Page 11 of Risky Obsession

Luck had a way of trickling into my life though, and last month, I’d been in the right place at the right time to show Aria that I wasn’t the asshole that my long-ago girlfriend, Indiana Smith, had portrayed me as. What I’d done that ended my six-month relationship with Indiana was not something I was proud of. I would regret it forever.

But as Pops always said,you can’t undo the past; you can, however, own up to it and learn from it.

Or, as he would say with a twinkle in his eyes,profit from it.

I jumped into my Mazda MX5 convertible, put down the top, and pulled on a baseball cap. With the music blaring, and the sunshine making me question whether the two-hour drive to Risky Shores with the roof off was a good idea, I drove out of the Rosebud Marina parking lot.

The sun was a beacon, drawing me into a meeting that I hoped would ultimately provide answers to my decade-old mystery—and give me some resolution as to why Pops hadn’t shared the ancient clues with me. I’d thought we had no secrets between us.

Finding those hidden items in the painting had been both exciting and a blow to my heart.

Pops was the only person in my life I trusted.

I’d been on my own for so long, I wouldn’t know what to do if I had to share my time with someone.

The sun was beaming on my shoulders as I turned off the highway and drove onto Oak Street, the main road that divided Risky Shores in half. Salt hung in the ocean breeze that drifted across from the vast blue beyond the beach in the distance.

Following my GPS, I located Wolf Security Headquarters, a large gray building, that dominated a corner of the industrial section of Risky Shores. From what I could tell, there were just as many abandoned buildings as there were occupied ones in this section of town.

As per Aria’s instructions, I drove down the ramp to the underground parking garage and found a visitor’s space. While I waited for the roof to close on my convertible, I removed my sunglasses and checked that I didn’t have anything in my teeth.

At the top of the stairs, I pressed the intercom panel and smiled at the screen.

The door buzzed to let me in. That was a good sign. I’d been trying to get this meeting for so long, I half expected Aria to cancel without reason.

I entered a narrow hallway lined with glass and imagined they were watching me, or maybe x-raying me to check for concealed weapons. I wouldn’t be that stupid. The Wolf Security team had a reputation for taking down some of the biggest and deadliest assholes in Australia. I certainly wouldn’t want to be on their hit list.

The door at the end opened to a man with the broadest shoulders I’d ever seen.

“Kane Devlin,” he said. It wasn’t a question; it was a statement. His deep voice matched his deadly glare.

“Correct.” I offered my hand, but the man grunted and stepped aside.

The hairs on my neck bristled as I entered a large open-plan area with awards on the walls and rows of desks occupied by people who didn’t bother looking my way.

Two glass-walled rooms were on the far side, and Aria, in a navy suit, with a high ponytail, waved me over.

A baby started crying from somewhere out the back. It was so out of place with the seriousness of the office that I wondered if it was designed to throwme off-guard.

Seated in the room with Aria were two men who didn’t look half as imposing as the man striding behind me. I entered the room and unlike the man mountain, Aria offered her hand. “Hello, Kane.”

“Thank you for meeting with me.”

We shook hands, and I made a point of not dominating the grip.

She swept her long hair over her shoulder. “Don’t thank me yet. You met Viper.” She nodded at the giant who had chaperoned me from the front door.

He snarled at me.

“This is Nick and Xander,” she said.

I shook hands with the other two men, and we all sat.

“Wait for me,” a woman called as she raced across the main area carrying a tiny baby bundled in a blue wrap.

“Hi, I’m Maya. You must be Kane.” She grinned at me. “I’d shake your hand, but I don’t know where you’ve been.”

Holy smokes, Maya was much more stunning in person. I’d watched the documentary about how these incredible people had traced a massive haul of stolen Nazi gold bars across the globe many times, so I felt like I knew them. Viper, however, never showed his face in the film, nor did Nick, who I assumed was named Blade in the documentary.