We drive down the now familiar road heading toward Julia’s father and his sickbed. The tension in the car is thick and Julia hasn’t said a word since she told me that we’re going to visit her father.

I understand her hesitation and I can’t really blame her for it. From her perspective, I was touching her daughter while wearing nearly nothing, and although it turned out that I had a good reason to be doing it, she still was worried about what it meant.

We didn’t talk about it, though. We talked about the call, and a little bit about the recording, but she’s been dodging my questions for days.

I’ve been fucking good. I’ve stayed away from Sydney, despite wanting nothing more than to burst into her room and take that dripping little pussy. She keeps giving me looks, lying around the pool, practically inviting me to touch her again. But I’ve resisted, mainly because I know it would be bad for her if we got caught.

Last night though, I almost lost control. When I saw how afraid she was, I wanted to kiss her so badly, wanted to make her feel good all over again. I wanted to take the pain away from her. But then her mother appeared and reminded me just why I’ve been holding myself at a distance for the last week.

I lean back in my seat and glance at Julia. As far as I know, she listened to the recording of her brother being a total psycho in his office, but it didn’t seem to change her mind. Or at least not completely. She did let me hire a couple of guys to keep watch around the property, which was a pretty big victory for me, but otherwise she won’t admit that Evan might really be a serious threat.

I’m more than convinced, and this call to Sydney just underlines his danger even more. I look at Julia again, annoyed about this awkward silence, annoyed about her refusal to engage.

“We need to talk about this,” I say to her.

She doesn’t react. “I was wondering how long before you’d bring it up.”

“Julia, your brother is dangerous.”

She gives me a small smile. “You’re probably right.”

“So why aren’t we doing more about it?”

“I let you hire those men.”

“They’re not enough.”

“They’ll have to be.” She sighs, shaking her head. “You don’t get it yet, do you?”

“Enlighten me.”

“This whole thing is a public relations move,” she says. “My company isn’t exactly under close scrutiny, but if a CEO starts hiring private security like crazy, people are bound to notice and ask questions.”

“You want to keep this out of the press,” I say, nodding. “I can respect that. But if Evan does something... “

“He won’t,” she says. “He’s in little image war as much as I am. Right now, he’s all bluster and threats, but he can’t follow through on any of it.”

“Because if he does, he invites scrutiny.”

“Exactly. And he won’t survive it.”

I sigh, shaking my head. “I don’t like it. It just feels like a flimsy excuse to do nothing.”

“Maybe.” She pauses as we pull into her father’s driveway. “But you need to remember something, Connor.” She pulls up into her usual spot and turns to face me. “You’re not part of this family.”

I stare back at her, eyes narrowed. “I’m aware of that.”

“You’re not my husband. You’re not Sydney’s stepfather. You’re just a hired hand.”

“Then let me do my job. Take the threat more seriously.”

“No,” she says, watching me intently. “What were you doing with Sydney last night?”

I sigh, shaking my head. I knew she’d bring this up eventually, even though she’s clearly doing it just to change the subject. “She was afraid. What was I supposed to do?”

“Keep your hands off her,” she answers. “Did anything else happen that I’m not aware of?”

For a second, I consider telling her about Sydney’s phone, but I decide not to. She’ll probably force me to give it back, but right now it’s our best weapon against her brother. I can’t risk her foolish obstruction to get in the way of this.

“Nothing,” I say. “In the future, I’ll get you first.”

“Good. I’m glad you’re starting to understand.” She flashes me a smile. “Ready?”

“Fine,” I grunt, feeling angry, but I push it back down inside of me.

“Let’s go.” She unbuckles her seatbelt and climbs out of the car. I follow her, walking up the paved cobblestones and the front steps before pulling open the large front door.

As soon as we step inside, it feels wrong. I can practically taste it in the air. Julia steps into the entrance hall and as the door shuts behind me, several men step out of a side hallway.

They’re not the normal staff, not at all. I don’t know who they are, but I recognize their type.

Big guys, dark suits, bulges at their hips. They’re all packing weapons, and I suddenly wish I had brought my own. They’re thugs, goons, mafia hired hands, the sort of guys that I avoid at all costs because they’re fucking dangerous. And of course, we’re outnumbered.

“Who are you?” Julia asks, stepping up to the first guy. He’s short, a few inches shorter than me, and a little heavy. But he has that look in his eyes, like he’s ready to do violence, and part of him wants it.

“Your father, he isn’t feeling well today,” the man says.

“Who are you?” she asks again. “Get out of my way.” She goes to step past him, but he blocks the way.

I step up beside her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Julia.”

“No, this is absurd. Step aside, sir. I want to see my father.”

“I fuckin’ told you, he’s sick. You understand me, yeah?” He leers at me, a sick grin.

“Julia,” I warn, sensing that the situation is about to get out of control.

She shrugs off my hand and goes to step past the guy, but he pushes her back. As soon as he makes contact, I step past her and slam the side of my hand into his throat.

He gags once then drops to the ground, choking. The guys all around me move fast, pulling their weapons, but I’ve already grabbed Julia and thrown her toward the door. I block her body with my own as suddenly there are three guns pointed right at us.

The short guy is still on the ground, choking and gagging. I suspect he’s going to have some longterm damage to his vocal chords, but it serves him right for touching a woman.

“All right, guys,” I say. “Easy. Your friend is fine.”

“You shouldn’t have fucking done that,” one of the guys says, stepping forward. He’s blond with deep blue eyes and a scar along his chin.

“We’re going to turn and leave. Unless you want to murder us right here?”

“Fuckin’ should,” blondie says, eyes raging.

“Enough!”

Another voice cuts in through the crowd. I look over as Julia’s brother steps into the room from the doors that lead to her father’s library. He walks into the group, waving his hands.

“Lower your weapons,” he says, smirking. “Can’t you see that’s my sister?”

“Evan,” Julia says, sounding shaken. “What’s going on here?”

“I was just visiting Dad,” he says, stepping in the middle of the ground. The men lower their guns, but they don’t holster them. Julia steps beside me, arms crossed, but I can tell she’s shaking.

“Why are they blocking my way? Who are these men?”

“Associates,” Evan says. “Dad isn’t feeling well today. I don’t think you’re going to get to see him.”

She stares at her brother for a second, like she doesn’t understand.

“Come on, Julia,” I say softly. “We should go.”

“Listen to your little pet,” Evan says, laughing.

“What happened to you?” she asks, eyes wide.

“You happened.” Evan sneers at her. “Go home, Jules. You’re not wanted here.”

She pauses for a second then shakes her head, turns, and opens the door. She walks outside without stopping. I follow her, shutting the door behind us, and have to hurry to catch up.

She climbs into the passenger seat so I get behind the wheel. I start the engine then look at her. “You okay?”

She’s shaking, clearly upset, but she nods once. “I guess you want to say you told me so.”

“No,” I say. “Not at all.”

I put the car into drive and head out around the curving driveway, angling back toward Julia’s house.

“Have you ever had a gun pointed at you before?” she asks.

I laugh a little. “Yeah. A few times.”

“Does it get easier?”

“Not really,” I say honestly. “Some people can turn off that fear part of their brains with training. But hopefully you never have to do that again.”

She nods and lapses into the silence. I glance at her and for a second, I see something of Sydney there. It’s some kind of vulnerability that she normally doesn’t have, and it humanizes her to me a little bit.

At least now she knows. Her brother is a dangerous man, and we can’t keep pretending like he isn’t. I won’t tell her that I told her so, but I will make sure she starts to take this threat seriously and lets me hire some more guys.

I just wish it hadn’t taken this much before she figured it all out.