Remy watched her walk away and felt something inside him break.

What the fuck had happened? One minute everything had been fine and the next she’d been telling him… Fuck, she’d said she loved him and wanted to go home with him.

He’d frozen. The idea of Lisa, sweet, beautiful, highly educated Lisa, in his backwater hometown had poleaxed him. She needed a man who could give her a big house and a reliable car. He would put everything he made into his business for years, potentially for the rest of his life. His mom-mom hadn’t had a cushy life with fancy clothes. She’d worked every day of her life. He could still remember how her hands had been rough from labor, how some of his New Orleans relatives had looked at her with distaste and offered to get her a manicure.

Had she been unhappy? He couldn’t remember a time when she wasn’t smiling except the day his pop-pop had died. Then she’d wailed her mourning to the world. She’d been unashamed. She’d told him later that she hadn’t hidden her love for her husband. She wouldn’t hide her grief, and yet six months later she would talk to him like he was standing there with her.

A sudden memory hit him as clean and clear as the day it had happened. He’d stood in the room where his mom-mom had been lying in her bed, dying of cancer. He’d held her hand as the hospice nurse had given her pain medications and the light overhead had flickered and flared.

And he’d known. She passed an hour later, his hand in hers, but Remy had felt something infinitely warm cross through him and he’d known what it was. His pop-pop had come to take her home one last time.

What if he could offer Lisa that? What if all this shit about giving her a cushy life meant nothing if what he could give her was a life where he loved her with everything he had? Until the end and beyond. A life where he promised to come for her. To take her home. Forever.

Was he capable of that?

He didn’t know and he hated feeling this…stupid. He didn’t know what he wanted. He wanted to be different. He wanted the fucking world to be different. She’d worked hard to drag herself out of poverty. How could he drag her back into it?

How could he take her home with him where he was responsible for everyone? Seraphina would need someone to watch over her. Zep…god, he didn’t like to think about Zep. Zep needed round-the-clock watching. Hell, it wasn’t like his momma was a saint. She could get into some kooky situations. Lisa was used to her siblings being high-powered and helpful. Being the head of his family wasn’t an easy task, and then there was the fact that he knew damn well the minute he walked back into town, they would want him to take charge.

What could he do with a woman like Lisa by his side?

He shoved the thought away because he wasn’t taking her home with him. She would take one look at the wharf and run the other way.

He sucked down the last of his beer. What a fucking day. He’d spent the whole of it signing paperwork for his closing tomorrow. So much debt. So much hanging over his head and she wouldn’t even acknowledge she was in trouble. She sat there like it was no big deal.

What the hell was he going to do? The minute he signed the papers, Jean-Claude would hand over the keys and there would be no boss at the wharf. But he couldn’t leave Dallas until he was certain Lisa was safe.

He pulled his phone out and made a few quick notes. The only way out of this problem was to solve the case himself. Something was wrong with Vallon and the way the prosecutor’s office had handled his trial. He needed to talk to the cop who’d broken chain of custody and try to find out what happened that night. He could get the internal report from one of his buddies on DPD. That was where he needed to start.

And Vallon himself. He’d spent the last couple of days going over the thorough dossier Hutch had put together on Jimmy Vallon, including a lot of the reporting around the trial. One of the things that he’d been surprised by had been Vallon’s complete and utter calm. Even the arresting cops had talked about how cool the man had been. It ran counter to how he was in his normal life. He was known for being a bit paranoid, accusing close associates of coming after him.

And yet he’d been perfectly quiet those months he’d been held without bail. His only words when the case had been thrown out had been to thank the judge for his wisdom.

Not the normal words of a mobster, but he couldn’t exactly take Vallon’s attitude to the cops.

His cell trilled and he immediately picked it up because it was Simon Weston. “This is Guidry.”

“Hello, Remy. I’ve been monitoring the city-wide search for our Italian friend. He’s excellent at keeping his head down, but I believe CCTV caught him at a red light two blocks away from Top exactly forty-five minutes ago. I’m going to pull everything I have around the restaurant, but the city is upgrading the streetlights around downtown and we’ve had some problems with connectivity as they bring the new system online.”

Remy looked around. The dining room was perfectly quiet. “Tiffany? Did the last customer leave?”

She’d mentioned she had one customer left. He hadn’t paid much attention because his whole focus had been on the fight with Lisa.

Tiffany glanced down and reached toward the table. “He left me a hundred-dollar bill. Damn, he’s a good tipper. I thought he’d gone to the bathroom, but I guess he was done. I knew it was my lucky night when I heard that accent. Now I can spend way too much on a bottle of Riesling Sebastian wants for his birthday.”

Remy stopped. “Accent?”

Tiffany nodded. “Oh, yeah. Italian. I could listen to him all night. Don’t tell Sebastian though. He gets jelly.”

Remy wasn’t sure why the sommelier would want to do that, but he didn’t care. “Tiffany, get into the kitchen.”

Her eyes widened and he could see she was about to question him. He didn’t have time for that.

“Now!” he shouted. “Tell the chefs to put the place in lockdown, and I’m going to need them to clear every single room.”

Tiffany nodded and took off for the kitchen.

“Si, he’s here and I have to expect that he’s after Lisa. I need backup and I need you to get those cameras online in case he’s taken her.” That wasn’t the likeliest scenario. The likeliest scenario was that the assassin would find Lisa and quietly put her down. Remy was probably looking for a body.

Her body. The one that had given him pleasure and comfort, her arms holding him close. The one that housed her soul and kept her here on earth with him.

“I’m on it,” the Englishman assured him. “And Jesse and Michael and I are on the way. Chelsea is taking over the tech side. Hang on. I’m getting in the car now. Our ETA is seven minutes.”

“Understood.” He shoved the phone in his pocket. Seven minutes would be far too long if Biondo was as good as he was supposed to be. Remy exchanged the phone for his gun, pulling the Colt out and starting for the back of the building.

“Where do you want us?” Javier Leones showed up with Macon and Sebastian and Javi’s new wife, Juliana. All four of the ex-soldiers had guns in hand and looked ready to deal with the situation. “Tiffany and Ally are in cold storage with Calvin watching over them. He’s solid. He’ll secure the kitchen and take care of the women.”

The women who weren’t ex-soldiers.

“Jules, secure the front of house,” Remy ordered. “I need Sebastian to clear the bathrooms. I’m going out back. I haven’t seen Linc and I believe our friend was after Lisa Daley. Consider this man armed and highly dangerous. He’s a known assassin.”

“This is the best job ever.” Jules winked her husband’s way. “Stay safe, babe.”

Javi took Remy’s six. “If he wants to get her out quietly and he’s cased the place, he’ll take her out the office side. There’s a small parking lot. If it’s not full, we don’t complain about who parks there.”

There was a terrible knot in Remy’s gut, but he had to ignore it. God, if his last words to her had been to reject her love…he had no idea how he would live with himself. That couldn’t be the last thing he said to her. He needed to see her, hold her.

Macon nodded quietly and moved down the hall to start clearing the offices. He stopped at the first door. “We’re going to need a bus. Shit. Linc’s down. He’s breathing but he’s not conscious.”

That was when he heard the scream.

It was a sound that went straight to his soul. Lisa. Lisa was screaming.

He heard Javier say something, but the words didn’t register. He was running down the hallway, the only thought in his head to get to her, to save her. She was screaming for him to save her and he couldn’t let her down.

His heart pounded in his chest as he slammed through the door.

Where was she?

The world seemed to slow as he stopped and took in the area around him.

She screamed again and then there was the sound of something slamming shut.

Remy pivoted and ran to his left. That was when he found himself standing right in front of a tall man with icy blond hair. He wore a suit and trench coat and pointed a slender pistol Remy’s way.

“Well, that didn’t go the way I thought it would,” the man said in a heavy Italian accent.

Lisa was in the trunk. The nondescript sedan shook with the force of how hard she was fighting. She was still screaming.

And then she went suddenly silent.

“The police are on their way,” Javier said, standing beside him.

“Then it’s time for me to take my leave,” Biondo said. “You should get her out of the trunk as soon as possible. I released a gas that will smother her lungs in four minutes. You can follow me or save your girl.”

Biondo took off running.

Remy didn’t even think twice. They were in the middle of the city and despite the late hour, there were still people milling around downtown. And besides, all that mattered was Lisa. She was suffocating in the trunk. She’d gone quiet. Was it already too late?

He felt Javier starting to chase Biondo, but all Remy cared about was that car.

Pure panic flooded his system. He didn’t have the keys. She was dying right fucking now and he didn’t have the keys.

He wouldn’t get the trunk open. He had to see if he could get in the car.

Miraculously, the doors were open. With shaking hands he found the trunk release and it popped up.

He raced around to the back and there she was, blood all over her face. Without thought to the gas, he leaned over and pulled her out.

He held her close as the sirens could be heard and prayed they would make it in time.

 

* * * *

 

“Biondo lied,” Will said three hours later, closing the folder in his hand. “I got the tox reports back. There was nothing in her system. There was no trace of gas at all. She’s got a minor concussion that I’ll monitor overnight, but otherwise she’s fine.”

He was still shaking. All this time later and he couldn’t stop his hands from shaking. Even after the ER nurse had come out and promised him she was awake and fine and being given all the best care, he could see her lying there still and pale, the blood on her skin a pure shock to his system.

“Remy, she’s okay,” Will said, putting a hand on his shoulder. “She’ll spend the night here and I’ll stay with her. She can go home sometime tomorrow. All in all, I’m calling this a win considering the fact that she tangled with a known assassin. Big Tag sent me the file they have on him. He’s the real deal.”

Will hadn’t been working, but he’d been at the hospital roughly ten minutes after the ambulance had brought Lisa in. Apparently when a man is the head of neurosurgery and his sister gets taken into the ER with a head injury, someone calls and fast. He’d shown up with Bridget and their son in tow because Bridget wasn’t about to be left behind. Lila, Laurel, and Mitch had been hot on their heels.

The waiting room was filled with Lisa’s family and friends, and the whole staff from Top there for both her and Linc. All those people who loved her and he was going to disappoint them all because that girl was his and she was coming home with him.

“Did he hit her with something? Like he took out Linc?” The night had been such a crazy one. He’d had to talk to cops and give Big Tag a rundown on what had happened. The problem was he wasn’t sure what had happened.

Why had Biondo tried to take her? Why hadn’t he killed her then and there? It would have been easy to put a bullet in her brain, but he’d tried to kidnap her. Hell, the infamous assassin hadn’t even taken out Linc. He’d hit the man over the head, but Linc had only a minor concussion. He was already sitting up in his hospital bed, eating popsicles and flirting outrageously with all the nurses.

“I don’t think Biondo hurt her physically at all. I believe she hit her head while she was inside the trunk,” Will explained. “I talked to her after we did her CT. She said Biondo told her he wanted to talk to her. She said he didn’t say a thing about gas or killing her. She said he wanted to talk and then they could go on with their lives.”

“Assassins lie,” Remy said. It didn’t make any sense. What could he want to talk about?

“Don’t assassins tend to assassinate?” Will asked, altogether too reasonably.

Remy sighed and leaned against the wall. “Yes. I don’t know what happened tonight, but I’m going to find out. Big Tag is already looking into it. Will, I’m sorry. I thought we were safe at Top.”

“It sounds a lot like you were,” Will replied. “It sounds like if you hadn’t been there and you hadn’t moved as quickly as you did, he would have gotten away with her.”

“Damn it, Will. Why the fuck are you being reasonable? I nearly lost her. You should be punching me, fucking firing me.” He would feel better if the man did. There was a restless anger in his gut that wouldn’t go away.

“Remy, you did exactly what I asked you to do. Hell, you did more. You got her a job to distract her from her trouble. A job in a safe place, and then you watched over her. You saved her when the time came. It was always going to come. It’s why we were willing to pay you so damn much. And beyond that, you care deeply about my sister. I can tell. This isn’t merely a job for you. The EMTs talked to me.”

Likely about how they’d found him crying over her body, how he’d begged them to save her. How he’d behaved like a lost child when they’d lifted her from his arms and how he wouldn’t leave her until they’d taken her back for tests.

And then she’d woken up and asked that he not be allowed into her room to see her.

He’d been shut out until Will had come to find him.

“Remy, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that this is truly serious for you. I thought you decided it was the easiest way to deal with her. I didn’t know you’re in love with her. That changes a lot. And I’m calm because she’s healthy and I do believe she’s now taking this seriously. I’m trying to find a silver lining. She can’t pretend nothing is wrong. Now we can sit down with her and try to deal with this. I’m not mad. I’m incredibly relieved that you were there. Now tell me why she won’t see you.”

He groaned. “We had a fight. She told me she wanted to come to Louisiana with me. I told her I wouldn’t allow that to happen.”

Will winced. “Well, that would do it.”

He put both hands up. “It was stupid. I reacted in the moment.”

“Why?” Will asked. “It’s easy to see you care about her. Why are you insistent on ending the affair?”

“I’m not anymore,” Remy assured him. “I was scared. I’m going home to save my family business. It’s a piece of crap bar for the most part, but we own the wharf most of the town’s shrimping and tourist industry depends on. It’s hard work. It’s get up at the crack of dawn and pass out at midnight because you can’t keep your eyes open a second longer. She worked hard to get through school. She should be in an office, not working from dawn to midnight serving drinks and selling bait and making sure the rental boats work.”

“I think Lisa was bored in the office and that a business like that could do amazingly well with a smart woman running the financial side. She’s not afraid of hard work.”

“And then there’s my family. We’re fucked up. My sister recently had a baby out of wedlock. I don’t even know who the father is. My brother. My brother started drinking young, and he’s well acquainted with the inside of a jail cell. My momma. I don’t even know how to explain my momma.”

“My mother was a hardcore drug user,” Will replied quietly. “She left us alone for long periods of time because her favorite vacation spot was the state penitentiary. There are four of us and I’m fairly certain we all have different fathers. You look at us and see something that’s not there. Every family struggles. No matter how shiny the image is, there is tarnish beneath. How we deal with those trials and tribulations—that’s what makes us rise or fall as a family. If you love her, share your burdens with her. That’s what I’ve learned, what my Bridget taught me. I wanted to keep her but I was too scared she wouldn’t want me if she saw the real me. Silly, really. She’d always seen past my walls and then I realized I didn’t need them with her. Do you honestly believe you can drive away from Lisa?”

“No.” He wasn’t lying to himself or anyone else anymore. “Absolutely not. I can’t leave without her by my side. Seeing her like that, well, I can’t leave her again. But she heard me rejecting her and now she won’t talk to me. God. I can still hear her screaming. She was so afraid. Do you think she blames me for letting it happen?”

Will’s jaw went tight and he was silent for a moment. “I’m going to tell you a story that I wouldn’t normally share with anyone outside my family, but you need to understand. I meant what I said. I do not believe Biondo physically hurt Lisa at all tonight. He scared her, but he didn’t harm her bodily. Lisa’s injuries tonight were self-inflicted.”

“What?”

“Lisa has problems with claustrophobia, specifically when dealing with being locked in with no way out and darkness. She can handle a tight elevator. She can be in a small room as long as she knows she can get out.”

“What the hell happened to her?” That scream. It had been beyond calling out for someone to save her. That scream had been from her soul, a desperate, hollow cry.

“I explained about our mom. There was a distant relation who lived in the same trailer park we did. A cousin of our mom’s. She would sign the paperwork, agree to be our guardian on paper for the powers that be. She had no intention of actually taking care of us, but the girls and I would help out around her place and she would give us a little money and let us be during those times when Mom was in prison.”

Remy couldn’t imagine Lisa growing up in those weeds. She was such a gorgeous, well cared for flower. “None of your dads cared enough to take you all in?”

“Lisa’s dad was the only one Mom ever acknowledged,” Will replied. “He was a pastor. Not the regular kind. Not the kind who took care of his flock and fostered a family there. It’s funny because I avoided church for years because of that man. Another thing Bridget helped me with. But Father Frank, as he called himself, was the guy who went to college campuses and told coeds they’re going to hell.”

He knew the type. They were nothing like the kindly pastors and priests from his home. “He came for Lisa?”

“I was an adult at the time, but I didn’t have legal custody of my sisters. That would have required far more cash than we had. I still don’t know how he found out where we lived, but he showed up with a social worker who decided Lisa needed her father. Naturally Mom had just started a six-month stint for possession. I remember how powerless I felt. I couldn’t admit that I was the one taking care of them and Cousin Marie simply signed the papers and let her go. Lisa had never even spent the night away from home.”

“What happened to her and is her father still alive?” Because Remy got the feeling he was going to want to kill the man.

“From what I understand it wasn’t bad at first. Frank had married and the woman seemed fine, but they refused to allow Lisa to contact us. We were poor influences, according to her father.” Every word out of Will’s mouth was measured, as though he was forcing them out, forcing the tone he used to be calm. “Luckily we were in the same school district. She and Laurel were in the same school, so we at least had that. But then one day, Lisa stopped coming to school.”

“He kept her at home because he was abusing her?”

“Not in the way you think,” Will replied. “According to Lisa, he never hit her or touched her inappropriately, but his punishments could only be considered cruel. When she wasn’t respectful enough, he took away things. Not things like her cell phone. He took away the light bulbs in her bedroom and her toothbrush, and shut off the water to her bathroom. He refused to wash her clothes. He locked away the soap and shampoo in the house and she was told that if she wanted them back, wanted him to provide for her as a father should, then she would be a good daughter to him.”

She’d been young and vulnerable, and her father had taken all her comforts. She would have been embarrassed to have no way to stay clean. “And this asshole thought she would bow down to him?”

“He didn’t know her very well,” Will allowed. “The problem got worse because Lisa got good at finding ways around him. She showered at the school. She wasn’t on a team, but the coaches came to believe her family was poor and had the water cut off. Lisa did not disabuse them of the notion and soon those coaches had used their own money to supply the girls’ locker room with everything she and any other girls without means would need. Shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, pads, and tampons. When her father wouldn’t feed her, the actual real live pastor in town and his wife would find her on their doorstep on her way back home and give her a bowl of soup or a sandwich. Pastor Edwards called the county a dozen times, but every time child services left her there and it got worse. Until one night, Frank got angry enough that he locked her in a shed in the back of the house. It was pitch dark and she couldn’t move because the place was filthy and there were tools everywhere.”

“She must have been terrified.”

“Oh, yes. There was also a nest of snakes in the shed. By the time he came to let her out, she’d been bitten many times. Luckily they weren’t venomous, but she’d panicked and stepped on a garden hoe that cut her up pretty bad. They refused to take her to a hospital. I think his wife tried to clean her up, but the cuts got infected. We think she was there for at least three days, lying on a bed, dying of sepsis. My mom got out of jail and I have never seen her… She wasn’t the best mom, but she did love us. She didn’t wait for the caseworkers. She borrowed a shotgun and her cousin’s beat-up Ford and she brought Lisa to the hospital and then home. I don’t know what she said or did that day, but he never came around again. He died a few years later of cancer. Mom was all right for a couple of months after that. While Lisa was recovering, we were almost like a normal family. It didn’t last, but I remember those months fondly.”

“So when Biondo shut her in that trunk, it was like she was going into the shed all over again.” His heart ached at the thought and he wished he could go back in time, step in front of that man, and save his girl all that pain.

“I can only imagine. This is why we couldn’t put her in custody like that,” Will said. “Even a locked door can trigger her. She can lock herself in, but she has to know she can get out. And she can’t sleep in the dark.”

“Yes, she can. That night-light thing of hers bugged me. I’m a total-dark sleeper. She told me she would turn it off if I would hold her. She can sleep in the dark if I’m there to hold her. Will, I’m in love with your sister. We need to talk about the payment. I can’t…”

Will held up a hand. “One thing at a time and I know what you’re going to say, but I think Moneybags will insist. You need it. I would rather you got it from family than a bank. We can work out terms down the line, but I want Lisa to have a steady home. She deserves it.”

His pride made him want to turn it all down, but Will was right. Pride would leave them both without jobs and his town in shambles. Their town. “All right, but she won’t talk to me.”

“Yeah, she can be stubborn. You’re going to have to insist, I’m afraid. The good news is she’s being moved to a private room. Lila’s with her, but I think she needs a guard on her door,” Will mused. “You up for the task?”

He was. He was going to talk to her, to make her understand. “Yes, I believe I am.”

 

* * * *

 

Lila looked down at her, examining the bandage around her brainpan. “You did this to yourself, you know.”

“Lila!” Laurel sat in the chair to Lisa’s right, sending their big sister a what-the-hell look.

Sometimes her know-it-all nurse of a sister was kind of a bitch. “Well, I was bored and there was nothing to do but bang my head against a heavy metal trunk lid. What can I say? It’s a hobby.”

Laurel leaned over, putting a hand on Lisa’s. “You’re okay now.”

“I’m as okay as a traumatized chick with a mafia assassin after her can be,” she qualified. Yep, an assassin. She would be in the hands of an assassin had Remy not saved her. At least that was what everyone said. She hadn’t talked to him. “And I probably am out of another job. I hope I dented that asshole’s trunk and they charge him for it. I’m pretty sure that was a rental. Good luck getting back that deposit, asshole.”

She wanted Remy here with her, holding her hand. When she’d woken up, her head aching along with every muscle in her body, she’d been wheeling down the hallway, her brother looking down at her. All she’d wanted was Remy, but she remembered well that he didn’t want her.

Absolutely not. I’m not taking you with me.

She could still see the look of distaste on his face, feel how her heart seemed to stop.

Lila frowned, letting her know she didn’t appreciate the sarcasm. “I would have thought you would have gotten over that particular trauma. You would have if you’d attend therapy like I told you to.”

Laurel sighed. “No one gets over that kind of trauma.”

She groaned. “Can I get another nurse?”

Preferably one who didn’t know all her childhood damage.

“Nope,” Lila replied, picking up her chart and looking through it. “Though I’m not technically your nurse. And yes, you can get over trauma, Laurel. You simply have to work hard and be open and honest with yourself. Now, do you want to tell me why there’s a sad-looking Cajun stalking the halls instead of sitting in here with you?”

“I don’t want to see him.”

Laurel stood, looking down at her with soft eyes. “What happened? You seemed happy the last time I saw you. And I heard about that scene at Sanctum. Oh, Charlotte hasn’t stopped talking about how romantic he was. Does he really recite poetry while he ties you up?”

Lila’s nose wrinkled in distaste. “There’s nothing romantic about that.”

Oh, it had been incredibly romantic. “He doesn’t recite it. He makes it up as he goes along.” She wanted to complain bitterly, to throw his hot ass under the bus that was her sister’s disapproval, but she couldn’t. He hadn’t really done anything wrong. He simply hadn’t loved her the way she loved him. “And we broke up. That’s all. We knew it would happen. He has to go home.”

“So go with him,” Laurel said.

Lila huffed. “She’s not going to some backwater Louisiana town. Don’t be ridiculous. She’s got an MBA. What would she do there? Besides, all of her family is here.”

“But her heart is going to be there,” Laurel insisted.

“Lisa is smart enough to know that her heart doesn’t make the decisions,” Lila shot back.

Oh, how little her eldest sister knew her. Lila was being optimistic about her intelligence. “Nope. I totally went with my heart on this one. I asked him to take me with him.”

Laurel smiled. “I knew you would make the right decision.”

And Laurel was obviously optimistic about everything. “He turned me down flat. Said he wouldn’t take me with him.”

“Smart man,” Lila said under her breath. “At least one of you is thinking with your head.”

Laurel ignored their sister. “He’ll change his mind. He likely already has. You know the EMTs talked about how he reacted to finding you in the trunk. He cried. Men like that don’t cry over women they don’t love. They found him crying while he was holding you, begging you to come back. He didn’t realize you weren’t dying. That Italian guy told him he’d gassed you.”

“Remy’s a good guy.” She tried to imagine that big, tough guy crying over her, but she couldn’t see it. “We’re friends. I know he cares about me, but he doesn’t love me.”

“I don’t know about that.” Laurel patted her hand. “Men can be strange. Sometimes they get this notion in their head that they aren’t good enough for us and they should walk away.”

“Oh, sweetie, they don’t honestly believe that.” Lila shook her head in sympathy. “That’s an excuse they give to take what they want and leave. It’s the same thing as the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ excuse.”

“Tell that to my husband.” Laurel’s eyes narrowed. “And Will. He said roughly the same crap to Bridget.”

“Neither one of them…” Lila began and then sighed, one shoulder shrugging. “I just think it’s different.”

No, she didn’t. Well, she thought it was different, but there was no “just” about it. Lila had intended to say something, but she’d stopped herself. “What’s different about Remy?”

“Besides the fact that he doesn’t exactly belong with the rest of us?” Lila asked.

“What does that mean?” She didn’t like the implications.

Lila crossed her arms over her chest. “Come on, Lisa. You have to see it. He doesn’t fit in. Can you honestly see bringing him to family dinners and taking him to church with you? Look, this family has come a long way. He’s not the man I see you with. You need someone educated. Someone who fits in with your family. The man is basically a mercenary. He takes whatever jobs come his way.”

She’d never realized what a snob her sister was. “He’s been doing that to save money. And he protects people.”

Lila nodded like Lisa had made her point clear. “People who can pay him outrageous sums of money.”

“No, you don’t get it both ways. He can’t be bad because he doesn’t have a ton of money and bad because he gets paid a lot of money. Pick one.”

Lila’s head shook. “I didn’t say the man was poor. God knows he’s not. I’m saying he’s uneducated and doesn’t fit into a successful family. Laurel married a Harvard-educated lawyer. I don’t particularly care for what Bridget does but there’s no way to deny she’s successful at it. I’m dating the CEO of a company.”

She exchanged a look with Laurel. They both hated Brock. When had Lila gotten snobby and rigid? What had happened to make her that way when the rest of them were laid back? Yes, they were successful, but Will didn’t judge. Laurel didn’t. Mitch and Bridget were super chill. Mitch constantly complained about how he hated to deal with other lawyers, much less hang out with them because they were successful.

“Remy is excellent at what he does and he’s responsible.” She felt the need to defend him.

Lila’s eyes rolled. “Somehow I don’t think sleeping with a client makes him professional.”

The whole room went quiet and Lila flushed. Laurel looked over at their sister, her jaw dropping.

“What?” Lisa asked and then shook her head. “I don’t care what he’s done in the past. We’ve all done things we’re not particularly proud of.”

But there was something about the way Lila had flushed… How would Lila know gossip about Remy’s past? And if she didn’t know about his past then she must be talking about the here and now. Why would Laurel have gasped and looked shocked unless Lila had been spilling something she shouldn’t have?

Of course now she could look back and see that she was really the idiot in the room. Why had her brother suddenly gotten comfortable with her staying alone the same day Remy Guidry had moved into her building? He’d stopped showing up every single day. He’d stopped pushing her to move in with one of them.

Because he’d solved his problem.

That was why Remy had been at Cherry Pies that night. He’d followed her. He’d gotten her a job where he could watch over her.

Why had he pushed it? Why had he slept with her when it was obvious he hadn’t meant anything except to pass some time on his final job? Why had he taken it that far?

“I heard a rumor,” Lila started.

Lisa shook her head. Now that she knew, she wanted to know all of it. “No, I get it. How much?”

Laurel frowned. “How much?”

“How much did Bridge fork over so Remy would follow me around twenty-four seven for…gosh, it’s been a week already. It would likely last longer if I hadn’t caught on. Like how much?”

“We only want to protect you, Lisa,” Laurel said. “It wasn’t a bad thing.”

“It was a hundred grand,” Lila replied matter of factly.

“Lila!” Laurel admonished.

Lila shrugged, her expression going perfectly stubborn. “She should know. They broke up anyway. Now she can move on to find someone more suitable. Someone who doesn’t think it’s fine to take money for being professional and then turn around and sleep with his client.”

Put like that, it did sound bad. Achingly, heart-breakingly bad.

She’d been sure he’d wanted her. When she’d been in his arms, she’d felt like a different human being. God, she hadn’t even been afraid of the dark when he was there. It was like the rest of the world melted away and he was all she needed.

Had he sat up bored while being forced to hold her at night? Had he wondered when it could all be over, and as time had gone by, he’d gotten more and more irritable? That made sense because how long did he expect he could pretend to want someone he didn’t care about?

He was good. She would give him that. It had taken a whole three hours to get into her panties, and then she’d done absolutely everything he’d wanted her to do. She’d taken the job he found for her, stayed in when he wanted her to, become his perfect submissive, and all he’d had to do was tell her she was pretty and make up some bullshit poetry.

A hundred grand? They must be terrified. Although Bridget was used to throwing Scrooge McDuck sized wads of cash at all her problems these days.

There was a brief knock and then there he was. Remy stepped in, his big body filling the space, and despite the fact that she knew about his lies now, she couldn’t help but sigh. He was the single most beautiful man she’d ever seen.

If only he could have loved her…

“Remy, this might not be the best time,” Laurel said, a hitch in her voice.

“I need to talk to Lisa,” he said, not looking at Laurel. His eyes were steady on her. “Could we have a moment alone?”

Lila stepped in front of him. “No, you may not. My sister has asked that you not be allowed into her room. We take our patients’ needs seriously at this hospital. Now you can leave or I’ll call security.”

Lila sounded so damn sure of herself. It was funny. She was angry with Remy, but she really wanted to kill that tone in her sister’s voice, too. “He can come in. Shut the door on your way out, Lila, and you don’t have to come back tonight.”

Her eldest sister turned, frowning her way. “Of course I do. We need to talk about what we’re going to do now. You’re going to have to stop being such a brat and move in to my guestroom.”

“Where your boyfriend can hit on me on a daily basis? I think not.” She sat back at the sound of Lila’s gasp. “Well, I thought we were being all kinds of honest today. Your boyfriend is a skank and I’m not putting myself in a position where he can harass me. Now leave because I need to talk to my ex.”

“Lisa,” Lila began. Her skin had paled.

Laurel stepped forward. “No, you’ve done enough damage. We’re leaving.”

As she turned, Lisa saw tears in Lila’s eyes. “I wasn’t trying to cause damage. I was trying to save my sister from making a bad choice.”

“You’re being a bitch and we’re going to talk about that right now,” Laurel promised.

The door brushed closed and she was left alone with Remy.

“I take it I’m the bad choice she’s trying to save you from?” Remy asked, his eyes on the door.

“She doesn’t have to save me from you.” How was it that a mere few hours before she’d been looking forward to nothing more than going home with him? She’d even started calling it their home because Remy didn’t spend any time in his own apartment. He’d kind of moved in after that first night. All the better to do his job. “We broke up.”

“We had a misunderstanding,” he corrected.

Oh, she’d misunderstood plenty. She wondered how far he would go with the deception. “What did I misunderstand?”

“I misunderstood myself,” he said. He strode over to her. “Damn it, Lisa. I was wrong. You were right. Look, we started this on the wrong foot. I said I was being open and honest with you and it was all bullshit because I wasn’t honest with myself. I pushed you away all those months ago because I had this vision of who I thought you were.”

“I know that. You thought I was some kind of rich, entitled person who never struggled once in her life. You kind of do that with a lot of people. You’re like the opposite of my sister Lila, who assumes everyone without a college degree is a vagrant.”

“I’ll work on it. Maybe there is something there. I can be close minded. I was called trash my whole life by anyone who didn’t understand where I came from. I expect it from women. All my life I was the guy you screwed, not the one you married. Hell, the one I did marry divorced me because she said she could do better.”

She knew he was divorced, but this was the first time he’d talked about it. “So you thought it would be fun to get into the rich chick’s panties and turn it all around on her?”

“What? No. That’s why I was afraid of you,” he said. “I now know that there’s something I’m way more afraid of and that’s losing you. Come home with me, ma crevette. I don’t think it will be home if you’re not there. I know it’s soon, but I swear I’ll do everything I can to make you happy and comfortable down there. I’ll have to work…”

“Is my brother paying you more to take me with you?” Will must be desperate after tonight.

Remy stopped for a moment, his whole body going still. “Lisa, that is an entirely different discussion.”

“Yeah, one we probably should have had. It could have started with you knocking on my door and introducing yourself as my bodyguard, bought and paid for.”

“Your brother didn’t want you to know,” he replied carefully, as though thinking through his every word. “He thought you would be upset.”

“He was right. I’m upset. I’m upset that you lied to me.”

He leaned in, his voice going soft. “I did not lie to you and the relationship between the two of us had nothing to do with the job. Absolutely nothing.”

“That’s ridiculous. First of all, why would my brother not tell me?” She frowned because she knew exactly why. She’d told him to stay out of her business. She’d kind of yelled it at him.

“Because he knows how reckless you can be,” Remy replied. “Because he knows how scared you can be when someone else is in control of you. Someone you don’t trust.”

Now it was her turn to go still. Why would he say that? “What do you mean?”

He couldn’t know about that. She hadn’t told him. She never told anyone about what happened that night. No one except her siblings. She hadn’t meant to tell them, but one night she’d woken up screaming and she hadn’t been able to hold back. No one should know how weak she’d been.

Remy reached out, covering her hand with his, and for a moment she wanted so badly to turn her hand over and tangle their fingers together. She wanted to ask him to climb into this stupid hospital bed with her and hold her for the rest of the night. Maybe it was all a bad dream and she would wake up and none of today would have happened. She would hold on to him and tell him about her dream and he would laugh and tell her she was silly because he wouldn’t lie to her and he would never, ever really leave without her because the truth was she was his home now.

Instead she stared at him because she knew she was awake and this was real.

His hand was warm on hers. “Chèrie, you don’t have to worry. I fucked up tonight. I let you out of my sights. I’m not going to do it again. And you are in charge. I have to work when we get home, but I promise I’ll do everything I can to accommodate you. You’re not locked away. No one will ever do that to you again. Ever.”

She pulled her hand away. “He had no right to tell you. That was private.”

“I needed to know. I can’t truly protect you if I don’t know what you’re afraid of, what you’ve been through. Lisa, you could have really hurt yourself. You need to understand that I’ll come for you. I’ll find you. No matter where you are. I will find you. I promise. I won’t stop until I find you.”

“Yeah, I guess losing that hundred K would put a damper on your day.” She didn’t want to listen to his earnestness. He was an excellent actor when he wanted to be. He could make a woman melt when he started talking. “I’m afraid your game is up. They’re going to have to pro rate your fee because I’m done playing the fool.”

He sat up, his lips firming before he spoke. “You aren’t a fool of any kind. I told you. The fact that I was your bodyguard has nothing to do with being your lover. They’re two different things. I assure you I reacted like your lover earlier this evening and not some cold-ass professional bodyguard. If your brother should fire me for something, it’s that. I panicked when I thought I lost you. I couldn’t think. I didn’t even try to follow him. It wasn’t even a choice I made. Javier had to. He still lost him, but at least he tried. All I could do was cry and hold you.”

She couldn’t buy into it. Oh, she wanted to because the man could sell it. But she couldn’t trust him again. And she definitely couldn’t trust herself. She made bad, bad decisions.

“I think you should leave now.” The last thing she wanted him to see was how she was going to cry over him. The tears were right there, weighing on her, desperate to get out.

“I’m not going anywhere.” He sat back. “Lisa, this is not a problem. I told your brother earlier tonight that he could keep the money. I would do all of this for free. I’ll find another way to buy the wharf. My house might bring in more than I think it will.”

She’d driven by his house all those months ago. Stalker. Pathetic, sad stalker. “I doubt that. Take whatever they’ll give you and go home, Remy. Be happy. I’ll try to do the same here.”

He shook his head. “I cannot be happy without you.”

“Then you should have thought of that before you lied to me.” She could handle a lot but trust was everything to her. He’d broken it and broken them. She wouldn’t be able to trust him again. Every word that came out of his mouth would remind her that he’d started their relationship with a lie.

Had he ever wanted her? Maybe he was like most guys and he could get an erection from a stiff breeze.

Her whole body responded to him, to the mere fact that he was in the room with her. The minute she sensed him close, her skin became electric, her body magnetic and flowing to him. Briefly she’d felt whole.

He stood up, pacing the floor. “I want you, Lisa.”

“Not enough to tell me the truth.”

Remy turned to her, his whole face flushed, his eyes pleading. “Please don’t give up on me.”

The moment seemed to stop, her looking at him and those words burrowing in, blasting past her defenses. But she was stronger now. She knew who he was. He was trying to save his job. Trying to save his family and his town.

She wished he’d simply asked her.

“Remy, could I have a moment with my sister?”

Will was standing there. Will was in the room. The one damn person in the world she couldn’t ever turn away.

Remy looked like he didn’t want to leave, but he finally turned to Will. “I’ll be outside. I’m going to stand guard. I won’t allow her to be alone.”

“I know.” Will put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him before he could leave. He looked at Remy, as serious as she’d ever seen him. “I know where you are, brother. Let me talk to her.”

Remy nodded and looked back once, his eyes empty.

She was relieved when the door closed behind him. But then she was alone with another man who’d betrayed her. “How could you tell him?”

“He deserved to know how you got a concussion, Lisa. He has to know how to take care of you and what he cannot do even if it seems like the right thing in the moment. I don’t want him locking you in for your own good. He won’t do that now. He’ll find another way to protect you. That man loves you. He deserves to know.”

She shook her head. “You don’t get to decide that. And honestly, that’s probably your conscience talking. Do you feel bad about pimping me out, brother? How did you ethically process this one? Sell my body to save my soul?”

“Oh, don’t underestimate how damn worried I am about your body, sister.” Will was a little pale. He approached her bed. “You were almost kidnapped tonight. If Remy hadn’t been so fast, that man would have taken off and god only knows what could have happened to you. Don’t even try to make me fucking feel bad that I hired a bodyguard for you.”

“I’m not upset about that, though a heads-up would have been cool.” She’d been so stupid. Had they all been laughing at her? How many people knew?

His brows came together in that way that let her know he remembered that conversation differently. “I told you I thought you needed one. We argued about a bodyguard for hours. You yelled at me to stay out of your business.”

She sat back, her whole soul weary. “Will, I’m sorry about that. I was frustrated at the time.”

“You think I’m not frustrated? Up until two weeks ago I hadn’t slept in months. I sat up every damn night waiting to find out someone had killed you. I know you think this is another funny episode you’ll one day tell your kids about, but it’s serious, Lisa. Someone wants you dead.”

She wasn’t positive that person was Biondo, but she did understand that this was more serious than she’d considered before. Someone wasn’t thinking logically, but then a potential life in prison might make a lot of criminals go a little crazy. And her brother, oh her brother had taken on all the responsibility. He’d been more like her father. How could she stay angry with him when she was alive and whole because he’d kept them all together? Everything she knew about love she’d learned from this man. Love and responsibility and sacrifice.

“All right, Will. I’ll take a bodyguard. I feel bad because I can’t afford it. I feel like I’m using you.”

“I’m your brother,” he shot back, his exasperation obvious. “I love you. You staying alive isn’t using me. This isn’t like you’re borrowing money so you can buy new shoes. This is your life.”

And there was no way out of taking on a bodyguard now, not unless she wanted to go into some kind of protective custody. But this time they would do it right. This bodyguard wouldn’t get close to her, wouldn’t sleep in her bed and whisper to her at night, his arms wrapped around her. He would do his job and she would ignore him as much as possible.

God, she was going to miss Remy.

“Can I interview a couple of candidates?” Lisa asked. “Do you know if Big Tag has some female operatives?”

“Sweetie, all of Big Tag’s bodyguards have jobs right now or they’re on personal time.”

Wow. There must be something in the water. “Okay, do we know other security firms? Doesn’t that Julian Lodge guy have some bodyguards?”

“I believe Mr. Lodge has his own personal guards. I don’t think he lends those out.” Will took a deep breath as though steeling himself for the argument that was sure to come. “There’s only one bodyguard available.”

“Are you kidding me?” She looked toward the door where Remy would be standing stalwart and unmoving.

“I am not kidding you,” her brother replied. “He’s our only option. I don’t trust the other firms.”

This couldn’t be happening. She couldn’t handle being close to him again. “I don’t trust him.”

“I do trust him. I get it. You’re pissed, but I’m the one who asked him not to tell you he was watching over you. You can be reckless.”

“I’m not stupid.”

“And getting a job at a strip club where you would have to walk to and from a lonely train station after midnight was a great decision.” He held up a hand when she would have argued with him, shutting her down. “No, you don’t think properly when your pride is on the line. So I’m giving you one of two choices.”

“I’m an adult. You can’t force me to do anything.” But she could hear the stubbornness in her voice.

“I’m calling it all in, Lis. I’m calling in everything I ever did for you. Every report I helped you write. Every burn I got from trying to figure out how to feed us. Every late night I worked to have the money so you didn’t go to sleep hungry.”

Oh, he was afraid, and in the face of her brother’s love, her pride seemed a petty thing. She reached out, tears falling now. “Will, stop. You don’t have to call anything in. I’m sorry. I’m angry and hurt. What are my choices?”

She would do it for him, so he could find some peace.

“You can go with Remy to Louisiana until McKay-Taggart figures out what’s going on and comes up with a better way to protect you.”

She wasn’t doing that. “Hard pass.”

He nodded. “All right, then I’m moving you into my place. I’ll have someone from the company come out and make sure our security is as tight as it can be. But Lis, I can’t drive you to and from work. You know what my hours are like. Mitch might be able to do some of it.”

She couldn’t go back to work. She’d almost gotten Linc killed. And if she moved in with Will, she put them all in danger, including her nephew and Bridget and the baby in her belly. What the hell was she supposed to do?

She was supposed to do what her brother had taught her. She was supposed to do what was best for her family, even if it meant sacrificing her own happiness for a brief amount of time. It wouldn’t be forever. The other bodyguards would come back from their assignments eventually. She would be first on the list to get a new one. The investigators would figure out what was really happening and they would find a way to deal with it.

“I’ll go with Remy.” She had no idea how she would sit beside him, work next to him and not go crazy. Maybe she would catch up on her reading. Or her napping. She would nap a lot. “But I get my own room.”

Her brother’s whole body seemed to relax. “I’m sure we can arrange that. Lisa, you won’t regret it. I promise as soon as we can, we’ll bring you home. But you should think about forgiving him.”

“Or I could think about all the ways to twist a man’s balls off.” Forgiveness wasn’t a word she wanted to hear.

Will sighed and sat down on the bed. “Do you know what I put Bridget through?”

She’d heard the story. Most of it. “It’s not the same. You didn’t lie to her.”

“Oh, I did. She was looking for a date to her sister’s wedding. Amy’s first wedding, the fake one, was held in Hawaii, and Bridget needed a fake fiancé. Of course there was one man she refused to ask.”

She hadn’t heard this part. Bridget talked. Bridget talked a lot, but the really personal stuff, she kept close. “You? Was it because of me? I remember she thought you had three women coming in and out of your apartment at all times. She didn’t realize we were your sisters until much later. So she changed her mind when you told her the truth?”

“Well, I might have already put a plan in motion by that time. I didn’t realize what the problem was. I might have made deals with every Dom in Sanctum that not a one of them would say yes to her.”

Poor Bridget. “You asshole. She had to ask them. Do you have any idea how hard that is? Jerk.”

He chuckled. “It was not my proudest moment, and when she found out, she was pissed. Incredibly pissed, but she finally came around and gave me a chance.”

“It’s not the same.”

“Isn’t it? He took the first chance he had to be with you.”

“No, I gave him a chance. He turned me down.”

“We’re a rather intimidating family and he knew he wasn’t staying around. When he got close to you, he couldn’t resist. When he got to know the real you, he fell in love,” Will insisted.

“No, he saw how easy his hundred K could be. I can’t get in trouble if he’s on top of me.”

Will grimaced. “I thought that in the beginning, but then I heard what he said to you. I heard what he said and I recognized the look on his face because I had it on mine the night I begged Bridget not to give up on me.”

The hitch in her brother’s voice made her heart ache. “Oh, Will.”

He put a hand on hers. “We’re not smart. Men, I mean. We get a couple of scars on us and decide it makes more sense to shut down the softer part of our natures. We go into a relationship because we want sex and companionship and we’re happy when we have it. We don’t think to ask for more. You have to show him how to love you. That’s what he means when he asks you not to give up on him. He doesn’t know how to say he loves you, but he wants to.”

“He’s not you, Will.” For a moment she’d thought she’d found someone as awesome as her brother, but that was gone now.

“Oh, but sweetie, at heart we’re all the same. I promise to bring you back as soon as I can, but I think you should take this time with him to figure out if he’s what you want. He offered to pay the money back.”

But she knew how much he needed it. “Oh, no. I won’t go unless he’s getting paid and every single penny you promised him.”

“Going to use that as a shield, huh?” Will looked a bit disappointed, but she wasn’t backing down. “Just know that if you decide to give him a shot, Bridget and I would rather make it a wedding gift.”

“There’s not going to be a wedding. I promise I’ll be a good girl and behave, but I’m not touching that man again.” Because if she touched him, she would melt and she knew it. If she let him in again, she would become one of those doormat women who accepted less than she should. No. She’d been burned by that man twice.

He wasn’t getting a third chance.