Page 41 of Reckless Princess (Knight's Ridge Empire 8)

“What have you done?”

“There’s a rapist in the alley beside Foxes with a bullet lodged in his skull.”

“What?” Sara hisses from the back seat, sounding utterly horrified.

“What would you have rather I did seconds before he—” I slam the words down, not liking the emotion that floods me when I’m in the middle of something. “Can you send someone to clean up?” I ask, keeping my mask in place.

“You got it, but I swear to God, Tobes, if he turns out to be an OG Wolf, we are in some serious shit.”

“When aren’t we?” I ask, ignoring the way my stomach knots painfully at the statement.“Just get rid of him. No one has seen me, and Jesse’s girl isn’t going to say anything. Are you?” I ask, holding her eyes in the mirror for a beat.

She shakes her head, her eyes wide.

“Just sort it, yeah?”

“You got it. Jodie okay?” he asks, and I can’t help the small smile that twitches at my lips. Theo might be a cold, ruthless bastard, but since falling for Emmie, his soft side is showing more and more. Something I’m sure he’d hate for anyone to see outside of our little group.

“She will be. I’m taking her home now.”

“Call if you need anything.”

“Sure thing. Thanks, man.”

“Anytime.” He cuts the call before I have a chance to, and I look back at Sara once more. She’s curled up in a ball, trembling in my back seat. “You okay?”

“Y-yeah.”

“Right,” I chuckle, not believing a word of it as I find my next contact.

“Hello?” a deep voice rumbles through my speakers.

“Jesse,” Sara cries.

“Sara? What’s going on? Whose phone is this?”

“Toby’s. I’m in his car with Jodie. S-she was attacked outside the club.”

“Fuck. Is she okay?”

“Can you get home?” I bark, cutting them off mid-conversation. “I’m taking Sara back there now. She needs you.”

“Y-yeah,” he says, the sound of movement rustling down the line. “I’m leaving the Den now. Who was the guy?”

“Don’t know. He’s dead.”

“Do we need—”

“We clean up our own problems.”

“All right, shit. I was just asking. I’ll be ten minutes.”

Sara blows out a shaky breath as I turn down their street and pull up beside the betting shop they live above.

“You’re not taking her back to your place,” she suddenly says, the venom in her tone taking me by surprise. “That’s the last place she’s going to want to be after something like this.”

“I’m aware. I’m not a fucking idiot,” I mutter, annoyed but understanding why she has so little faith in me.

“Just bring her inside.”