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“Where are you taking the prisoner?” one of the men asked. He had dark blond hair and muddy-brown eyes. He was built through the shoulders, had a thick neck and wide arms. He had meat shield written all over him.
“I’ve got orders to move her.”
The other guard narrowed his eyes at Torin. “Who ordered you to do it?”
“Mannix.”
The two men stepped aside immediately, and Torin jabbed the gun into my ribs a little harder to get me moving. I stared at him from the corner of my eye, trying to figure out how he was pulling this off. When we got to the bottom of the stairs, he shoved me toward the front door, which was being manned by another guard—the same one who had caught me outside.
“Where are you taking her?” he asked, eying me like he could see what was underneath my dress. “I was supposed to have a little fun with her later.”
“Boss’s order,” Torin replied. “Ease down there, Jack.” Pulling on my arm, Torin drew me through the door and into the back of a waiting Rover. As soon as the door was shut behind me, I stared at the front of the house, waiting for people to start pouring out the front door, guns drawn, yelling at us to stop.
It never happened, though.
Torin simply got into the front, gunned the engine, and drove off with me in the back.
“Do me a favor and not speak for a while,” he told me in a hard voice. I looked at his eyes in the rearview mirror, then watched as he brought his finger to his mouth. Silence. Were they listening? Was the SUV bugged?
I nodded to show him I understood, and he passed a box of Kleenex back to me. Snapping half a dozen tissues free, I held them to my throbbing head. How in the hell had Torin been able to walk right out of there… unless… unlesshewas the rat everyone had been chasing? As much as I wanted to ask him—no,demandhe tell me—I kept my lips shut and my breathing even.
Eventually, we pulled to a stop at a gas station. Torin slid the car into park, then turned around to look at me. He held his finger to his mouth once more, then started pulling out a small listening device that had been mounted under the driver’s seat. Winding down the window, he threw it out then closed things up.
“Are you all right, lass?”
I nodded. “What the hell was that?”
He looked chagrinned. “Sorry about the gun.”
“You’re the fucking rat?”
Unease flickered in his dark eyes. “It’s not what it looks like, lass.”
“Then what does it look like?”
He blew out a breath, then turned his gaze to the gas pumps, where people were going about their business.
“I don’t know how to explain it.”
“Well, you should try. How in the hell did we just walk out of that compound? How did you get in? Justhow?”
Turning in his seat, he stared at me, not speaking until I met his eye. “I need you to trust me, lass.”
“Trust you?”
“Aye. You’re not safe yet. Once I have you back to Finnan, I’ll tell him everything.”
I was in a predicament here. On the one hand, I had to trust him. I had to trust that he would take me back to Finnan and the Mac Tíre clan. He was my only hope at this point. On the other hand, if hewasthe rat, what would stop him from turning around and taking me back to the Bèar Clan at the drop of a hat?
“Please, Sloane. Don’t make me threaten ya with telling Finnan about you and Grayson. You know what will happen to him if he finds out you’ve been fucking behind his back.”
I kept my face neutral, my breathing even. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
His expression faltered, slipping into sadness. He shook his head. “Aye, you do. I’ll keep your secret, but I need you to keep mine just a little longer. Just until I can explain everything to Finnan.”
My options were cut down to two. I couldn’t let Grayson be killed for our relationship—if that’s what it even was—and if Torin told the clan boss about it, I had no doubt that Finnan would pull the trigger.
I knew Torin’s secret, and in order to keep my silence, he held Grayson’s life in his hands.
