Page 40 of The Billionaire's Angel

Aiden couldn't protect her like I could. He didn't have my training. He could handle a weapon. We all could. I knew he regularly used the Sinclair's range to keep his skills sharp, but occasional target shooting wasn't the same as over a decade in special forces. Someone had hurt Sophie, and I needed to make sure she wassafe.

Me, notAiden.

First, I had to search the basement. Logically, this was the only place the intruder could have gone after he hitSophie.

Methodically, I searched the kitchen storage room, marveling at the sheer amount of stuff Mrs. W had packed away to decorate, feed, and maintain Winters House. There were shelves of canned goods, extra kitchen equipment, and stacks of linens, neatly folded and wrapped in clear plastic. Two entire shelves of vases for flowerarrangements.

I'd grown up in this house, but I'd spent more than a third of my life living in army barracks and in conditions that made the barracks look like Winters House. No wonder I was having trouble adjusting to beinghome.

No one hid in the storage room. Ditto for the gym and the theater room. Frustrated, I made my way back upstairs, turning off lights as I went. I did a second check of all the rooms on the first floor and found nothing. Amelia still slept soundly, and the other rooms remained dark and empty just as they'd been the first time Ichecked.

Fuck.

Frustrated, I went to the kitchen to grab a bag of frozen peas from the freezer before jogging back up the stairs. I entered Aiden’s suite without knocking. He sat in a chair beside the couch, talking quietly to Sophie. They looked way too cozytogether.

“Did you find anything?” Sophieasked.

“Nothing.” Ignoring Aiden, I crossed the room and crouched beside her. “How's yourhead?”

Sophie tried to force a smile, but the lines bracketing her mouth and the furrow between her eyebrows told me she was afraid and inpain.

“Aiden gave me some ibuprofen,” she saidweakly.

Sliding my hand behind her neck, I lifted her head carefully, placing the bag of frozen peas behind it. “Any blurry vision, nausea, loss ofconsciousness?”

“No, I'm okay,” Sophiesaid.

I flicked my eyes to Aiden for confirmation. He gave me a short nod. It was likely she didn't have a concussion, but that knot on the back of her head was going to hurt like hell. Rising from my crouch, I nudged Sophie deeper into the cushions and sat on the edge of the couch, taking her hand inmine.

I couldn't forget the sight of her, crumpled on the floor, the look of confusion in her eyes as she stared up at me. The thought that she'd been hurt in my house, under my protection, wasintolerable.

Aiden watched us with an inscrutableexpression.

Abruptly, I lost mypatience.

“What did Cooper say about the alarm? This has to be the same person we heard in the library a few days ago. When the hell is Cooper getting out here to check thesystem?”

It wasn't like the Sinclairs to put us off. Our fathers had been best friends, and they were like family. Usually, if any of us had a problem, we shot straight to the top of theirlist.

Aiden's eyes fixed on my hand holding Sophie's, my thumb stroking her knuckles gently. Without looking at me, he said, “I didn't callhim.”

I exploded off the couch, dropping Sophie's hand. “What the fuck do you mean you didn't call him? I told you there was someone in the house. I told you I heardsomething.”

It took everything I had not to throw a punch at Aiden's smug face. He sat there, arms crossed over his chest, and watched me with an appraising look as if he were waiting forsomething.

Probably for me to lose it—to start screaming, or jump him, or do something equally unhinged. I wanted to. God damn, I really wanted to. Adrenaline surged through my body, lighting my nerves on fire, demanding Iact.

Aiden would've deserved every punishment I could meteout.

“Gage,” Sophie said, the low, smooth, sweet tones of her voice calming me, soothing me just enough to remind me of all the reasons I didn't want to beat the shit out of mycousin.

Well, notdidn't want to. More like shouldn't. The first of which was it would probably scare the crap out of Sophie. She'd been through enough for onenight.

Curling my hands into fists, I did my best to get myself under control. I hated this. This volatility wasn't me. I didn't have a temper. I was analytical and contained. Ice cold underpressure.

Tremors shook my muscles—adrenaline overload with nowhere to go. I paced to the closed door of Aiden’s suite and stood there, my back to Aiden and Sophie. I took a deep breath. Thenanother.

When I thought I could carry on a conversation with Aiden—without killing him—I turned back and said, “Explain yourself. I told you we heard someone in the house. You said you would call Cooper and get the alarm checked. Then you left town. You left usunprotected.”