here for him.

  “Why are you chained up? Did you hurt someone?” I asked.

  He looked back at me. “They’re the fucking Mafia. This is what they do. You needed to keep your distance from them, but he didn’t tell you. He lied to you. Kept it from you. He let you keep his kid and never once told you whose house you were staying in. The danger you were in, just being there. It was driving me fucking insane with worry.”

  “Sarah is my niece. She needs me,” I told him.

  He winced as he tried to adjust his hands. “I know, but he will keep her safe. He won’t keep you safe though. He made you drive home, alone, in the middle of the goddamn night. Five hours on the road. If I hadn’t been watching you, then no one would have been there to make sure you made it home safe. He doesn’t appreciate all you do to help him with his kid. The least he could do was keep you safe too. But he didn’t.”

  Not true. He saved me from you.

  He had been watching me? The cold ice that settled over me made me shiver, and I hoped like hell I hid that from him.

  “It’s me you need to trust. Not them,” he urged. “Whatever lies they’ve told you, I swear I would kill anyone who tried to hurt you.”

  But the bomb. You keep forgetting you had a bomb put in my car.

  “I want to believe you,” I told him. “But I don’t understand the bomb or any of it. They used my phone, Hamilton. They traced you and all the other stuff because of your number in my phone. When they made me call you.”

  “You could have never gotten in your car, Oakley. I had the keys taken. I made sure it was locked. That there were no extra keys. I did it to force his hand. They took Tanner.” He shot a furious glare in their direction. “I was trying to save my friend. They kill people. I did what I had to do.”