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SOMEONE WAS IN THE house. I could hear them creeping around. I slipped my hand up my dress and grabbed my gun, arming myself as I released Derek’s arm.

“There’s something sexy about an elegant woman with a gun,” Derek said.

“You’re drunk. Stay here,” I said.

It didn’t matter what he thought. It didn’t matter how good he looked close up or how his body had felt against mine. It didn’t matter that his kiss had sent shivers down my spine for the first time in almost a decade. All that mattered was making sure this man was safe and the threat was neutralized.

I grabbed Derek’s arm, but he didn’t budge. I tugged on him, but he stood his ground. Groaning, I rolled my eyes as I walked back to the car.  Griggs rolled down the window, and I flashed him a few signs, signaling to him that we needed a perimeter check.

And that I was taking Derek with me.

I knew he wasn’t happy, but I had no choice. The alcohol was settling into Derek’s system and that meant a man like him was going to get stubborn. The more commotion we caused, the greater the chance we scared off the intruder. Griggs rolled back down the driveway as we stood on the porch, and I hovered over the keypad as I tried to discern Derek’s combination.

Five numbers were worn down more than most. There were five slots where the numbers could appear, which meant it was most likely a five-digit combination to get inside. One hundred and twenty possible combinations. And even though Derek was a businessman, everything about his home was personal. The customized security, the revamped foundation on the house, the customized landscaping he obviously had tailored to his liking.

A five-number personal identification number.

I typed in the numbers and the keypad lit up green. I heard Derek turn around before he came up to me, his hand reaching over my shoulder.

“Wait a second. How did yo—?”

“Shut. The fuck. Up,” I said.

I turned the key to his house, quietly pushing in as I guided him behind me.

Derek was following closely as I trained my gun in front of me. We slowly stepped into the darkened home, my ears trained on any sounds coming from the house. I knew someone was in here. I had heard them talking the moment we got up onto the porch.

We had surprised someone, and I wasn’t ready to give up that advantage.

“When you speak, whisper,” I said quietly. “Do you have any staff employed during the night?”

“No,” Derek said.

“No one? The waitstaff? An on-call chef or doctor? No one’s on the premise at night?”

“No,” he said in a whisper. “No one.”

Fuck. This house was huge. It was going to take me forever to clear it. Did he really need all this fucking space? What the hell did he fill these rooms with? More shit? It wasn’t like this man had a family. Or kids. Or a harem of women that took up the space.

I kept walking through the foyer with Derek hot on my tail as I walked down the hallway.

We cleared the kitchen and the expansive living space before I turned and walked back down the hallway. We made our way up the stairs, clearing each and every room we came to. I knew whoever was in this house wasn’t going to be found. There was too much fucking space and not enough time to discern where that fucker had been in the house.

Derek was a rich little fuck with an ego the size of his fucking mansion.

Every single room was empty. There wasn’t a sign of anyone being in the house. I was irritated, pissed to my core as we came to his room. I reached for the door and tossed it open, ready to second-guess my own damn motives for the sounds I’d heard coming from his home.

Until I saw his bedroom window was open.

“What the—?”

I whipped around and put my finger to my lips, shushing him once again. Holy hell, I was going to have to stuff this man like a pig to get him to shut up. We stood in the middle of his room and listened as I gazed out through the open window. I could see Griggs’ men checking the perimeter, their massive bodies outlined in the floodlights that turned on with their movements.

Something wasn’t right about any of this.

“What’s that?” Derek asked.

I turned around and followed his line of sight to a letter on his bed.

“Don’t reach for it. I’ve got it,” I said.

I lowered my weapon and approached the bed. I turned the letter over in my hands, making sure it wasn’t lined with anything dangerous. I sniffed it, taking in the odors the paper had on it before I cracked the wax seal on the letter.

“That’s new,” Derek said.

“What’s new?” I asked.

“The wax seal. I’ve never seen that before.”

I slid the letter out of the confines of the envelope, and we both read it over. I could feel Derek teetering next to me, and I dropped the letter to the bed. I steadied him with my hands, sitting him down as I tried to wrap my mind around everything.

This man’s threat was serious. Even I was convinced of that now.

“Give me that letter,” Derek said.

“I don’t think that’s wise,” I said.

“Give me the fucking letter, Sam.”

I sighed and grabbed the piece of paper, handing it to him as his hands trembled.

“Mr. Steele,

If you haven’t taken me seriously up until this point, then maybe you will now. I know where you sleep, and I know how to get to you. Quit the company and donate your money, or the next love letter I write will be personally delivered in the form of a bullet.

Yours Truly,

Eye”

“Eye?” I asked.

“As in ‘eye in the sky,’ I believe, ” Derek said.

“I’m staying with you tonight.”

“Figured you would after all this.”

I sat down beside a man who had aged ten years before my eyes. The confident man who had received that award tonight morphed into a tired corporate executive with bags underneath his eyes. His straight back faltered, and his strong shoulders drooped. He raked his hands through his hair, mussing up his neatly-placed locks as his suit shirt began to wrinkle.

“Is there anywhere you can go? A place you can stay for a while? Even if it’s just a few days?” I asked.

“And do what? Leave my company behind?” Derek asked.

“Yes. It’s a great distraction. We can pretend to send you somewhere warm, and then divert you. No one except me will know where you are.”

“Griggs will have to know.”

“Mr. Steele, this person got into your home. Into your room. They have personal access to everything. No one is off the hook for this yet,” I said.

“Griggs isn’t doing this. He wouldn’t.”

“You don’t know th—”

“It’s. Not. Griggs.”

His eyes were angry, and I couldn’t blame him. But I couldn’t allow his anger to deter me from my work. This was getting serious, more serious than I could’ve imagined it would. This man was in real danger, and it was my job to protect him and fish this asshole out.

At all costs.

“This is getting out of control. Even if you don’t think Griggs is responsible, it’s still a good idea to get you out of here. I need more information, and all of this is already too close. Your security is ineffective, at best. And that is with me assuming they aren’t in on it.”

I held up my hand as Derek went to defend his friend.

“This person got into your room. Your security measures don’t work,” I said. “That’s a fact that has now been proven. Even with me here. I’ll hide you at my place if I have to, but you need to go somewhere.”

“Say I agree to this plan. Where do we go from here?” Derek asked.

“You go to wherever I’m going to hide you. What I will do is set my own team up around your company and your home. My team. Not yours. You don't touch them, know them, or connect with them in any way. We keep you as far away from them as possible. The more strings we can sever from you, the easier it will be to fish this asshole out.”

“Okay. Then what?” Derek asked.

“We can make it look like electrical work at your office and renovations here at your home. But in your office, cameras will be set up. Same with your home. You need stuff inside here. In intimate areas to catch whoever the hell this is. But we need to make it look like this is typical stuff going on. That’s how we catch whoever’s doing this.”

“You're holding back. What is it?” he asked.

“You’re not gonna like it.”

“What?” he asked.

“If anyone on your security team is in on this, even one of them, they’ll spoil this. They’ll stick their nose in what’s going on at your home, and it’ll all be blown to shreds. We need to fire your security team.”

I saw anger pooling in his eyes, but I knew I was appealing to the rational part of him. I knew he would see it my way if I explained things to him and walked him through my train of thought instead of simply ordering him around. For a man who was being hunted, explanations were everything.

Especially since he didn’t know why he was being hunted in the first place.

“Okay. But I’m worried about this leaking out. You know, a disgruntled employee or something. Griggs and Deacon were the ones who enticed me to hire your company in the first place,” Derek said.

“Then throw some money at them to shut them up. By the size of this place, you’ve got plenty of it,” I said.

“Hush money usually works.”

“Then use what you have at your disposal.”

“Funny you should say that.”

I groaned as my head fell back. I knew I was going to walk into a trap of his eventually.

“I don’t run. I never have, and I never will. But I agree that I do need to get away. Sever ties from all of this. I have a business trip coming up that will take me to Las Vegas. I was going to take Jacob ... shit.”

“What?” I asked.

“I have to call Jacob. I have to make sure he’s okay.”

“Walk me through your plan, and then you’re free to go for your night. You know, as long as I’m around,” I said.

“Business trip to Vegas. I was going to take Jacob, but I’ll take you as my girlfriend instead.”

“Girlfriend?” I asked in fake shock. “Why not your PA?”

“I might have told Jacob you were my girlfriend when he started picking apart our story about you being my new personal assistant.”

“Well, if you’ve already told someone and laid the groundwork for it, we can’t really wiggle out of that.”

“And we’ve got the kissing down if we need it,” he said.

“Don’t worry. We won’t.”

I got up from the bed as his eyes lingered on my body.

“The trip to Vegas is approved, but I comb through everything. I’ll set up the stuff with your office and your home, but I dig into everyone you are to come into contact with. From the airline to the people working at the hotel we’ll be staying at.”

“I have my own private jet with its own personal staff,” he said.

“Figures. That’ll make my job easier. I want the staff logs.”

“They’re vetted by—”

“Let’s get one thing straight. If you don’t want to run, that’s your business. But I’m running this show. I’m saving your life. You give me what I want, and I have the tools to fix this shit. But if you don’t give me what I want, you end up dead. And that’s on you, not me. Hand over the logs so I can do my own research or bleed out. The choice is yours.”

My eyes hooked with him as fear crossed his features. I wasn’t playing around with this asshole anymore. I was tired of doing this little dance. He either listened to me or he was dead. That much was certain by tonight. He was still trying to flex whatever muscle he had over me, and it wasn’t going to work.

I wasn’t going to deal with it any longer.

“I’ll get you their files,” Derek said.

“Good. You’re dismissed for the night.”