Page 128 of Ruthless Desires: Vol. Two

“And I’ll be perfectly safe from his wrath, so that’s fine,” she says.

“Okay. So we keep the hard drive.” Rhett turns to Aubrey. “Then we continue on with the reception like nothing happened, and once everyone is gone, we get you out?”

She nods. “I can tell you that Ludo’s normal security doesn’t leave much room for sneaking out of the mansion. He has men patrolling the perimeter of the propertyat all times, and there’s almost never a window of time where a part of the yard is going unwatched.”

“Distraction?” I suggest. “I love a good distraction.”

To my relief, a small smile tugs at the edges of Elliot’s mouth. “That’s for sure.”

As we toss around ideas for a diversion that could work, some of Elliot’s anxiety seems to ease. Wren is still on the floor holding both his hands, which I think is helping to soothe him.

Eventually, we come up with a solid plan. It involves Finn since he doesn’t run in the same circles as us. Ludo’s men won’t recognize him, which is exactly what we need.

Finn will have to disable the airbags in one of his cars and wreck it, but he won’t be going fast enough to hurt himself badly. As long as he agrees—which he will—we’re all set.

Rhett also orders a safe identical to Ludo’s so Wren can practice breaking into it. That seems to ease some of the anxietyshe’strying to hide. As for getting a safe cracker, one of us texts Finn, and he—of course—already has one. The man has his hands in so many cookie jars that it’s beginning to get ridiculous.

By the time we have a plan that everyone is happy with, Elliot is mostly stable. It helps that we’re taking every precaution possible. It’s still nerve-wracking, but we have a couple weeks to help Wren prepare.

Aubrey and Wren start going over the blueprints, so I perch on the arm of Elliot’s chair. When he turns to meet my gaze, he attempts a smile.

“Doing okay?” My fingers skirt over his jaw.

“As okay as can be expected.” Elliot pauses before sighing. “We have to be careful, Ol.”

“Aren’t we always?”

“Extra careful, then.”

Leaning down, I kiss his forehead. “We’ve got this. And if we don’t, we can ask Finn to help us during the reception. You know he would.”

“Without a doubt,” Rhett says. He’s on the couch with his laptop open, but he’s been watching us silently. Now he shuts it and moves closer toward us. “If you want him on standby the night of the wedding, he’d happily do it.”

“I think we can handle it, though,” I say. “We can get Wren ready.”

She must hear me say her name because Wren looks up from where she’s studying the blueprints on the coffee table. “What?”

“Love…” Elliot runs a hand over his face. “You’re sure about this?”

After exchanging a glance with Aubrey, Wren nods. “I’m positive. It’s the option that’s most likely to work, and I think deep down, you know that.”

Grudgingly, he mumbles, “Yeah.”

At least one of us can talk some sense into him.

“We’ll make sure she’s more than prepared,” Aubrey says, “and I’ll do everything I can to learn more about Ludo’s security plans for that area of the house.”

“And I’ll be careful,” Wren adds.“Extracareful.”

“We know, princess.”

I have faith in her, and I know Elliot does, too. I just hope he can find it before his anxiety becomes too much.

Chapter eight

Wren

“Stop looking away.”