Page 61 of Tempt

He ran his heavy thumb over my cheek and kissed me hard. “I’m sorry for all of this. You won’t be able to go home for a few days. Not until we get things straight and figure out who our leak is.”

“I can’t go home?”

“I won’t be at my flat, either.”

Neitherof us could go home? Even with all the security Theo used? This was so much worse than I’d realized.

“What about work?”

“The iON building is still safe,” he said. “We’ll get you to work.”

As much as I wanted to spend the rest of my life on the floor with Theo inside me, we had some very important things to take care of, so I reluctantly let the conversation drop.

I was shoving the last of my things into my bag while I eavesdropped on Theo. He was on the phone with Joe, who was mercifully still alive. “Get back on your feet, then take the Mercedes back to storage. I can’t risk driving it back to Manchester.”

No shit.That thing was like a beacon.

Theo ended the call and stood staring at the floor until I pulled him out of his thoughts. “What happened?”

He shrugged. “Toni drugged them all. Joe woke up five minutes ago on the bench down the street from the café. His neck is sore like he was stuck with a needle.”

This was bad. “I’m guessing Toni didn’t want a mass murder screwing up his plans for you?”

“So it would seem.”

Theo was so lost in thought I almost felt bad interrupting, but I was finally starting to understand what was going on. “He’s fucking with your head. He’s planning on driving you insane.”

Theo nodded. “Toni was born into the life. He knows it very well and he knows exactly how to extract payment.” He ground his thumb into the palm of his other hand and I realized Theo wasn’t just lost in thought—he was already fighting a mental war with Toni. He cleared his throat and looked me straight in the eyes. “You hurt a family man by killing his kid or his wife. You take everything from guys like Dan Christie because the only thing they care about is power and money. You torture the weak because you can. But me? He’s inside my head.”

That was Theo’s advantage and curse. He’d just told me how much he didn’t care about money. His family was more obligation than a deep emotional attachment. I was too new to be worth more than a fun psychological game piece to Toni. But quiet, brilliantly tortured Theo? Turning his mind against him was the perfect weapon.

“You can’t let him get to you.” I felt like he needed to hear that from someone other than himself.

“I don’t plan to. Come on,” he held out his hand. “We need to get out of here.”

We took one of the security team’s rental cars, and the moment we were back on the A66 Theo had his phone out checking in with Martin. Thanks to the speakerphone I got to hear everything, including the frustration and disappointment in Martin’s voice.

“It has to be Robertson,” he said.

“I’m inclined to agree. But we’ll play it slow. Flush out the problems one by one.”

“And what about tonight?” Martin asked. “You need to be somewhere secure until we figure this out. Somewhere no one knows about.”

“I have an idea,” Theo said. “Give me five minutes and I’ll call you back.”

“Sir?”

“Five minutes,” Theo repeated and ended the call. “Call Higgins.” The phone auto-dialed.

My eyebrows rose but really, I wasn’t entirely surprised given their shared history. Not to mention the fact that Higgins seemed like the kind of guy who would have secret safe houses and private armies hidden under his thumb.

“What?” Higgins voice came over the speaker sounding more than a little annoyed.

“I need a favor,” Theo said, his hands tightening on the steering wheel.

There was a pause. “Okay.”

“Allison and I need somewhere to sleep tonight. Somewhere Toni can’t find us.”