She had done it. She was who had led them to Rumor.

  Stalking toward her, I tried to get control of the fury rolling through me. Rumor had been shot at because of me. I’d brought Sedona here, and Rumor was now in danger because of it.

  Storm dropped his gun from her and stepped back, grinning. “You’re gonna wish I had shot you instead,” he drawled just before I got to her.

  She started to back up frantically, shaking her head and pleading with me to believe her. When she hit the wall, I was there. My hand wrapped around her throat.

  “What did you tell them?” I asked her, flexing my fingers that ached to dig in. Make her pay for what she’d done.

  “He asked me to look for her. Showed me a picture,” she rasped as I tightened my hold on her neck.

  “Might want to get all the info before you kill her,” Thatcher called out from across the room.

  “I can’t…” she gasped, trying to breathe.

  I eased my grip just enough so she could talk. Thatcher was right. We needed all the information she could give us.

  “Uh, Rumor, you need to go back upstairs, yeah,” Sebastian said behind me, causing me to swing my head around to see her standing there.

  Fucking hell.

  • thirty-seven •

  “He had managed to reach my soul and wrap it around his finger.”

  Rumor

  I heard Sebastian’s voice, but I was frozen. Unable to look away from King. My chest hurt in ways I’d never experienced. It was hard to breathe. It didn’t matter that we were friends. Because it was more than that to me now. How could it not be? King had been…was…everything to me. He’d been my savior, then my friend, now my lover. How was I not supposed to feel more?

  Seeing him with her. Again. Knowing what he liked to do with her and other women like her tore through me like a knife. The pain was almost unbearable. The truth sank in like a brick in my stomach…I’d let myself fall in love with this man. A man who would never be more than what we were. He would always want women like her. Need them.

  King’s blue eyes were almost black as he stared at me. I’d caught him in a moment of his twisted sexual passion. I could see the way his pupils had almost taken over the color I had come to adore. I was so stupid. Last night, I had let myself believe he wanted me like I did him.

  “Go back to the room, Rumor,” he demanded.

  Really? That was what he was going to say? He had just been inside of me four hours ago, screwing me like he couldn’t get deep enough.

  “Rumor! GO!” he shouted this time.

  I couldn’t breathe. His words were equivalent to a boulder being slammed into my chest. I backed up slowly, not looking to see who else was in the room. I knew Sebastian was there, but I didn’t want to see his face. See the pity there. I was crumbling, and I needed to do it alone. Find a way to pull myself back together.

  Turning, I ran. Back upstairs, just like I had been told to do. I always seemed to find myself in this position. Doing what a man ordered me to do. Falling for a man who hurt me. I should have never gotten in his truck that day. I should have gone back to the house and faced whatever was to come with Hill. The videos would have come out. He’d have been arrested. Or killed. I wouldn’t have to live in hiding.

  But the Mafia…they might have killed me.

  Shoving open the bedroom door, I went inside and slammed it behind me. My breathing coming in erratically. Each intake more difficult than the last. I looked to the closet, where my empty suitcase was stored. My clothes were all hanging inside now. The ones I had come with and the ones that had been given to me. I wouldn’t take those with me. I wasn’t taking anything from here with me. Just what I had come with.

  Wrapping my arms around my middle, I sank down onto the edge of the bed. How was I going to leave him? I didn’t hate him. I wasn’t sure I ever could. I had let myself fall for him. That wasn’t his fault. It was mine. I was broken inside, and he’d come into my world, being everything I had never had. Giving me things I hadn’t known I needed. A family. A place where I was wanted. Someone I could trust. A place to feel safe.

  But what was I to him? Was I only seeing this through my eyes? Had I just seen what I wanted to? Believed what I wanted to?

  The door to the room swung open, and King stalked inside. His eyes leveled on me.

  “That was not what you think.” His voice sounded hoarse, as if he’d been shouting.

  I stared at him. The man who had so quickly and effortlessly become everything to me. Who still was.

  “It doesn’t matter what I think,” I replied.

  His nostrils flared, and he took another step in my direction. “Yeah, it fucking does. Don’t go there in your head, Rumor. I fucked you on that bed just a few hours ago. So, yeah, it does matter. You matter. What you feel matters to me.”

  It was that easy for him. He said those words, and all the heartache eased. The misery I had found myself drowning in stopped. Air filled my lungs without stinging. This was worse than I’d thought. He had control over me and not just physically. He had managed to reach my soul and wrap it around his finger.

  “What you saw,” he said, pointing toward the door, “was me trying not to kill a woman.”

  I stilled. What had he just said?

  “She is the reason they found you here. She’d told them. She was the rat.”

  My mouth went slack. Was he serious?

  “Why?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.

  He shook his head. “Because she’s a fucking bitch. She’ll pay for it. I swear to you, she will.”

  I stood up. “What do you mean? You’ll call the police? If you call them, they’ll take me. Won’t they? I’ll be a suspect in Hill’s murder. They will no longer think I’m dead.”

  I began to tremble. This was all unraveling. I’d put them in the middle of it all. Just like I had feared. What if they were arrested too? Because of me.

  King was in front of me instantly. His hands on my arms gripping me tightly. “No cops. No one will know you’re here and alive. I swore to you I’d keep you safe, and I will.”

  “How? You can’t promise that!” I felt myself growing hysterical. There was no answer to this that ended well. I couldn’t think of a way to fix it. I was tired of thinking about it.

  “We take care of our own. No cops. She will be dealt with here. You will remain safe. I have to leave you and go make some decisions, but I’ll be back. Maeme will bring you some breakfast. Just stay in here. This room. Don’t leave. Don’t go downstairs. Not until I return. Promise me.”

  I stared up at him. His blue eyes were back, and the pleading in them for me to do as he asked trumped everything else I was thinking. Even if staying here wasn’t what I should do, it was what I would do. For him.

  “Okay,” I replied.

  He let out a relieved sigh and pressed a kiss to my lips. It was hard and demanding, but ended much too quickly.

  “I’ll be back,” he whispered before leaving one more brief touch on my mouth.

  Then, he turned and left me standing there. Staring after him. Afraid of the future, but knowing I had someone. Even if that someone wasn’t telling me everything.

  • thirty-eight •

  “I had to calm the fuck down.”

  King

  I recognized his voice before I reached the underground cellar, where Blaise Hughes stood with Stellan, my father, and Thatcher. The prisoner was hanging from the ceiling with his wrists bound in a metal latch. He wasn’t near death, but he was pale, and there was some blood from where Thatcher had lost his temper while getting him to talk.

  Blaise cut his eyes from Stellan to me. Although I was bigger than the boss of the family, he still wielded power that intimidated men much larger than me. Like his main enforcer, for example, Huck Kingston. Huck was the son of Barrett’s second cousin, Creed Kingston, who had died, along with Huck’s mom years ago. The man was huge. Even by my standards.

  “You get her calmed down?” Thatcher asked, sounding amused.

  I ignored him. I wasn’t going to take his bait in front of Blaise. When I said nothing, Blaise narrowed his eyes.

  “Well, did you?”

  Thatcher and his big fucking mouth.

  “Yes, sir, she’s fine. In my room.”

  Blaise continued to study me. “She’s developed feelings for you.”

  You didn’t lie to the boss. Even if it was something you wanted to lie to yourself about.

  “Yes, I believe so.”

  “You’re thorough,” he replied and shifted his attention back to Stellan. “If he has nothing more to tell us, then there is no reason to keep him alive.”

  “I have more to tell you!” the man cried out behind us.

  Blaise turned around to face him. He tilted his head to the side as he studied the prisoner. “Do you know what I do to those who lie to me?”

  “What do you want to know?” The man sounded close to breaking into a fit of tears.

  “Who is involved. Exactly what they are after—and don’t tell me the woman. I want names. Locations.”

  The man let out a panicked laugh. “They’ll kill me.”

  “So will I,” Blaise replied. “I can promise your death by their hands will result in less agony.”

  The man whimpered, but said nothing.

  “I don’t have time to dirty my clothes. My son has a soccer game this evening. Thatcher, make it brutal,” Blaise said, turning back to us. His gaze swung to me. “As for the woman, I think it’s time I take her to Ocala. She’ll be safer there. If we have to shut down the Insantos, then we need everyone focused. She is clearly under your skin.”

  I shook my head. “She needs me. She’s safe here.”

  “KING!” my father shouted.

  I knew speaking back to the boss wasn’t smart, but he couldn’t take her from me. She’d be scared.

  Blaise didn’t seem angry, but that meant nothing. The man could put a bullet in my head and walk away without a single glance or trace of remorse. I waited to see if I had stepped out of line too far. I was no help to Rumor if I was dead.

  “I’ll let her make that decision. It’s her life. If she wants to stay with you, then so be it,” he said, then glanced over at Stellan and my father. “Have her brought to your office without King.”

  “Yes, sir,” my father replied.

  She would choose to stay with me. Unless they told her things. About us. Who we were. She’d ask questions. She would want to know who Blaise was and why we would send her with him. If he told her even a sliver of the truth…she’d know I had lied to her.

  As Blaise walked past me toward the exit, my father and Stellan followed behind him. I didn’t look at either of them. Instead, I stood there as a frantic energy began to pulse through my veins. I had to get control. Find a release. Focus. I had to calm the fuck down.

  • thirty-nine •

  “I had read The Godfather. This was nothing like that.”

  Rumor

  Sebastian waved a hand for me to go inside the room. He had come to get me from the stables and said there was someone that they wanted me to meet with. I asked where King was, but he said he was currently held up elsewhere. All I had been told was, this was about my safety and King wanted me to go.

  I stepped into the room and instantly recognized Stellan and Ronan. This was an office, and since it was Stellan’s house, I assumed it was his. But the man behind the massive, ornate desk was not Ronan. It was a younger man. Closer to King’s age than his father’s. He was also gorgeous. Where King was dark, this man was light. Blond hair, green eyes, with features that seemed to have been handpicked to create the perfect face. I still preferred King’s.

  I scanned the rest of the room and found a man in the far-right corner that caused me to pause mid-step. He was massive. The scowl on his face didn’t help matters. He was downright terrifying. His arms were crossed over his wide chest, and I found myself afraid to move.

  “Huck,” the man behind the desk said, and the scary man eyes swung over to him.

  “It’s okay,” Sebastian said beside me, causing me to jump. I had forgotten he was there. “That’s Storm’s cousin. He’s family.”

  He looked nothing like Storm, but I nodded anyway and tore my eyes from him to look back at the man behind the desk. He was watching me as if he wasn’t sure what to do with me. I wasn’t sure what to make of him either.

  Why was he here, and why did I get the feeling that he was in charge? Who was he?

  “Have a seat, Rumor,” the blond man told me. Although he didn’t sound angry or demanding, there was something about the way he spoke that made me feel as if I had to do what he said. He expected it.

  I took a seat across from the desk in a leather high-back chair. Stellan and Ronan stood on either side of the desk, as if they were awaiting orders themselves. This was all very odd. I was starting to wish I had waited for King to return first. He would explain all this. Sebastian had told me nothing about the strangers in the room. Had they hired security? Was that what this was? If so, then the beast in the corner made me feel very freaking safe.

  No, wait. The beast was a cousin. But maybe the cousin worked for a security team.

  “I’m sure you have questions, and I’m going to give you the answers you need. Along with an option,” the man said.

  I looked at him, relieved to hear he was going to explain things.

  “My name is Blaise Hughes,” he told me. “You’ve been here under the protection of the Shephards and Salazars due to my order.”

  His order?

  “I’ve been told that you’re afraid the Mafia, who broke into your home and shot your husband, will come for you now that they’ve killed Churchill.”

  I nodded once. Hearing him say the Mafia had killed Hill sank in deeper. I hadn’t known for sure how he had been killed. Yet he knew. Had King known the details and not told me? Was that his way of protecting me?

  “That is the first thing we need to clear up. You are not a target for the Mafia. They will not kill you. They don’t want to kill you. The day when they broke into your home, they knew you were there and left you alone. Churchill Millroe was our only target.”

  Our. I stiffened and replayed his words in my head. Had he meant to say our? Had I heard him incorrectly?

  “You’ve been protected by the Southern Mafia,” he said, waving a hand, as if showcasing the room. “Churchill Millroe stole from us. From me. No one steals from me and lives,” he said, then stood up. “When you fled your home that day, King had been outside waiting to see what you would do. From you battered face he realized you’d been abused by your husband. So much so that you didn’t want to help him. Instead you chose to run. Take your chance to escape. I have a wife, Rumor. One I worship. She was mistreated by the only family she had once too. I don’t like men who use their strength to hurt the weak and innocent. Not to mention, if Madeline, my wife, found out I had left a woman in your situation and didn’t help her, she’d put a pistol to my head.” He smirked then, as if that was funny to him.

  There were so many things running through my head at the same time that it was hard to focus on any one thing. And as much as I should be in shock right now, it all made sense. Everything this man was saying made complete sense. The things that didn’t add up, they fit. Except…Maeme. That didn’t fit.

  “Churchill was stealing from several people, it seemed. He wasn’t a smart man. The Insantos gang is a powerful underworld drug trafficking empire. We stay out of each other’s way. Always have. Until now. They believe you can lead them to Churchill and their money. We’ve not shared that we tortured and killed him. As for their money, I am working out something that might end this without a war.”

  Blaise walked around the desk and stood in front of it, crossing his arms over his chest. “You’ve been under the protection of the Georgia branch of the family. I live in Ocala, Florida, and control this branch, as well as the other Southern Mafia branches. I’m the boss. Everyone answers to me. Even King. That being said, I don’t want to take your control from you. That’s been done enough in your life. I’m going to let you decide now that you know who we are and how you got here. You can stay here. Move back into Maeme’s cottage and live there as long as you’d like. She’s taken with you. Claimed you as one of hers. Kudos to that, I might add. She’s a tough one to win over. Or you can go with me. You’ll be out of the line of fire. I can give you a job, help you get settled in your own place once this is done, and you can start a new life. Like I said, the choice is yours.”

  I had read The Godfather. This was nothing like that. This man was young, and he was a boss? I shook my head, trying to make sense of all this. Why was I thinking about a stupid fictional book? This was my life. This was real. I had to focus.

  King had lied to me.

  From the very beginning, he had been lying.

  I pressed a hand to my chest. The gnawing horror that everything with him had been a lie was worse than the deceit.

  I knew he didn’t love me, but I had thought…he felt something. He cared.

  He wasn’t my savior. He never had been. I had been a job to him. Something this beautiful, intimidating blond man had told him to do.

  And Maeme…she was in on this? She had known? But then Blaise had said she had wanted me. She wasn’t acting. Could I stay for her? With King so close? Was what we had over now that I knew? Was he just going to go back to the women he beat and fucked?

  “I’ve given you a lot to digest,” Blaise said. “Sebastian will take you back to the stables, and you can take your time. I need to leave here in an hour—my son has a soccer game this evening. If you haven’t made up your mind by then, the plane can be sent for you at any time. Just let…whoever you want to know that you would like to come to Ocala.”