Chapter 20 Convict We dressed quickly, and though I found a hairdryer for Mila, her impatience to get downstairs meant we left my room with her fair hair still half damp. In the stairwell, Cassie was coming up as we descended, her boyfriend behind her. She grinned big and paused on the landing, eyeing Mila. "We just heard about the game. Congratulations. Ye know, your boy saved my life. Nearly at the cost of his own." Mila blinked at her. "It's nice to meet you, and that's good to know." If she was impressed, I couldn't tell because we hurried on. I didn't like that she'd gone quiet. I especially didn't like the fact I had no clue who this Kane was to her. So far, everyone around her had been trying to hurt her. If he was some manipulative ex, I'd probably lose it. On the main downstairs corridor between Divide and Divine, the crowd had thinned, and the clubs were closing, though the brothel upstairs never shut. The office door was open ahead, with a woman peeking in the entrance, her jacket covered in embroidered flowers. Not a clubber. If she worked here, I couldn't place her. She pushed her long hair behind her ear and stepped inside. "Are you available for a chat?" Shade replied. "Your old man too scared to see us now?" The stranger exhaled a soft laugh. "Something like that." Her gaze settled on someone further inside, not yet visible to us on our approach to the doorway. "Who's that?" she asked. A darker voice I didn't recognise provided the answer, his accent Scottish. "No one ye want to mess with, flower girl." At my side, Mila wilted in relief. The woman reddened and turned, spotting us and making way. "I'll go find Dixie until you're free, Shade." She left and we entered. Behind the desk, Shade was holding court, Tyler and the unknown male on the right-hand side of the room. He was a big fucker. At least six-five, and with his arms restrained behind him, presumably zip tied. The man Mila had risked everything to save was here, and I was suddenly wondering how good he'd look with a black eye. Mila took a short inhale and skittered over to him, throwing her arms around the restrained man's chest. I watched like a hawk. On the phone, Tyler had asked if he should tell the prisoner who we were and who'd sent us to rescue him. I said no. I wanted to witness the moment he laid eyes on Mila. "Who was that?" Tyler asked with a head tilt to the door. I could've been relieved that someone else asked after the flower woman, as I'd assumed I'd forgotten her, but my focus was all on the fucking hug. "Are you okay?" Mila asked in a whisper to the man. He didn't lean into her. Though there was familiarity, he only appeared annoyed. "Fine. Thought ye were fucking dead." Shade answered Tyler. "Lovelyn, Detective Dickhead's daughter. He's avoiding us after his shite about Convict being dead. Apparently he sent her to do his dirty work tonight." Mila stepped back and looked the prisoner over, tears lining her eyes. "The last I saw of you, Salter had a knife to your throat. I imagined all things. This is all my fault. I should have never asked for your help." "They jumped me. I should've seen it coming but I was distracted. It is not your fault." Mila shook her head and turned to Tyler. "Can you let him go?" The team leader glanced at me, and I took the hint. We didn't know anything about this man. For all I knew, he could've orchestrated the mess Mila was in. I moved to stand in front of him. "Who are you?" He took me in, same as I was doing to him, his focus homing in on the skeleton crew skull on my t-shirt. "Someone more important to Mila than ye, arsehole." I lifted an eyebrow. Already, he'd clocked my interest in Mila and was trying to use it against me. "Let's be clear. We extracted you because my woman asked it of me. Nothing more." He snorted. "Your woman? That true, Mils?" Fucking. Nickname. She lifted her chin. "Don't be a jerk, Kane. Just tell him what he wants to know, then they'll set you free." Kane returned his gaze to me. "I know of the skeleton crew. Never thought my sister would associate with your type, but it's her funeral." Sister. He was her brother? They had nothing in common. The man was dark in all the ways she was fair. His skin tone a deep olive, his brown hair cropped to military short, his eyes grey to her pale green. Though Deadwater was on the border of Scotland and England, families didn't tend to be split in accents, and where she was short and curvy, he had thick muscles and was twice her size. I couldn't have picked them out of a lineup if I tried. Something ticked over in his vision. "She didn't tell you that. No pillow talk on family history, then?" He was so controlled in his manner. His posture, too. He stood tall but with his muscles loose and ready. Did I believe him? For all I knew, 'sister' had been already agreed as a cover. I folded my arms. "You're military?" "Close but no cigar." "Security?" He lowered his gaze, not dignifying that with an answer. "A merc," Tyler supplied. He said it like a dirty word. Kane inclined his head. "For who?" I asked. "Whoever's paying." "What was your role with Mila? Backup only?" Kane didn't answer me. Clearly he had a share-little mentality. Tyler continued. "Let's try this another way. How did a gun-for-hire get nabbed by a flesh merchant like Salter? Embarrassing, no?" Kane exhaled, a small change in his upright stature telling me how little he liked the fact he'd been captured. "Like I said, I was distracted. Mila asked me to come in to extract some girl, and I was annoyed at the change in our plan. It made me sloppy, and I got jumped. They took me out with a Taser of all fucking things." Mila covered her mouth. She'd drifted closer to me, and I had the urge to run my arm around her but resisted for fear of her shrugging me off. She shook her head. "I hate that I got you caught because of me." A muscle in Kane's jaw ticked. "I never said that. It was my mistake." He gestured with his chin to the room. "That why you're with these fuckers?" "Watch your mouth," I snapped. Snake-like, Kane focused on me. "Watch yours, lover boy." I stood taller. His gaze darkened. To Mila, I said, "This guy always this charming or did he save all the dickhead for me?" Mila sighed. "Can I have a minute to talk to my brother alone, please?" Shade and Tyler watched me for their cue. They'd gone to any amount of trouble to get this man back, and though I wasn't convinced he was on Mila's side, I believed her when she named their relationship. Strange how strong that conviction was. "We'll be outside." I gestured for my crew to follow. We held up the walls of the corridor, a restock crew rattling through the open doors to the nightclub. I liked this time of night, when dawn was still a couple of hours off but most good people were tucked up in bed. It made me feel alive. I tipped my head at the office door. "We're recording that conversation, right?" Shade slid a blade from his belt and examined it. "Course. Wouldn't have called him for a brother." Exactly as I'd thought. "Do me a favour and keep hold of him for a while." "Think he's a threat?" "I don't know what he is yet." His blade flashed in the light. "Want me to disappear him?" "Tempting, but let's play nice for now." Tyler briefed me on the extraction, a simple enough smash and grab where they took out a lone guard while another two investigated a distraction. Our distraction, of course. A car blown up on the far side of their industrial building. No one died to save Kane, which was a small tick in his favour. Mila exited the office, her face pale. Shade and Tyler gave us space, and she came to me. "Thank you for ordering his rescue. It scared me how easily he was taken. Which brings me to a conclusion. He and I can't do it alone. I need your help." "Then accept the rules of the game." "You're such a villain." "Says the woman who so badly wants to fuck the villain, she crawled all over him earlier. Don't be mad that you tried to ride the devil and discovered he's no saint." Her pupils dilated, and pink flushed her cheeks. My dick instantly responded, and I pushed off the wall and doubled down on my offer. "I'll find Jacobs for you. I'll force him to say what you need to know. I'll even take out Salter if you want revenge for your kin. For the rest of the thirty days, I'll protect you, possess you, and fucking adore you as I fuck you senseless. Say yes. Put us both out of our misery." Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ Findnøvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. "You won't stop me from walking away once the days are up?" I wanted to say 'Trust me, you won't want to', but I didn't have that confidence. I was doing everything I could to keep the elusive woman I'd become hooked on, but I knew without doubt that she'd burn out on me. I shrugged. "Without hesitation." "Then we have a deal."