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He laughed softly and shook his head at some thought I wasn't privy to. I felt the muscles in my jaw tick.

"And I don't know if you think you're fooling anyone here, Rich. But every time she hits you with her new pet phrase, you look like she just leveled you with a haymaker." I watched his face change. The slight eyebrow raise and tightening of his jaw told me I'd hit the nerve I was aiming for.

"I don't… have time to entertain her games. She can play them by herself," he said curtly.

"Sure, big guy. Whatever you gotta tell yourself." It was my turn to laugh.

A knock on the office door interrupted whatever retort Rich was ready to fire back with. Craig strolled into the office with an excited grin as he balanced his laptop in one hand.

"You guys aren't gonna fucking believe this," He said as he moved to Rich's desk and placed his open laptop down.

"Found something?" Rich asked, leaning forward in his chair for a better look.

"Yeah. Lenny fucking Moretti in our safe house, completely unaware that his ass is on camera. I told you guys putting a camera in the fireplace bricks was a good idea. It's the only one those chuckle fucks didn't find."

"Yeah, yeah," I groaned, tilting my head back in my chair. "Just show us already. You can tell us all how awesome you areafterwe sort this shit out."

Craig rolled his eyes and leaned over the desk. His fingers flew across the keys as he pulled up the video from the safe house and adjusted the volume.

"The intel was bad. That fucking horseman lied to me."Lenny paced in the sitting room of the small house.

"What do you wanna do, Boss?"someone off-screen asked.

"Find that little shit that gave up this location and beat another out of him. In the mean time we keep hitting their warehouses. Keep them off-kilter and busy so they can't interrogate McDoyle. Clean this shit up, leave our calling card behind, and then we'll regroup at home and plan to hit their place on Senna in a few days."

Lenny leaned against the fireplace, his mottled face in full view of Craig's hidden camera. Men moved around behind him, but nobody familiar stuck out. It looked like he had a crew of their street guys helping him in his hunt for Colin. I was about to ask Craig why he hadn't cut the recording off since there was nothing left to glean from it when Lenny huffed.

"Fucking Colin is gonna get me killed."He spoke so low that he clearly hadn't intended to be overheard."Little shit had to turn himself into a fucking loose end. Need to bury him before he spills what he shouldn't even know."

Craig cut the feed after that and closed his laptop, looking pleased with himself. I rolled my eyes and opened my mouth to ask him if he wanted a cookie for being good at his job, but I didn't get the chance.

"Well, at least it's not a total bust. We know our guest has something to tell us, and it's high time we find out what," Rich said grimly. "Craig, I want you checking the cameras in places they haven't hit, and organize with Leighton to get their guys what they need on Senna so they're not caught off guard. Az, tell the rest of the guys to finish their shit up before tomorrow night."

I pulled my phone out of my jeans pocket to shoot off a text to Joey and Leighton. "What about the Princess?" I asked as I tapped out the message. "Who's staying back with her while Joey does his thing?"

Rich propped his elbows on the desk, steepling his fingers below his chin. "That depends on if she's interested in coming with us or not."

"Why the hell would she come with us?" I demanded, my brows pulling down in confusion.

"I'm with Az on this one, Rich. I don't think she can stomach what we do." Craig added.

"I promised her she'd have a voice in the decisions we make about her safety from now on. I intend to keep that promise." Rich sighed. "Whatever Colin knows, it has to do with her, so she's the one that gets to make the call about whether she's can handle it. I don't seriously think she'llwantto come watch her new bestie get bloody, but she should have a choice."

"Fine," I replied, standing from my seat. "But when she runs away again because she can't handle who we really are, that's on you, Rich."

"If she runs again, I'll find her again." He replied, his tone clearly dismissing me for the night.

I couldn't help but pray Rich was right, that even with the offer on the table, the Princess would decline. I wasn't ready to admit how twisted up I'd been when she ran. And I damned sure wasn't prepared to admit that I wasn't sure I'd survive if she decided to run again.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

Az

I rubbed the heel of my hand into my eye as I stood at the counter pouring coffee. My sleep schedule had gotten severely fucked up over the last couple of weeks, and being up and dressed this early seemed cruel. I hated moving meetings up.

"Want it on a sandwich, Az?" Craig asked behind me as he pulled plates from the cabinets to plate the eggs and bacon he was frying.

"Nah, I'll just grab something later. I'm too tired to be hungry."