Page 104

“Dad fed information to those trolls of Olivia’s. He forced them to close down their accounts. Threatened them. I believe he destroyed their equipment.”

No. That’s not right.Iinstructed Luca to take care of Millie and Travis. Why would my father be taking credit for that? And how the fuck does he know about Olivia? My heart rate spikes, and I can feel the slosh of whiskey in my stomach,begging to come back up.

“Why would he do that? That only helped Olivia.”

My brother shrugs. “Maybe he thought it would encourage her to dump you, and your inevitable heartache would lead you back to The Organization.”

I keep my mouth shut. That means my father and brother don’t know about the basement. They must think we’ve just spent the week inside her house.

“Well, he did her a favor. I’ll have to thank him,” I mutter.

Why the fuck would he do that? Surely he can’t think that would work? My father might actually be losing it. Even this is out of his realm.

“He won’t stop. If he thinks that didn’t work, he’ll go bigger. You know this. You did this.”

I understand his insinuation, and it grates like nails on a chalkboard.

“Yes, alright, August. I don’t need a fucking reminder. I know what I’ve done.”

He holds his hands up in surrender before picking up and draining the remainder of his drink. That’s my cue to leave.

“I’ll keep my ear to the ground,” he snides because he just can’t help himself. “Which might be fucking difficult now that I’m fired because you won’t fall into line. You better hope this doesn’t have any bounce back on me.”

Always the big fucking brother, trying to act like he’s doing his bit for the family all the time, when really, he’s just looking out for himself. My jaw aches from my clenched teeth. I fucking hate that I’ve come here to make amends, and now I’m only just hearing about shit to do with my girl. Luca clearly isn’t hearing shit from my father’s team now.

With clenched fists, I rest my knuckles on his desk, tilting into his space, forcing him to lift his chin and look up at me.

“Stay the fuck away from Olivia. If anything happens toher, I’ll burn the whole organization to the ground.” I point my finger right in his face. “You can take that straight to Dad.”

I storm out, grab my jacket from the doorman, and wheelspin out of his embarrassingly ostentatious driveway. It occurs to me that out of the two of them, only my brother has mentioned Olivia. My father wouldn’t be able to resist shoving that in my face. How can I be sure it was Dad and not August who trashed Millie and Travis’s equipment? And what the fuck is going on with Luca? He knows fuck all about anything, and now apparently, my Dad’s the one that got to Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dipshit.

Chapter Twenty-One

Olivia

My heart pumps furiously. My lungs burn in a way that I haven’t felt in a long time. Hurtling my thighs forward, I press on, desperate to make him work for it. The hunt. I can feel him closing in. In the end, his stride is almost double mine, and my capture is inevitable. The thrill of being hunted by him is delicious. I run my tongue along my lips, pressing forward, the thud of his footsteps behind me. I turn to glance around and see his masked face, and giggle. His head tilts just like in a horror movie.

I dart to the left and start to zig-zag toward the camera. His cape flaps in the wind, and as I faux scream, hands flat on my cheeks in a mock surprise, he reaches out one gloved hand, gripping my shoulder.

I dip, duck, bend my knees, and crouch down. My right hand reaches over my shoulder and grips his upper arm as my left arm reaches across my chest to flip him over my shoulder. His body surges over my shoulder as I use his weight against him. Flipping him over onto his back, I press my foot onto his chest as I gaze into the camera with a thumbs-up.

A few seconds pass, and as I try to catch my breath, he grabs my ankle, pulling me on top of him.

“You weren’t supposed to make it so hard to catch you, Killer,” he murmurs, the plastic mask scraping along my jawline.

I tilt the mask slightly, revealing the scruff along his jawand his soft lips reaching up to mine. My lips graze against his, our labored breath mingling together. I pull back just as he reaches up to close the space.

“Olivia . . .” he growls as I smirk.

Before I can respond, he rolls me on my back, one knee between my legs, and he pulls the mask all the way off, flinging it somewhere into the field. He presses his lips into mine with a harshness I can’t quite put my finger on. It’s not desperate, but it’s in need of reassurance.

I reach to cup his face and smile at him. And with that gesture, he softens, dropping smaller pecks across my lips, my chin, my cheeks, my eyes...my whole face, really. Until I’m laughing, and his kisses are all teeth with how far his smile has stretched his lips. He rolls onto his side and pulls my leg over his, keeping our connection.

“What’s next?” he asks as I nuzzle into him.

“Well...that should be a good intro. We’ll need to actually show some self-defense moves. Which means you’ll need to put your mask back on. Unless you want to become influencer famous and really lose all chance of working for your father?”

After Austin's confession last week, we've talked about the changes he's made and the work he's been doing to build a life that is his own. He's also told me about a conversation he had with his father about taking over the business. The answer was a resounding no, of course. But as I watch him talk about it, he looks almost fearful.