Page 79 of Tangled Lies

“Yes. Wait. No. Goddamn it. Talon needs to go to the hospital.”

She started toward me when one of the assholes behind her seemed to grow a pair.

“Shit,” Jett said as he sprinted around the table a second too late. The guy held a knife to her throat.

“Look. I didn’t steal anything. It was all him. Let me go, and she won’t get hurt. I don’t want any trouble with the Barones.”

The guy didn’t know Jett from Ronan from Mark. He was low enough he probably wasn’t actually a part of Mark’s scheme.

Mark did the reporting, so no matter what, it fell on him. The problem?

“Listen here, what’s your name?” I asked.

He hesitated but answered.

“Ray.”

I nodded, ignoring the sting in my side.

Margaux’s hands fought to keep his arm away from her neck with only moderate success.

“Ray, you might have been innocent a few minutes ago, but now?”

While the guy was busy watching me, Knox had shifted his stance, and before the guy could blink, he had his gun to the guy's temple.

“You touched what was ours.”

And he fired. Margaux winced, and I should have yelled at Knox for killing the guy so close to her because even with the silencer it was going to be too much. We were going to have to talk about safety.

The knife dropped, and then Margaux let go of his arm before his dead weight pulled her with him.

Knox reached for her, wrapping her in his arms and picking her up before anyone could say anything else.

“Shit. Shit. Shit. I swear, it wasn’t much. I swear. I’ll pay you back.”

Mark was just blabbering now.

“Anyone else involved, Mark? It seems silly to take the blame for everyone,” Ronan said.

Knox walked by still holding Margaux and pulled his knife out of Mark's hand. Mark screamed.

Knox stopped by Jett.

“What part of watch her did you not get?”

Jett backed down.

“I swear I was. It wasn’t like you guys didn’t watch her stab him too. It was fucking hot. How was I supposed to know that Ray suddenly ate his confidence pills.”

They both glanced at the other guy while Ronan kept his gun to Mark’s temple.

“Fuck. There’s another guy. I don’t know his name. He just meets me at the lounge at the Pelican. He always wears a purple handkerchief in his suit pocket. Fuck. He’s the mastermind. He approached me. Swear to god. I don’t know who else. That’s it. I can take you to him.”

Every breath I took was becoming a bit more noticeable when the damn knife shifted. Shit. This was ruining my night.

Margaux struggled to get out of Knox’s arms, and he was fighting her every step of the way.

“No. I need to get to Talon. He needs a doctor.”