Page 21

I’d known Olivia had a daughter from reading the file. Just like staring down the barrel of a gun, the idea and the real thing are two very different experiences. Still, I had a job to do, so I sucked it up. “Nice to meet you, Elizabeth.”
She wiggled her legs and tucked her face away.
He rubbed her back. “So, did Olivia give you the rundown? Did you make a plan?”
Olivia cleared her throat, making him glance her way.
“What?” he demanded.
“I think she needed to decide if she trusted me,” I said.
“If you trust him?” he whisper shouted. “Are you serious? I told you Kade’s guys are the best.” He pressed the side of Elizabeth’s face to his chest to block one ear and covered the other with a hand. “I trust them with my life. With my family’s. That includes you guys. What the hell, Olivia?”
“It’s just...” She bit her lip. “This is personal.” She shot me a look. “No offense.”
“None taken.”
Camden rolled his eyes. “Show him the note.”
She seemed offended. “I was going to.”
“Yeah, well...” He moved around us. “We’ll be in the kitchen eating a snack while you tell him what’s up. Then he can figure out what he needs to do to keep you safe.”
Once he was out of sight, she wilted. Just a bit, but I saw it. She was putting up a tough front for her brother and maybe her daughter. I could respect that, but I certainly didn’t need it for what I was there to do.
“A note?” I said. “Is that what you had to show me?”
She nodded and turned toward her bedroom.
I followed but stopped at the threshold and watched as she moved toward her dresser and picked up a slip of paper. Her face was stoic as she returned to me, but her eyes said it all.
Whatever was going on, this held the key, and she was scared out of her mind.
She offered it to me, but I didn’t take it.
“Before I look at that, tell me, who is he?”
She shook her head, then shook the paper at me, valiantly trying to keep a stone mask of bravery.
“You don’t know? Or you won’t say?”
“Justin, please!”
My name coming from her like that took me aback. Especially in the intimate space of her doorway, with her staring up at me with those big, haunted eyes, so clearly full of secrets she’d been holding on to for too long.
“Fine. Later.” I snatched the paper from her, ready to scour it for clues, but it held so much more than that. It held everything.
You can’t hide from me.
SHE IS MINE . . .
I’d known Olivia Creed for a handful of minutes, but even I knew enough to piece together that only one thing in those words could’ve made her this afraid. And it wasn’t a threat against her. She was in protection mode for her little girl.
Had I known, I would’ve taken this job for free.
I met her eyes, fighting everything in me that wanted to demand the answers she was holding back. “I’m not leaving here until this is resolved.” I swallowed against the sudden fire in my gut. “I swear my life on it.”
Nine