Page 54 of His Lair

“Have you ever thought Charlotte was lying to you? About anything?” I mumble into my glass.

“No.” His answer comes quick.

I wish I could be as sure as he is. I thought I was. Iam. Lailani is a good person. She’s not lying to me. Whatever this feeling is, it has nothing to do with her.

“You think Lailani is lying about something?” Louie lifts a questioning brow at me.

“Who said anything about Lailani?”

“You two can deny or hide or whatever the fuck it is you’re doing, but I wasn’t born yesterday. Everyone knows you’re fucking,” he tells me.

“It’s not just sex,” I groan. “And we’re not hiding—or at least, I’m not.”

“She doesn’t want to be seen in public with you? Can’t say I blame her… Have you looked in a mirror lately?” Louie laughs.

“Fuck off. She doesn’t want people to talk about her. While she’s working here,” I explain.

“So, fire her.” He shrugs.

“I’m not firing her. She needs this job.” And she’d hate me if I did that. Trust me, I’ve thought about it.

“What do you think she’s lying about?” Louie asks.

“I have no fucking idea. I saw her walk into Aces, so I called her to ask her where she was, just to see if she’d tell me,” I admit.Not my finest fucking moment.

“And did she?”

“She said she was going to the gym. And then I watched her walk into the gym.” Bringing the glass to my lips, I down the amber contents and push to my feet before walking over to the wet bar. Where I refill my glass and go sit back down. “She hasn’t given me any reason not to trust her.”

“We can’t trust anyone in our position, Sammie.”

“You trust Charlotte.” I point at him.

“That’s different.”

“How?”

“She’s my wife.” He smirks. “She can’t testify against me.”

I laugh. “So I should just marry her. That’s what you’re suggesting?”

“Fucking hell no. You don’t marry someone just so you can trust them. You marry them because you trust them,” Louie says. “Whatever your gut is telling you, believe it. It’s never led you wrong before.”

“You’re right.” I stand again, drink the whiskey—because only a fucking idiot wastes good whiskey—and turn to walk out.

“I’malwaysright,” Louie yells from behind me.

That’s the problem, though. Heisright. My gut is telling me Lailani is hiding something. I just have no fucking idea what it is. When I ran a background check on her, she came up squeaky clean.

What the fuck could she be hiding? Is it just the fact that she doesn’t want to be seen together in public? The fact I can’t call out from the rooftops that she’s mine?

Although, with everything fucking going on right now, that’s not a bad thing. Like I said, the moment anyone gets a whiff of how important she is to me, she becomes a target.

I message the soldier I have following her today.

Me:

Where is she?