Linc didn’t know how to fix that for Ella. He’d always thought of himself as a problem-solver and a little bit of a white knight. He blamed the stories his mom used to read to him and his brother when they were little. And his father had always believed that just because they’d been blessed with their fortune they shouldn’t take any shortcuts.

And he never had.

But if someone gave him a book that had the answers to Ella in it…he’d look at it. She was complicated and strong, but there were hints of vulnerability in her that made the chinks in her outer armor apparent to him.

“What about you?”

“What about me?” she asked.

“You’re pretty successful. A social influencer.”

“How do you even know that?” she asked him, but he noticed she didn’t deny it.

“I read,” he said. “Plus, I was aware of you before I knew about your connection to Diavolos and the girl I couldn’t save.”

She tucked a strand of her long blonde hair behind her ear, which just emphasized her high cheekbones and heart-shaped face.

“Don’t do that. You should have no guilt from me and my past,” she said.

If only it were that easy to believe his past sins were washed away. But he carried that with him wherever he went. He knew that he owed her something. He wished he’d been able to save her sooner. It didn’t matter that it had been his first op and he’d been green.

He wasn’t now, and this time he was going to keep her safe.

“Tell me about how you went from the streets to being someone who’s opinion matters a lot in the Twitterverse and on political news sites.”

She licked her lips and then settled back against the leather seats. “Bri and I made our way to D.C. because…well, at first I thought if I told our story to the cops or senators or someone that they’d help us, but no one would even talk to us. So I had to find us a place to live on the streets. I’d learned a lot from the compound. One of the guards had been kind to me—he used to teach me self-defense moves to use when the devil…Diavolos…wasn’t there.”

He didn’t want to hear more about that time in her life. She was lucky to have survived the compound, and life on the streets wasn’t any easier. “We shouldn’t have asked you to do this.”

“Why not?” she asked. “Clearly, you picked the right girl. Diavolos has been after me all night.”

“It’s only because Cockram put the word out that he’d found you.”

“Why did you do that?” she asked. “I mean, I’m curious about why you guys came to me.”

“On Pirate’s Bay there’s a wish list for dark web bounties. Sometimes it’s for an ex, other times it’s for a famous model or actress that someone wants. The bounties have a number associated with them. The smaller the number, the higher the reward. You showed up at the top of the list. When I saw the photos in the file that Kaylee hacked, I realized that you were the girl I couldn’t save ten years ago.”

Linc watched her, but she gave nothing away with her expression or her body language.

“Has it ever happened to you that you’ve been on a job and someone has recognized you from TMZ or Page Six?” Ella asked.

She was changing the subject and he let her. “One time. Believe it or not, I’m really not that well-known outside of certain circles. I have to be careful when I’m around the men that Cockram employs, because they kidnap wealthy people a lot, so my disguise has to stay in place the entire time I’m with them,” Linc admitted.

“I’m glad you’re so careful. So you have a brother?” she asked.

“I do. He’s two years younger than I am, and he’s smarter than me. When we were growing up I hated it, because I thought I knew it all, but Theo would always correct me. I eventually outgrew feeling inferior about that and we’re pretty close now.”

“Is he in your line of work?” Ella asked.

“No. He works with my dad. They want me to leave this career and come work for the company,” Linc said.

“Would you consider it?” Ella asked. “You seem pretty at home here. I saw you earlier with Quentin and his men, you can kick some serious ass.”

“Thanks. That’s just my training—”

“Don’t do that. It’s you, Linc. Take the compliment. Not a lot of men can do what you do,” she said.

But he knew that wasn’t true. He’d seen his team in action. He was good at his job, but there were times like right now when he wanted to say screw the mission and take Ella someplace far away from this.

“Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Two, you on?”

“I have to go back to work,” he said, reaching up to unmute his earpiece. “Two here.”

“We flushed your tails. It’s safe to continue to Cockram’s.”

“On my way. Two out.”

He muted his earpiece and turned back to Ella.

“I guess my sojourn in the car is over and it’s back to the trunk.” She sighed.

“Unfortunately,” he said.

“Why did you say to them? Two here?” she asked.

“That’s my number in our team. Mick is One, I’m Two—second in command. Cory is Three—he’s our tech guy and wicked with a knife. Frank is Four, he’s our sniper and logistic guy, and then Cade is Five, but he’s undercover in Diavolos’s operation, so hopefully you won’t meet him.”

“Why?”

“If you do, then something will have gone wrong,” Linc said.

He helped Ella back into the trunk and put the car in gear, focusing on keeping the mission on track and her safe.

* * *

Ella closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on the bumps and bruises on her body and not Linc. It freaked her out more than a little that she sort of trusted him.

Logically, it could be explained as him being the only decent man she’d encountered in the last little bit. The lady agent who’d said she could have a job if she wanted had to be out of her mind. Ella was never doing anything like this again. Having grown up on the streets, of course she knew how to fight. But she hated it.

The car stopped, the engine shutting off, and she strained to hear Linc’s footsteps or voice, but heard nothing. She waited for what seemed like a lifetime until the trunk opened and though she’d told herself she was ready for him to be different, she wasn’t.

The light was harsh after the darkness of the trunk and she squinted, trying to see, but then wished she couldn’t when she saw the man with Linc. Of course Cockram would have men who worked with him. How else would Linc be able to maintain his reputation?

“She looks like shit,” the man said.

“Yeah, I’ve got a guy coming to fix her up and bring her something better to wear,” Linc said, reaching in and grabbing her by the waist. He tossed her over his shoulder, the movement seemed rough, but he settled her carefully.

Which she appreciated, after having been slammed on the ground several times tonight.

She let her head hang down, because that was easier than trying to see where they were going. Probably another crappy warehouse, but she noticed that the pavement underneath them was colored concrete. She turned her head to the left. They were in a garage.

He continued walking, carrying her into a house that was warm. She noticed a mudroom/laundry room that was nicely decorated as he kept walking. It was a nice house. Not a creepy warehouse.

She immediately knew that Cockram was a very successful criminal. He climbed the stairs and then stopped moving, putting her on her feet. She threw a punch at him as he did so. He caught her fist and held it strongly.

“Bastard! Let me go.”

“No. And if you fight you’re just going to make things worse for yourself. My makeup guy can cover up most anything, so keep that in mind,” he said. “Henry, go and make sure everything is set up online for the bidding. I’ve got a private offer I have to check out.”

Henry left the room, but didn’t close the door.

“You’re never alone here. Keep that in mind,” he said under his breath. “The men that work for me aren’t government agents. They’re all criminals.”

She nodded.

“If you want a shower you can have one, someone is coming soon to do your hair and makeup. We want you to look like your old self.”

She started shaking. She’d worked so hard to distance herself from that girl. “What do you mean?”

“We know that you’re the girl who was known as Pale Twin.”

Of course they did. “I have a name.”

“Be glad I’m the one who figured it out, girlie, or you would have been back a long time ago.”

“Screw you,” she said. And she meant it. Were there others out there who’d been looking for her? She knew all but one of the videos no longer existed, because when they’d raided the compound where she and Bri had been kept, the servers and backups had all been destroyed by the government officials who’d come in.

Linc walked over to the door and closed it firmly and then locked it.

“Don’t be too mouthy,” he said in the soft undertone he’d used earlier. “Cockram would smack you around and I don’t want to have to do that.”

She nodded. “I hate this.”

“I know,” he said. “I don’t think anyone else would have found you.”

“Me either,” she said. “The government destroyed all the digital files.”

“I know. I was part of the team that did it,” he admitted. “I’m going to yell down that you’re being difficult and demanding a shower. I’m going to stay here and watch your back so you can clean up. Lock the door behind you.”

She nodded.

“Do you want a weapon?” he asked.

She’d lost her leather jacket when Quentin’s men had taken her, and he’d been so focused on getting her away from them he hadn’t stopped to collect it.

She shook her head. “I don’t know how to fire a gun.”

“What about a knife?”

She remembered the feel of Quentin’s blade against her throat. Would she be able to stab someone who was coming at her? She remembered the tattooed man who she’d been unable to beat with her self-defense moves.

“I don’t know how to use one,” she admitted. “I’d probably be easily disarmed and end up having it used against me.”

Linc nodded. “Go get started on your shower. The makeup guy is one of our team members—once he arrives, you stick by him or me.”

“Thank you,” she said, going up on tiptoe and kissing his jaw before turning and walking away.

She was aware of him yelling down to his men as she closed the bathroom door behind her and turned the lock. She knew that she didn’t have a lot of time, and hoped that Linc would be able to stay while she showered to watch over her.

She got undressed and got into the shower cubicle, letting the hot water wash over her and turning her face up into the spray so she could cry and not have to acknowledge it to herself.

She hoped she was strong enough to endure this, but a part of her wasn’t sure she was.

* * *

Linc walked around the bedroom, pacing as he waited for Ella to finish her shower. There was a small crack between the window’s edge and the end of the blinds that provided Linc with a glimpse of the street. He could observe the neighborhood without being seen. He looked down toward the street and noticed that there was a large SUV parked in front of one of the neighboring houses that normally wasn’t there.

He tapped his earpiece to unmute it. “Two here. There’s a vehicle on the street I don’t recognize.”

He rattled off the plate number and waited. Cory was en route to this location as the makeup man, so that meant that Frank or Mick would have to look it up. “One here. Six is running the plate.”

Kaylee was six. Not really a part of their team officially, but she was on the Diavolos mission, having been the cyber operative who’d found his server farm and helped bring down one of Diavolos’s lead hackers, Dirk Thomas. He was Kaylee’s father, and he’d shot his own daughter and had been prepared to turn her over to Reece Hammond.

“Affirmative. Two out.”

“Four here,” Frank said. “Vehicle in question has two occupants. Neither has moved since the it pulled up two minutes ago.”

“Let me know if that changes. One out.”

The door to the adjoining bathroom opened and a waft of steam filled the room. Linc moved away from the window and turned to see Ella standing there, wrapped in a towel. Her blonde hair hung down around her shoulders, darker with the wetness.

He felt a jolt of desire and tried to force it down. He was on the job. He looked over her head at the door behind her.

“I don’t know what I should put on,” she said, softly. “I don’t want to stay naked, but my clothes are dirty and smell.”

“Let me get you something to wear,” he said, turning his back on her and going to the dresser in the corner of the room. He opened the top drawer and took out a track suit that one of his guys had left behind. There was also a t-shirt and some boxers, but no women’s underclothing.

“This is all I have.”

“I’ll take it,” she said, startling him, because she’d moved closer and now stood behind him.

Why hadn’t he heard her move?

He reached out to touch a strand of her hair before he could stop himself, pushing it back behind her ear and staring down at her upturned face. Her eyes were wide and she watched him carefully.

“Do I scare you?” he asked.

She shook her head, the wet strands of her hair sliding between his fingers. “The opposite. You make me feel safe, even though I know that security is an illusion.”

Her words were the truth and nothing more. There was no safe place for her until Reece Hammond was caught.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I wanted to make this…well, not as horrible as it has been.”

“I know,” she said. “You have.”

He lightly touched the mark on her neck. “I’m not doing my job as well as I should. You never should have been taken by Quentin.”

“I think we all underestimated the draw of the bounty that Diavolos placed on me,” she said.

But he shouldn’t have. Linc had heard the desire and determination in Diavolos’s voice when he’d sent his message to the pirate marketplace. Linc had known that Diavolos would stop at nothing to get back the girls he’d thought of as his property. Linc knew that he had to do make sure that there were no more screw ups. Though Quentin’s play was unexpected, Linc should have anticipated it.

“It won’t happen again,” he said.

She lifted her hand up and placed it against his jaw. “You’ve got blood on your neck.”

“It’s not mine,” he reassured her. He was talking, trying to be cool and act like this was no big deal, but her fingers were cool against his neck and his body felt too tight, and his blood started to feel like it was running hotter in his veins. Her breath was sweet and minty and she smelled clean and fresh.

He closed his eyes, but the longing intensified. His mind filled with images of those arms wrapped around him, holding him close to her.

“Linc?”

“Hmm?” He opened his eyes and looked down at her.

“I need you to do something for me.”

“Anything,” he said.

“Make love to me,” she said.

“What?” He wasn’t sure he’d heard her correctly.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen, and no matter how hard you want to keep me safe, I think that’s a fifty-fifty proposition at best. And I’d rather go into this knowing the touch of a man who cares about me and doesn’t just see me as some sort of prize.”

“I don’t think—”

“I haven’t been with anyone since I left Diavolos. I’ve been afraid of intimacy, and never thought about a man’s kiss or touch until now. If things go wrong, I don’t want to die having only known perversion and violence.”

He knew he needed to say no. He had promised Ella he’d keep her safe, and he wanted her to know that no man was going to rape or abuse her while he was alive, but she’d asked him to do this, and he wasn’t sure he could turn her down without hurting her further.

She stepped back from him and let the towel drop, and he groaned. She’d made herself even more vulnerable and he knew he wasn’t going to walk away now.