"Where are you?"

"I'm almost there, I think. You know, if you could get off the phone, I could check on my map."

There was an annoyed sound on the other end that made me chuckle.

"I told you the address loads of times. I mapped it out for you and you told me you got it. You didn’t actually use Google Maps, did you?"

I pursed my lips, even though she couldn’t see, trying to hide my amusement. "I might have."

She groaned. "But you told me you got it. I could have just come to pick you up."

"No, it's fine. You were busy and I didn’t want you running around just for that."

Besides, I did know the general street, and it was kind of obvious once I got there where the party was. I could see a bunch of cars parked on both sides of the street of the upper-class neighborhood I'd just walked into. New arrivals kept coming, looking for parking spaces, and those just getting out of their cars were going to one place.

It was a big house, about the size of a small mansion, with a front lawn and a long driveway already lined with cars. Just how many people had they invited?

"Teagan, you know what? I think I'm here."

"Are you just outside?"

"I'm walking up your driveway right now. Meet me at the front door?"

"Sure, I'll try."

"Okay. Bye."

I pulled the phone from my ear and cut the call.

When she told me it was an anniversary celebration, I'd expected something else. It was a big party, and even before I got inside, I could tell there was a big crowd.

The house was like something you'd find in a catalog, bleached white and perfect-looking in a way that would appeal to people with money that wanted to show it off. I came from a modest family, and the only time I saw houses like it, was on TV.

I glanced around at the people walking up to the house and those I could see through the wide-open doors. Everyone was dressed formally and in fancy dress. I was in a new pair of slacks with matching tuxedo jacket in black, and a designer shirt that cost about the same as the prize money for one of my races. Add in the shoes, the belt, and the cuff links for the shirt and the bow tie, and I would have been poor, if Seamus hadn't helped me with some cash, no matter how much I'd saved up since I started racing and winning. Of course, I didn’t go to every race, and though Teagan thought differently, I hadn't won all of them, it was still a lot of money.

I was sure I was still underdressed. I watched a woman walk past me with a gold and diamonds weighing on her neck, the man beside her wearing a suit that probably cost several thousand dollars. The kind of money my family had survived on was probably pocket change to the people here.

It was not my crowd, to say the least. I wasn’t the least bit impressed by this crowd. If anything, I felt sick knowing most of these people coming were part of Quinn's crew. Maybe not all the guys he had doing his dirty work, but they were part of his empire. I'd seen photos of them, all his known associates and I could recognize a few of the faces.

The killers looked like human beings in their tuxedos with their wives by their sides, but deep down, they were all devils.

As I entered the party, I cast my eyes over the room. Looking for any face I found familiar. I only expected three, and I happened to find the one I wanted to see least.

Quinn.

I'd only seen pictures of him, but seeing him even from a distance… I felt sick to my stomach. Even worse was seeing the two women beside him.

One of them was another person at the party that I knew. Teagan Quinn, the one and only daughter to the man only known as Quinn.

Knowing the kind of man he was, seeing her so close to him, even if she was his daughter, made me want to go over there and pull her away from him. My feet were moving in their direction without me even thinking about it.

But then I glanced at Teagan and saw the way she was with her dad. I'd known he was her father when I approached her. If I hadn't gotten to know her well in the past year, even long before I talked to her, I would have hated her simply for sharing blood with him. He was scum to me because I knew all about what he'd done. I knew I was one of his many victims. But seeing how she was with him, laughing freely and looking at him how I used to look at my own father…

Was I being too hasty in my decision?

It wasn’t possible for her to have no idea about her father. There were rumors all over the place, it wasn’t a secret that the police didn’t like him. There was never any proof, but people knew he was the bad guy. How could she know and still look at him like that? Could I even blame her, when I never stopped to think about this would affect her? He was a bad man and he deserved to be put down, but would Teagan see things that way?

She hadn't noticed me yet. My feet had frozen on the ground when I caught sight of her enjoying herself. I knew what I was coming to do here would destroy that. If she was as close to her father as she seemed, she would be devastated. It wasn’t what I signed up for.

I started to back out. Of the plan, of the room. If she caught sight of me, I'd have to go along with it. I would have to put up with the guilt, being with her and knowing I planned to kill her father. I really was getting too close to her, emotionally.

No longer wanting to see, I glanced away. I would have turned around and fled if my eyes hadn't fallen on the third and last person I knew at that party. Seamus probably saw me trying to hightail it. He couldn’t approach me to tell me, but I knew without hearing it that the hard look he aimed at me was telling me to stay put.

I had gone into this knowing it wouldn’t be easy. I should have thought about it thoroughly, thought about the emotional impact on other people, but I couldn’t back out now, not after this long, just because I was getting squeamish. He'd risked a lot, and so had I, everything I had left to risk.

It would not have taken two years of planning if it could be pushed under the rug just like that.

Seamus told me plenty of times I could back out. Because once I was in, it was for the long haul. He'd given me plenty of chances and I stuck it out. I no longer had the option, not after everything he'd done and risked to get me in on this plan, one I was all for before I started getting too close to Teagan.

I gave him a short nod so he would know I wasn’t running away. I took a deep breath and headed over to Teagan.

Quinn saw me first, and his face changed the second he did. He looked nicer when looking at his daughter, but he looked at me like I was dirt. Probably saw how I was dressed and decided that I was beneath his attention. It would be worse once he knew I was his daughter's date if he didn’t already know.

I wanted to kill him. It was difficult not to kill him in front of everyone. I'd imagined it long before I got to see a photo of his face, seeing him up close just made the urge stronger.

But then Teagan saw me, and her calling my name distracted me. I could feel myself soften when I turned to her, giving her a smile that didn’t quite match the large grin she was aiming at me. She pulled away from her father to come closer to me, throwing her arms around my neck. It startled me, but my arms went around her automatically. I kept my face buried in her shoulder in the seconds she held me close. If I opened my eyes and looked at him just then, I knew I couldn’t control my expression.

When she pulled back, I had my face controlled. Still, I couldn’t help stiffening every time I caught sight of him, softening when my attention was pulled back to the woman on my arm.

"I am so sorry about my dad," she muttered, throwing him a side glare, and then smiling up at me, apologetic. "He's just overprotective and worried about my new boyfriend. He doesn't mean to glare at you." That last bit was added with another glare in Quinn's direction.

With good reason this time. I was technically a threat, but more toward him than Teagan.

He didn’t say anything to me, but he did manage a stiff smile. Still, it wasn’t exactly welcoming; it was the kind of expression I could imagine on a serial killer marking his next target. Which pretty much fit.

I've got this. I've practiced for this moment.

Infiltrating an underground biker ring hadn't exactly been easy, either, so they were skills I'd already used before.

I felt my lips curve into a pleasant smile, even though I could barely feel it and lied through my teeth.

"Trust me, sir. You have nothing to worry about."