Page 14 of Sweet Deception (Irish Kings #4)

Chapter Twelve

I can’t remember the last time anyone fascinated or frustrated me more than this woman does. I don’t know what to do with her.

I rub my free hand over my chin and straighten up. Dust from the warehouse floor covers my boots and Veronika’s sneakers. Napalm sits curled in her lap, pushing his cheek against her hand.

They both seem so damn calm .

Having a gun pointed at her face didn’t encourage her to talk.

Street racing practice got her heart beating, but it didn’t get her mouth moving.

Is she really this unflappable? Is that why someone hired her to spy on us? They chose well, whoever they are.

If she’s not disturbed by death or danger, that really only leaves torture, but…I don’t know if I have the stomach to cut up that beautiful body of hers.

No, getting her to talk must be simpler than that.

Would I really be a top enforcer if maiming was the only method of persuasion I had? Any dumb idiot with a knife can slice meat.

Interrogation requires finesse, which I admit I lack, but not so much that one tight-lipped woman is too much for me.

My ego refuses to believe otherwise.

I move the hand holding the gun, and her gaze follows the barrel.

Every time I demand to know what she wanted with my phone, she stonewalls or deflects. Every time I ask who hired her, she subjects me to that maddeningly composed look, like a bird placidly but deliberately sitting on a trip wire.

“Not afraid of firearms, are we?” I tuck my gun back into the holster against my chest. “That’s a theory worth testing.”

My mind races.

Her inaccessibility should fill me with the urge to shake her until answers fall out. Instead, I find myself impressed.

Her ability to retain such a poised countenance when confronted by my most unnerving behavior is ridiculously irritating, but also…inescapably intriguing.

What is this woman made of?

I’ve taken her apart before. I may have been wrong about who she was, but that doesn’t change the fact that I broke her pretty mask.

Doing it again shouldn’t be an issue.

With Troy Sullivan now in the picture, I know I’ll have no choice but to call Shane and have the family deal with this potential security breach.

Troy’s a dipshit, but if he’s got people as smart, ballsy, and airtight as this woman in his corner, we’ve got bigger problems. Still, the memory of his men taking position around Veronika’s building continues to nag at me.

It just doesn’t quite fit.

If she’s working with Troy and the Red Hill boys, why were they moving in?

That lurker I saw in the road, the one I thought might be her accomplice or the one she reported to… If they really were working together, she should have acknowledged him, offered some kind of recognition. But she walked right by as if he didn’t even exist.

Not so much as a passing glance.

More to the point, the only information I’ve extracted from her in the past two hours is that she thought Troy and those men were with me.

What a strange lie to tell if they really are working together. Pretending she doesn’t know anything is one strategy, but admitting that she thought those men were mine? That reads to me as complete and honest lack of knowledge.

But what’s the truth?

Cursing under my breath, I pull out my phone.

I’ll call Finn first. He’ll know how to keep this contained until we figure out exactly what we’re dealing with. As I think on it, I catch Veronika eyeing the warehouse exit routes. The sight damn near puts a smirk on my face.

She really thinks she could escape on her own.

Am I supposed to find her naivety this adorable?

Swallowing down that horrifying thought, I harden my voice. “Don’t even think about it, princess. I’ve got enough C4 in here to transform this place into a crater.”

“You’d really blow up an entire building just to stop me from getting away from you?” She tilts her head as if I’m the naive one. It’s infuriating. “That seems a little extreme. Even for you.”

I can’t keep from laughing. The irony’s too much.

She doesn’t know me at all .

Removing the remote from my breast pocket, I smile and press my favorite button. The one that detonates a small but impressive show of pyrotechnics on the far side of the warehouse.

A flash of heat. The pop of an explosion piercing the air and temporarily warping our hearing. The foundation shakes around us, the warehouse walls creak, and the cat leaps in her lap.

The force of the contained blast whips our hair and clothes back.

And wipes that knowing look right off her face too.

Then comes that scent I love so much, the smell of the world burning…

Fire crackles on concrete behind me. The heat is palpable from here. I don’t even bother turning around.

My only regret is that Napalm is cowering now, terrified. Guilt cuts through me, blunting the victory of Veronika’s blank, subdued expression. With quivering fingers, she retrieves her cell phone from her pocket and offers it to me in silence.

I take this as her sign of resignation.

She’s giving in to me…and it’s hot to see her submit, even in this miniscule way. Yes. I’m finally back in control.

“Was that so hard?” I pry the phone from her hand and drop it in my pocket. “Now, you get a reprieve.”

She eyes me warily. Which is fair. She should be wary.

I can’t explain why, but her suspicion does something to my dick. Maybe because she’s so unresponsive. Even getting her to act cautious around me is a win. At least I can read her that much.

“I’m taking you to a safe house.” I say the words and come to the decision at the same time.

“But will it be safe for me?”

So, she knows how to ask important questions.

Reaching for her arm and guiding her up and back toward my car, I smirk but don’t reply. The Kings own a secure property not too far from here—a small, out-of-the-way, two-story house upstate. We’re only half an hour away.

The place is perfect.

Middle of nowhere. Stars for miles.

On any other night, the clear atmosphere would pull me to a place like that, where I could gaze up and remind myself there’s order outside my chaotic life. Searching for constellations, spotting other planets… The night sky has always calmed my overworked mind, ever since I was a kid.

Needless to say, I have conflicting emotions about my attraction to the woman who hacked my phone. Veronika Kotova is clearly caught up in some kind of intrigue that involves my mafia family, so I need to keep my guard up, but…

There’s something about her.

For the first time in my life, I’ve found a problem I can’t blast my way through.