Linc knew Ella needed comfort from him. Only comfort. But she stirred something in him that was primal and not easily controlled. He knew he should step back and give her some breathing room, but she pressed her face against his chest and he put his hand on the back of her head. She was so fragile. She felt small in his arms.

She tipped her head back and their eyes met and he saw something in that gaze. Tonight hadn’t gone to plan, which was why they had redundancies in the plan, with him masquerading as Cockram, and Cade inside Diavolos’s operation, waiting.

He hoped that this was the only hiccup in the entire operation and from this point forward it would be easier.

Mick and the rest of the team were moving in. He heard them in his ear and he knew he had to step away from Ella, but instead he slowly lowered his head toward hers, ran his finger over her lower lip. It was soft and full and her mouth parted under his touch.

“Linc.”

Just his name. He didn’t know if she wanted him to stop or keep going, and he couldn’t do this if he wasn’t positive she wanted him. He started to step back when her hands slid up his chest to his neck, drawing his head down, and she kissed him. It was tentative and shy—so much like Ella herself. Her tongue teased his with a brief foray into his mouth that sent a shiver coursing through his body.

He wanted her. He knew part of it was the danger, no use in denying that, but the other part was Ella. Her courage and strength. Her fierce spirit that drew him like nothing else could. He used every ounce of his self-control to keep the kiss gentle and then lifted his head when he wanted to deepen it.

She licked her lower lip.

“Hey, Casanova, you might want to get out of here before Quentin’s men come looking for you.”

He glared over his shoulder at Kendra. “She’s injured.”

“You’ve patched her up. Get moving. If you’re seen with Ares Team this whole thing is going to blow up in our faces.”

He knew she was right, he just didn’t like being called out on it.

He lifted Ella off the car and she flinched as he set her on her feet.

“You pack one hell of a wallop for someone who’s not in the business,” Kendra said. “If you want a job doing more of this kind of work, let me know. With a little training, you could be a very good operative.”

“Thanks, but I don’t think this is the kind of life I want,” Ella said.

Kendra just nodded, disappearing into the shadows, and Linc knew it was time to get back to the operation. He’d cleaned her wounds, which made sense since she was going to be auctioned off, but he needed to get moving.

Ella seemed to know that, handing him back his coat. “Am I going back in the trunk?”

He hated it, but he had to put her in there if he was going to bring her to his people. They would expect it. “Yes. In fact, I’m going to have to bind your wrists and feet.”

“You’re not Linc…you’re Cockram. He wouldn’t hesitate to toss me in the trunk,” Ella said.

He didn’t have to explain to her the way this worked. And there wasn’t time for comfort or niceties. Linc reminded himself that the only way he could protect her was to treat her like she was a commodity and not a woman. Any kindness he showed her would raise suspicion and put her in more danger.

“Let’s go,” he said, walking her around to the back of the car. He lifted the trunk and she climbed, holding her hands up toward him.

Linc tried not to notice how small her wrists were, or the bruises on her knuckles, but he ran his thumb over them gently before he bound her wrists with a zip tie. Then used a larger one looped in a figure eight to bind her ankles. He shifted her until she was lying down and then stepped back.

“The next time this trunk opens I’m going to be a real bastard,” he said, leaning in close so she could hear him.

She nodded. “I’m ready. I wasn’t before…but I am now.”

He started to close the trunk.

“Wait, Linc,” she said.

He paused but didn’t turn back because he’d started to lower the trunk.

“Is Kaylee okay? That guy threw her against the wall,” Ella said. “Make sure they know to get her from the bathroom.”

“We got her. She’s going to be fine,” he said in a voice that would carry to her ears but no further. Then he slammed the trunk closed and picked his coat up from the ground, took a cigarette and lit it, taking a deep drag because he needed to do something, and going back into the warehouse and kicking the guy with the tattooed face until he was dead wasn’t an option.

He finished the cigarette, tossing it on the ground and stepping on the butt before he got into his car.

As soon as he did, Mick came over the earpiece.

“Two, you got this?”

“Yes. On my way to Cockram’s place. I’m going to have to hire someone to clean her up. Do we have an operative who can do it?” Linc asked.

“Three here. I can do it,” Cory said.

“I need someone who can do her hair and makeup and bring some clothes for her.”

“I got this,” Cory said.

“You have your man. He’ll be there an hour after you arrive,” Mick said. “Stick to the plan.”

* * *

Linc glanced in the rearview mirror, he’d been watching the traffic behind them since he’d left Quentin’s warehouse and so far he hadn’t noticed anything suspicious, but if Garrison Manufacturing had been infiltrated, there was no telling where else Diavolos might be.

Linc changed lanes without signaling and drove past his exit, noticing two cars behind him switching places. Probably a rotating tail.

He moved into the fast lane and accelerated, very aware that Ella was in the trunk of the Bentley and he needed to keep her safe.

“I’ve got a tail,” Linc said, after unmuting his earpiece. “I need a place to lose them. Preferably without having to take them out, since I have Ella with me.”

“Which cars?” Cory asked. “We’re a mile behind you in a Black Lincoln SUV.”

Linc looked in the rearview mirror again. “One a grey/silver Audi TT and the other a white Mercedes. They’re tag-teaming it.”

“Plate numbers?”

Linc rattled off the Virginia tag number of the Audi. “The Mercedes has dropped back. Let me see if I can get him to come up.”

Again Linc changed lanes, this time slowing down and signaling. The Audi drove past him and Linc didn’t turn his head, but he used his peripheral vision to note there were two men in the car, both dressed in dark clothing with military-style haircuts.

“Audi has real players. Looked like hired guns, probably mercs.”

“Good to know,” Mick said.

The Mercedes came closer, switching lanes as Linc saw the SUV that he knew carried the Ares Team approach. “You’re coming up on the second vehicle.”

“Got the tag number,” Cory said.

“We’re going to find you a place to get off the highway while we flush your tails and make sure they don’t follow you back to Cockram’s hideout,” Mick said.

“Take the exit to Virginia State Road 7 and head toward Great Falls,” Frank said. “There’s a nice state park you can use for cover. The exit is coming up in less than two minutes. I’ll distract the Mercedes to give you time to get off the highway.”

Linc waited until the last moment, and just as he was about to cut across the lanes and exit he heard the screech of metal on metal and changed lanes while checking the rearview mirror. Frank had sideswiped the Mercedes and driven it off the road.

Linc smiled as he drove down the exit ramp and turned onto the state road. It didn’t have a lot of traffic at this time of night. He killed the lights on the car until he was far enough from the highway to switch them back on.

He drove to Great Falls Park, which overlooked the Great Falls of the Potomac. During the day the park would be busy with visitors, but at night it was quiet and he easily found a place to park.

“Two here. We’re off the road and hidden,” Linc said.

“Stay put,” Mick said.

“Affirmative.”

They weren’t on a tight clock until he was back in the house that Cockram used to traffic his high-end merchandise.

He double-tapped his earpiece to mute it and then walked around to the back of the car, opening the trunk.

Ella looked up at him, fear and anger on her face.

“We’re on a bit of a detour. Thought you might want to come up front while we’re waiting,” he said.

“I certainly don’t enjoy riding back here,” she said.

He reached in and lifted her out, carrying her around to the car and opening the door to the back seat. He set her on it and then walked around and climbed in next to her. She looked over at him.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Someone was following us and the team is taking care of them before we head to Cockram’s house.”

“Great. Why is someone following you?” she asked.

He looked over at her. His eyes had adjusted to the darkness and he could make out her features in the dim light provided by the clear night sky.

“They aren’t following me,” he said. “They’re following you.”

“Why does he want me so much?” Ella asked.

Linc wanted the answer to that as well. It was one thing if it was sexual obsession, but both Ella and her sister were older now, and didn’t look the same as they had as children. Was there something more to this?

“Did you take anything with you when you escaped?” he asked.

She tipped her head to the side, trying to appear cool, but she’d wrapped her arms around her body and seemed to shrink back into the seat at his question.

* * *

Ella should have known that sooner or later, Linc would realize that there was more to Diavolos’s interest in her than simply getting back property that was stolen from him. Though that part was also true. He’d always had an obsession with her, but more importantly with Bri, which was why when the compound had been raided and she’d taken the opportunity to escape she’d swiped anything that looked like it might be important. She’d been sixteen and scared and hadn’t realized if any of it had value at the time.

Bri had been drugged, so Ella had had her hands full. She’d dumped everything she’d taken into a box and kept it in a locker at the busy Metro station near her apartment.

“I did take stuff when I ran, but so far I haven’t found anything of value,” Ella admitted. “I’ve gone through it time after time, and still nothing. I would have mentioned it to you if I thought it had any kind of evidence you could use. I probably should have mentioned it anyway.”

“So why do you think he wants you so badly?” Linc asked.

“Bri,” Ella admitted. “I don’t know what all happened between her and Diavolos, but he was always obsessed with her.”

“Was he called Diavolos back then?” Linc asked.

“We called him the devil,” Ella said. “He wasn’t always at the compound where we were kept. But when he was in the building you could feel the atmosphere change. And he always requested Bri be brought to him. Then I’d be sent in and…well, he’d give orders to me and the others who were being filmed.”

It had been a long time since she’d allowed the memories of that time to surface. She’d done a very good job of shoving them deep into the back of her brain so she didn’t have to think about them.

Linc reached out toward her and she shrunk back against the door of the car as he dropped his hand.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said.

She knew that. She really did. But thinking of the past made her edgy and reminded her that she didn’t really know Linc.

“I don’t know you,” she said. As an excuse it wasn’t the best, but it did sort of explain where she was coming from.

“Fair enough,” he said. “What do you want to know?”

“I’ve seen you in Town & Country magazine and on several social media sites,” she said. “How is it you can have this secret life too?”

He leaned back into the opposite corner of the car and turned to face her, drawing his leg up on the seat. “I went into the military first, but my CO quickly realized that cameras followed me everywhere I went. I am one of the richest men in the world.”

“Really? So is that why you made the Top Twenty-Five list?” she asked sarcastically. “I know that. You’re rich, people want to know what you’re up to. I’ve seen the photos of you partying in St. Moritz with the jet-set crowd. I’ve even seen you at the baptism of the heir to one of the European Thrones, so why would you want to fight crime for a living?”

“Well, for special ops I was a liability, so I took an early release from the military and Director Truehart from Grimaldi Global contacted me. He said that if I still wanted to protect the innocent and work in law enforcement he had a role that might suit me.”

“Working for him?”

“Yes. He wanted me to use all the media attention that follows me as cover when my team went on missions. I liked the idea. A lot of times we’ll land someplace and I’ll make a splashy entrance or exit, as needed, if we have local heat or I need an excuse to be someplace I shouldn’t be.”

“So you’re a gentleman spy?” she asked.

He laughed and she realized that he made it easier for her to relax.

“Sort of. Not really a spy, because I’m not gathering intel usually. Instead, I’m going in with lethal force,” he said.

“How do you do it? I mean, I just have the advocacy blog, and that takes it out of me sometimes. I see pictures of victims and I talk to them, interview them for the blog, and it weighs on me after a while,” she admitted.

Linc shifted again, rubbing his shoulders against the door. “I get to see criminals arrested, or sometimes if an operation requires it, killed. I like knowing I’m doing something to make the world a better place. I mean, even dressing and acting like Cockram is tolerable because of the end result.”

He did make her feel safer, and that wasn’t something she ever thought she’d say. But she was sitting in close quarters with a man who was masquerading as someone out of her worst nightmares, and she didn’t feel uncomfortable. There was something about Linc…

“You’ve gone awfully quiet,” he said.

“Just trying to figure you out,” she admitted.

“I’m not that complicated.”

She had to smile at that. “Most men don’t have to worry about so many different personas. Most men just go to work, go home and do whatever it is that makes them feel good.”

“Is that really how you see men?” he asked.

“How else would I see them?” she countered. She didn’t feel defensive at his question. She’d only ever seen the worst of the males of the species, but suddenly she was seeing Linc, who hadn’t pressured her or used her, and it was making her rethink everything she thought she knew.

“I guess that men haven’t shown you their best qualities,” he said quietly.

“No, they haven’t.”