Page 37

L ily sat curled up on the sofa in the den of her family’s mansion sipping a creamy espresso.

It was all she could do to not message Max. He said he would be back, but he didn’t say not to call him. She warred with herself.

She didn’t even have her phone and had to borrow her grandfather’s older model flip phone. She hadn’t even known they made those things still. Probably not, so getting it repaired if it broke would be a bitch but then again, her grandfather could afford the price.

She huffed and made a mental note to get him a new cell phone for Christmas.

Roger had returned a few moments ago and had retired to his room to sleep.

Lily couldn’t even contemplate sleeping right now. Not until she knew Max was safe. She tried to remember Sara’s phone number, but couldn’t. And she had no idea of Max’s personal number because when he had given it to her earlier, she hadn’t memorized it.

Of course, she could call Deckman Defense and Security and have one of the staff call him, but wasn’t that a bit much?

She sighed and resigned herself to wait. Placing her grandfather’s phone aside, she cradled her mug and put her feet up on the low glass table in front of the sofa before leaning back against the cushions.

She couldn’t believe that someone at Sara’s had fought with Levi in the hallway. Had someone broken in? Why hadn’t Leo attacked like he had Blake that day?

All she had was questions until Max called her or arrived back here.

The front doorbell buzzed and her heart leaped in her chest. She sat her mug down and flew off the sofa, running to the door. Her hand slapped the button that would bring up the entrance monitor.

It wasn’t Max and her heart dropped.

“Lily? It’s Chris,” the man said through the door. “Sara is on her way from the car.”

Sara had been here numerous times and would have been buzzed in immediately by the guard. That was the only way Chris could have made it through the gates and to the front door.

Lily yanked open the door. “Oh, thank God,” she said, pulling Chris into the house.

Back at Sara’s place, Levi stalked into the kitchen where he found all the cell phones dumped on the table—except for his own. That fucker had taken his phone.

“Fucking hell,” he muttered and grabbed a random cell phone to text Max.

“Red dog, it’s Crash, give me your location.”

Max’s call was immediate when Levi used their military code names.

“You good?” Max asked.

“Yup.” Levi held the phone to his ear with a tight grip.

“What did you tell the cops?”

“I gave them a fake ID,” Levi said, speaking so that nobody would overhear him.

“What happened to Ryan?”

Levi grimaced. “He was listening at your room door. Just being a stupid horny fuck.”

Earlier, Ryan had sobbed and kept apologizing to Levi and everyone who would listen.

“I didn’t mean to listen at the door,” Ryan had cried.

“Why did you?” Levi growled.

“I’m an idiot.” The younger man flushed and it dawned on Levi that Ryan had been listening to get a hard-on or his rocks off. Who the fuck knows?

“You have a death wish going for my gun like that.”

“I just didn’t want it pointed in my face,” Ryan admitted, looking away.

“You’re a fucking tool,” Levi told the guy. He almost felt sorry for Ryan but that feeling was mixed with the pain of having a fucking pencil shoved into him.

“You can’t talk?” Max asked, bringing Levi’s attention back to Sara’s brightly lit kitchen.

“Not at the moment.” Levi glanced around. There were too many ears nearby.

“Okay, Will and I are on the way to Lily’s grandfather’s mansion. Meet us there.”

“I’ll be there,” Levi said and hung up.

He deleted their call history and all messages before he tossed the phone on the table. Turning around, he found Sara Jones blocking his path.

“Get out of the way,” Levi snarled, but the curvy brunette stood firm.

It was laughable that Sara thought she could stop him from leaving, but she was putting up a good fight—he’d give her that.

“You got hit in the head with a gun,” the woman said, locking both hands onto his forearm as if that would keep him from walking out the front door.

And he wondered briefly how freaked out she would be if she saw the crudely stitched-up wound in his side. It had been from a freaking pencil. It had taken him eighteen minutes to get the hole stitched up and wrapped. Being wounded wasn’t new to him, first time with a pencil though, and his body was riddled with scars from his jobs and the military.

The slight pain wouldn’t stop him from tracking down Chris. And he was going to pay the fucker back for hitting him in the back of the head. The knot there wasn’t too big, but he might have a slight concussion.

Oh well, that wouldn’t stop him either.

The light from the cop cars outside sent blue and red flickering over the dark-haired beauty before him. He gazed down into her upturned face and noticed that the paleness of her skin, as a result of shock, still shone through.

“Look, I have to go after Chris and stop him before he hurts Lily. And nothing you say or do can stop me,” he told her, removing one of her latched hands from his arm.

“He has your gun!” Sara said, her voice rising, and Levi clamped a hand over her mouth to muffle her words. The last thing he needed was for the cops to overhear her.

“Keep your voice down,” he snarled down into her face. “If you’re trying to protect him, you can fucking forget about it.”

She jerked back and slapped him in the face.

Levi gripped both of her wrists and slammed her back into the wall, pulling her arms up over her head. Her body bowed and her pert tits pressed into his chest.

A gasp escaped her lush lips and her sea-green eyes stared up at him with fear.

Good.

She should be afraid of him.

“Now stay the hell out of my way,” Levi growled and stepped away from her, releasing her hands.

Without another word or even a glance at her, Levi walked out the open front door.

“Bastard!” Sara snarled at the man’s big broad back, trying to glare a hole in his spine. If she had a gun, she might have shot him. As it was, her palm still tingled from slapping him.

Good! She had put some force into the hit because he deserved it.

“You’re a fucking asshole,” she shouted after Levi and then slammed the front door.

“Ma’am?” One of the officers came down the hallway. “This is a crime scene, so we need the door open.”

“No, you don’t!” Sara snapped. “I’m not heating Seattle, so shut the damned door when you come inside!”

The cop, just trying to do his job, stared at her as if she had three heads. Sara threw up her hands and marched around him and to the kitchen. Shoving a coffee pod into the espresso machine, she stared at the foamy liquid in the cup before her knees gave out.

Sinking to the floor with her back to the cupboard, she wrapped her arms around her legs and pulled her knees to her chest.

Chris was Lily’s stalker.

The guy she’d been fucking for several months was a damned creep.

She dashed at her wet cheeks with a shaky hand.

Things came back to her now, of how random meeting Chris had been. Of how at first, he’d been there every time she’d turned around. She had chalked it up to fate and agreed to date him.

He wasn’t overly affectionate, and she’d often wondered why he even bothered coming around.

Now she knew.

And she wondered how in the hell her friend could ever forgive her.

Levi stared at the house for a moment after Sara slammed the front door with a loud crack.

He’d been an ass to the beautiful bombshell, but he had his reasons. Sara was far too good to even come near him and it was way better for both of them that she kept her distance.

His life was set with his own self-imposed rules. His skills were unparalleled—skills that centered around an expertise in areas that normal people would be appalled by.

“Yeah right, some fucking skills,” Levi muttered and started his SUV.

If he had used all of his skills, Chris would not have gotten the drop on him.

But then he reminded himself that even killers had bad days. He sighed and shoved away the fact that…he committed acts that others could not. And in this fucked up world, it was necessary to have people like him.

Right?

“Fuck it.” Levi drove off down the street and shoved away thoughts of his job and of the stunning brunette. He had neither the time nor inclination to include her.

His life was fine just the way it was.

And Sara was better off staying the fuck away from him.

Besides…he broke pretty things.