Page 87 of Beauty and the Daddy

He did it anyway.

I let it slide because I was tired.

Now I'm starting to wonder if he had other plans all along.

I head to the security room, needing to check the cameras, review the breach. As I round the corner, I nearly collide with Declan.

"Jesus, Luca!" He jumps back, hands up. He's dressed in a suit, like he came from a dinner, not bed. "What the hell happened?"

I study him, keeping my face blank. "Attack on the house."

"Is Sofia okay? Belle?"

"They're safe."

His relief looks genuine, but something's off. He's too put together, too calm.

And why is he here at midnight, anyway?

"I was on my way to see you when I heard the gunfire," he explains, reading my suspicion. "Thought I'd swing by to discuss the Colombians."

At midnight. In a suit. Sure.

"Convenient timing," I say, watching his face.

His eyebrow lifts. "You think I had something to do with this?"

"Did you?"

"You're my brother," he says, like that's code for innocent.

I think about the folder. The clinic stills. The council whispers he fed. The way he was parked in the security room the other night, smiling at footage he shouldn't have had. A dozen small coincidences that don't feel like coincidences at all.

"Where's Belle now?" he asks, glancing down the hall.

"Safe," I repeat, giving him nothing.

"Smart move." He steps closer, lowering his voice. "But we need to think strategically here, Luca. Someone's targeting you. The whole family."

"And?"

"And Belle might be the key to drawing them out."

My hand twitches toward my gun, but Declan's acting blind as a bat.

"She's the weakness," he says—reasonable tone, like he's pitching a new restaurant. "The one they'd never expect us to use. Put her somewhere visible, somewhere they can't resist, and when they come for her?—"

"We spring the trap," I finish, flat.

He nods, pleased. "Exactly. Use her."

I look at the face I've known my whole life. The dimple that shows when he performs sincerity. The tiny scar above his brow from when I shoved him too hard off a bike. The eyes colder than I remember.

"Use Belle as bait," I say slowly. "Dangle my fiancée in front of killers."

"For the family." He smiles. "For Sofia."

And that's when I see it.