“I’ve ruined my jeans.” I melt into Liam. My own body exhausted. It feels like I’ve been dragged through the ringer. I have to concentrate to keep my eyes open. I chalk it all up to my relentless work schedule, Liam’s appetite to keep me up late, and coming off the high from the win.

I look down at my tattered jeans that are barely holding themselves together. I picked and ripped the holes during the entire game. I didn’t stop, not even when Rowe leaned over and slapped my hand every time she saw me doing it.

Liam holds me tighter from behind. The late Idaho sun on my front porch is warming me from head to toe. He sneaks a hand around to the front of my jeans. His fingertips dipping below them. Shit, I want this more than anything. To escape and lose myself in this man.

“Liam,” I warn.

“My cock is going to burst if I don’t get inside you right now.”

I throw my head back when his fingers dip dangerously low, taunting my folds. “You’re gonna have to wait.”

“Fuck that.” His hand goes lower.

I bite my lip wanting more than anything to encourage him. “I mean it. Wait.”

The excitement of today’s game is still coursing through my veins. The entire team played to perfection and more importantly played as a team united. Of course, there were plenty of penalties, bad calls, and mistakes made. But that’s why I hired the best head coach around.

Alex’s words from earlier today when I said good-bye to everyone after my and Liam’s families celebrated the win hit me square in my chest.

I can’t wait to be out here and take some of this responsibility off you.

My mood changed instantly. Alex might be part owner, but he has never shown an interest in wanting to work here. I stood there with confusion written all over me. Something is going on with him. Regardless of the distance the past year between him and me, we’ve always flocked toward one another whenever a crisis happens, and he gets me like no other. But I’ve kept things hidden from him, and now he’s keeping something from me.

With the stress lines etched across my forehead the past few days, he, as well as everyone else, thinks they have to do with the responsibility of being the general manager of this team. It doesn’t. It has to do with the four potted flower plants that are now stuffed into the corner of my porch.

I’ve avoided the validity of receiving these anonymous gifts long enough. It’s going to anger my family, piss them off in ways that will bring down the wrath my dad is known for, but I value my life, and I know what can happen when an obsessed stalker or whoever this sick person is cracks. People get hurt, some don’t survive, and I won’t jeopardize my life or anyone else’s for some twisted game ruled by a sick fuck.

I’m tired of pretending. Tired of trying to read every player, every man who walks by me wondering if it’s him. More importantly, I’m tired of keeping this secret from Liam and my family.

I have an amazing tribe of people who have taught me to be the best person I can be, and keeping this from them regardless of the actions that may arise is not the person they see in me.

I’m going to fail miserably at times in this job. One thing I won’t do is fail when it comes to their trust. I’ll take whatever any of them have to say, and I’ll suck up the disappointment from betraying Roan, but they will hear my reasons why first, and they will respect them.

“I can buy you a new pair. I love the way they shape your ass, although I love you naked more. Especially with your ass in the air and my cock inside of you,” he growls into my ear as his hand travels a bit lower. He’s so damn close. “Come on my fingers, baby. Just an appetizer.”

I roll my eyes, stand with a stiff spine when an SUV turns into my drive. I’d love nothing more than to let his fingers drift lower and finish off in bed well into the dark of night.

“Hopefully later. I have something to discuss with you, Alex, Dad, and Roan.”

“Fucking boner killer right there.” Liam eases his hand out of my jeans and rests it on my hip like he hadn’t just been about to sneak into the cookie jar.

I didn’t tell Liam they were stopping by. I’m fairly certain when I called my dad on Monday afternoon when I walked outside to say good-bye to Liam and noticed the plants sitting on my porch, he knew something was wrong. He didn’t question me over the phone, which threw me off, particularly the string of illicit questions or concerns I’ve grown accustomed to coming from my dad.

Suddenly the fresh air between us shifts. The scent of Liam’s soap drifts over me. I draw in a strong lungful. I need strength to get through this, and I’m drawing it from him. I grasp hold of his hand, pull his now tensed fingers into mine. The sexual desire wafting off him from a minute ago is gone.

A sharp, dull ache spreads through my chest, knowing I’m going to bring disappointment to all of them.

“I hope you didn’t ask us here to tell me you’re pregnant. I’d hate to kill our quarterback’s ass right after his big win.” Dad strides up to us with his outstretched hand. He’s a damn silver fox who will never lose any of his power.

Liam chuckles beside me. Shakes his hand while my mouth opens up, and I gasp. No-filter man that my father is. Good Lord.

“Dad, quit being a jerk. If I were pregnant, which I’m not, you'd deal with it. Something is going on; I should have told you about it when it first happened. Before you jump out of your skin, let me show you,” I blurt.

I let go of Liam’s hand, open my door, and flick on the porch light. I’m so nervous I could puke. My practiced words escape me.

“What the fuck is it?” The tightened question from the ever so calm and cool Roan straightens my back. I lift my finger to the corner where I shoved everything, including the box containing a piece of lingerie that isn’t mine.

“Don’t touch the lingerie; it’s not mine.” I can’t find the words to tell them what was coated all over the lacey material. It disgusts me.

In a few long strides, all four of them are kneeling over the pots and picking up the cards. I couldn’t bring myself to read the ones that were stuffed in the plants. It was scary enough with the first one. It scares the shit out of me that whoever is doing this knows where I live.

Even with remembering to set my alarm now or the nights Liam has stayed over, I’m afraid to close my eyes out of fear I’ll wake up to someone standing over me. It haunts me even when sleep does come.

I guide my gaze to my dad. His back is ramrod straight. Eyes feral and on the verge of anger like I’ve never seen radiating off him before.

“I knew you were keeping something from me. You mind telling us why? This is serious shit, Justice, and before you answer, your excuse better not be because you didn’t want us to worry.”

I thought my dad would be the first one to speak. Liam beat him to it.

I wring my hands together. Liam’s words from the other night about not making up an excuse thrum across the ache that has now found its way to my heart. I’ve considered myself to be strong and independent, but none of that matters now when four of the men I care about are waiting for an answer from me I don’t have.

“I’m not going to lie. That is my reason why.” A sudden wave of nausea curls my stomach; the unfamiliar arrival of uneasiness and anxiety at what’s in store for me for betraying my family and Liam outweighs the vagueness of my pitiful excuse.

I can’t ignore the race in my pulse or the look from the head of my family over hiding something like this from them. The outside world is much different from mine. We have strict guidelines we live by, and one of them is to protect one another at all costs. I’ve demolished it.

“Goddamn it, Justice. That isn’t good enough. You don’t get to make these kinds of choices when it comes to the safety of my family. Those choices are mine. Whoever is doing this could have come after you. Jesus Christ. You were always the one I worried about the most. The girl who thought she hid herself well. You’re my family, my blood, and you are as stubborn as your mother. This is something she would have done. It’s something I would have done, too. What I’m about to say to you is because you are a woman, Justice. A woman who we let live her life the way she wanted. You can take what I have to say any way you want. This, though, has stepped into our territory. You don’t have the right to make decisions when it comes to someone threatening my family. That is my job. I don’t give a shit who you are or what the public thinks of you. This ends here. We are staying here until we get to the bottom of this, and you will not be out of our sight.” My heart sinks. It doesn’t stop me from standing up for what I feel is right.

“And you don’t get to come here and in a roundabout way tell me that whoever is behind this will die. I know what you do to people who threaten those you love, Roan. They don’t live to see another day. I may be my mother’s daughter, but that is not the type of woman I am. I want this handled the right way. Either we go to the police, or I walk away.”

My legs are about to give out on me. I move to rest my body against the door. Closing my eyes and inhaling air. “I’m sorry. I would never walk away from any of you. I just don’t want anyone to die.”

“Jesus, sweetheart. We would never bring that down on you. Whoever is doing this needs to be taught a lesson. The cops will not be involved, but this person will not get away with this. I told you we knew how you felt, Justice. What I should have told you was, this is why we bought this football team. We bought it for you and for Alex because neither one of you want to live this kind of life.” I stop breathing.

Well, that answers my question as to what Alex was keeping from me. My eyes spring open, and my mouth hits the wood on my front porch. Deep down I knew the reason why they bought it. For me, I mean. They knew it would eventually bring me back to Liam. That I would fight for him if given a chance. But Alex, I was led to believe he would deal with things back in New York.

“What do you mean, you don’t want their kind of life? You’ve shadowed your dad around for years, Alex. If anyone is to take over the Diamond Empire, it would be you or your brother. Don’t give up something you want on my account.” I’m trying so hard to wrap my head around this. My body feels as if it’s being lassoed tight. I can barely breathe.

“I’m not giving anything up for you or anyone else. I’m doing it for me. Like you, I had to wait to talk to my parents when the time was right. I’m not wasting any more of it. I’ve told them. I’ve already started looking for a place to live. You’ve been busy building our empire out here, Justice. It’s time to step aside and let me be your partner.” Alex shrugs as if what he’s kept from me isn’t a big deal. I suppose it’s not. Still, it hurts a little that he’s known all along how I’ve felt and never once told me he felt the same.

“Okay,” I remark. I’m numb. Alex is Roan and Alina’s oldest son. By the way he talked, sat in meetings, and went places, he never offered to tell me I always assumed he would want to take over someday.

I hold my breath and wait for someone to speak. I’ve said what I need to say. Doesn’t stop my head from going on a full-out game of tug-o-war. I’m happy and sad.

“Sweetheart?” My dad calls out to me.

“Yeah?” I croak pathetically and turn to Liam. His playful expression from earlier is erased and filled with anger like I thought it would be. He’s clearly upset, despite that I see so much more in his eyes. He knows my family is talking about something they would never say in front of someone they didn’t trust. That word is more powerful than anyone realizes in our family, and I think now he honestly gets why it crushed me when I brought up how important trust really is, but the look in his eye now is stating I didn’t trust him with this. You’re wrong, Liam. So, so wrong.

I glance back to my dad. His words are powerful and full of meaning. They burst me wide open. “We love the two of you. Happiness for our children is more important to us than anything. I want you to listen and trust me. I promise whoever is doing this will not be killed unless it’s mafia related. If it is, we will never speak of this again. If you want me to let you live freely, then you have to let me take care of this. We have enemies, Justice. There are things you don’t know. Things I never want to tell you. And there are things I never want to tell your mother. One of them being something happened to you.”

I will never understand the ways of the underworld. Hearing the strain in my dad’s voice is enough to show me the strong man who helped bring me into this world is as human as I am when it comes to matters of the heart. All this time I thought he couldn’t protect me from my heart hurting. He’s proved me wrong.

All I can do now is hope whoever is behind this is not the mob.