Xavier watched the screen in front of him as Liam MacFarlane lounged on the sofa in his bachelor pad. So far, his surveillance of Liam had proven the second MacFarlane brother to be a complete bore. He worked on his giant muscles, screwed a different floozy every couple of days, and watched a shit ton of MMA on TV.

A message flashed in the top corner of his screen, and he clicked on it. The oldest MacFarlane brother was online, so Xavier clicked over to see what he was up to.

He sat up straighter, pressing several keys until his screen showed what he wanted it to. Cian’s laptop was transferring a file to an encrypted server.

“Bingo,” Xavier murmured as he intercepted the file and downloaded it to his own machine. The moment the transfer was complete, the file disappeared off Cian’s drive. He flipped on the camera that allowed him to see Cian. The stylish mobster was texting someone on a cheap burner phone. When he was done, he removed the SIM card and destroyed it before tossing the phone in the trash.

Xavier opened the file he’d stolen. It contained photos, a timeline, and spreadsheets. It didn’t take him long to see that the spreadsheets were mirror images of each other except for the dollar amounts on them. Money appeared between one and the next, money that was undoubtedly being laundered.

“You’ve obviously struck a deal with our friends,” Xavier muttered to himself. “But are you tossing your own family to the wolves?”

He had a hard time believing that, but really, it didn’t matter for his purposes. He needed capital, and Cian was handing it to him on a silver platter.

He watched as Cian sat back in his desk chair, staring at the computer screen with a look of exhaustion. A few seconds later, he stood and walked to his door. Xavier couldn’t see who was there, but Cian followed them out, leaving the computer camera focused on an empty room.

He tapped a pencil on his desk for a moment. He was getting closer. He could feel it. And when he had the last piece, he’d make sure the MacFarlanes gave him exactly what he needed. If Cian was lost in the cross fire, he didn’t much care. Liam was next in line, and he’d be a lot easier to manage than his older brother. Xavier clicked back to the image of Liam in his living room. He had his shirt off and was still sprawled on the sofa, his oversized muscles and tattoos dominating the space. Yes, Liam was a thickheaded moron. Xavier relished the idea of leaving the MacFarlane business in his hands. Cian be damned.

* * *

Lila’s fingers flew across the keyboard as page after page opened, layering her screen with billions of bytes of information.

She flipped between pages, closing one out as quickly as she opened another, her mind sifting through, eliminating one thing as rapidly as it saved another to dig into later. Drilling down to the true Xavier wasn’t easy, but Lila had a growing burn deep in her gut that told her it had to be done.

It was odd that she’d worked for the man for so many years and never thought twice about him or his motivations. She’d thought she knew him—your above-average outlaw hacker. She’d been around guys like him since she was a teenager. But his obsession with Cian, the way he’d been acting since they started working with the MacFarlanes—something about that wasn’t like anything she’d known from him or guys like him before. Lila’s sixth sense was ringing like a doorbell, and she needed to let the information in.

If she were being honest with herself, it was scary. These men were all scary, and while she’d always thought she was tough because of her father’s underworld associations, she was rapidly learning there was an entire criminal element that went way beyond anything she knew. If she had any sense, she’d keep her head down and ignore all of it. But there was something else there, something beyond her innate curiosity, and it was hard to admit.

She liked Cian MacFarlane. Not just in the obvious he’s-sexy-as-hell way, but in a genuine, he’s-a-good-guy way. Which he wasn’t. Yet, her gut kept saying it anyway. It didn’t make any sense. It was at odds with everything common sense told her, but regardless, she liked Cian MacFarlane. A lot.

And because of that, she couldn’t allow Xavier’s odd behavior to go unchecked. She had to know if he was a threat to Cian.

When her phone buzzed, she barely glanced at it, but then stopped when she saw Cian’s name flash. Speak of the devil.

She closed out of the page she had just opened, minimized several others, then picked up the phone, reading the text he’d sent.

Do you have time for another special assignment? I could use your help.

She sighed, her gaze darting to the computer screen and back to the phone.

Finally, she answered. When do you need this?

As soon as possible.

She looked at the computer monitor one more time, then hit a key that cancelled all the pages that were open, killing them one by one until there was nothing left but her screen saver—an anime kitten that reached out as if it was going to touch you with its paw over and over again.

Meet me at the Starbucks, she typed into the phone. Then she grabbed her tablet and bag and went to see the mobster she couldn’t seem to shake.

* * *

“Mr. MacFarlane has a table in the back,” Danny said as he met Lila at the door.

“How’s that new app I made you?” Lila asked as she smiled at him.

“It’s really great,” he replied, ushering her through the crowded coffee shop. “It works exactly like I wanted. Tracks all my steps and the money I spend in one place. You should sell it. You’d make a ton.”

She grinned. “You know, I just don’t want to spend the time, but if I ever did, I’d name it the Danny app and use a caricature of your face as the avatar.”

They were both laughing as they reached Cian’s table, and he stood to greet them, looking at Danny with tension showing in the lines around his mouth.

“Is Louis at the back?” Cian asked, gesturing to the other chair so Lila could sit down.

“Yes, sir,” Danny answered, sobering immediately when he saw Cian’s expression.

“Good. I’ll text when I’m ready to go.”

Danny nodded to Cian and gave Lila a quick wink before he made his way back to the front of the restaurant.

Cian sat and leaned back in his chair, giving Lila the once-over. She pretended to ignore him as she took off her jacket and opened her bag to remove the tablet.

“I didn’t realize you and Danny were such good friends,” he said slowly.

She glanced at him as he stared her down from across the tiny table, a shiver running through her from head to toe.

“I created a little app for him. He was complaining about having to use several different ones to get everything he needed, so I made him one with all the features he wanted combined.”

Cian blinked at her. “You can do that?”

Her brow wrinkled. She’d hacked the FBI for him and he was impressed with an app? Poor man, she thought. He had no clue about technology.

“Yeah, I can do a lot of stuff.”

“I bet you can,” he murmured as he took a sip of his coffee.

“Why did you call me here?” she asked, trying to ignore the way his remark made her feel. “Because I know it wasn’t to talk about my three-day-long friendship with Danny.”

Cian cleared his throat and sat forward. His blue eyes bore into hers, and she blinked back, trying to keep her mind focused on the job he was going to give her.

“I need more information, and it has to stay between us again.”

She nodded and waited. It was one of her most useful qualities, the ability to wait people out.

A barista called out a drink order, and she realized she hadn’t gotten anything to drink, and unlike all the other times they’d met here, Cian hadn’t offered her anything. He was either very distracted, or…something. She didn’t know what, but it made her feel gloomy.

“I need you to look for information on my father,” he said quietly.

“What kind of information?”

He glanced around, his long finger absentmindedly circling the tabletop. “Everything. Anything. Financial records, the records of his arrest three years ago, the case the FBI was building against him, who he talks to every day, where he goes, what he spends.”

Her heart beat a few times extra. As much as she tried to ignore her client’s dealings and motivations, there could be only one reason for this line of questioning—he was planning a coup. Taking the organization away from his father. And what would happen to the old man after that? Would Cian have him killed? Was he capable of that? Did she want him to be? Did she want him not to be?

“Is there something in particular you’re hoping to find?” she asked, her jaw tight.

He shook his head slightly. “You don’t need to worry about that. Just hand it all over to me, and I’ll sift through it.”

She nodded, suddenly more frightened by what he’d just asked her to do than anything else he’d requested to this point.

“Will the bonus I paid for the last job be adequate? Don’t hesitate to ask for more.”

“No. That was more than generous,” she said. She’d taken a delivery of ten thousand in cash the morning after she hacked the FBI.

“How soon can you get this done?”

“It probably won’t be hard, but there will be a lot of places to get into. It’ll take time.”

He nodded sharply. “Okay, I’ll check in with you in a few days, then.”

He went quiet, scanning the store with a thoroughness that spoke to how often he did it. She realized he was nearly always on alert, looking at his surroundings, keeping his back to walls, watching the door to any room, his body language relaxed but also ready to move at any moment.

She couldn’t say what possessed her to do it, but she suddenly reached across the table, putting her hand on his and twining their fingers together.

“Are you okay?” she asked, her voice rougher than normal.

His blue eyes looked at her from under the shock of dark hair that always fell over his brow. He idly rubbed his thumb across her knuckles. “I will be,” he said. “Thank you for asking.” Then he was standing and picking up his coffee cup. He looked down at her expectantly.

“I think I’m going to stay here and do some work,” she told him, feeling slightly rebuffed by his cool response.

“I’ll leave Danny here. He’ll walk you to your car. It’s going to be dark soon.”

“You really don’t need—”

“Lila. Danny’s staying.”

She nodded.

He watched her for another moment, then gave his head a small shake before walking away. As he left, Lila’s sense of foreboding grew. Cian might think he needed information about his father, but Lila’s gut told her he needed information on Xavier more, so she decided to start with that. But first, she ordered two cups of coffee, one for her and one for Danny. It was going to be a long night.