Page 37 of His Forbidden Alliance

Remington’s eyes widened, and Lorenzo made a strangled noise as Dante looked at me like I’d lost my mind.

“You went over my head?” Remington asked.

“You told me to handle this my way, so I talked to X about people I was suspicious of. He cleared this guy.”

Lorenzo and Dante looked at each other.

Shit, they were reading too much into this. I could tell.

“You seem very interested in assuring us of the man’s innocence,” Lorenzo said.

I rolled my eyes. “He’s a good fuck. I don’t want you to kill him.”

Remington made a disgusted sound. “This is serious. You could’ve been killed.”

“I wasn’t. And I’m working on things. I’m doing exactly what you asked me to do.”

“Running around getting things blown up and going all the way up the chain to check out hookups is not what I asked you to do.”

I couldn’t really argue with that. “I have plenty of leads, and I’m working on the problem.”

“So far tonight, you’ve almost had your throat slit, and now your car exploded. How many of my men do I need to have watching you to keep you alive?”

“None. I can take care of myself. I’m ninety percent sure the knife thing was a personal vendetta.”

“You’re likely right. We haven’t found any connection between Andretti and Ivanov, but we’ll keep digging. What about your car? Any suspects there?”

“No. That one might not be personal.”

“I need you focused. I need you to stop having personal vendettas that cause people to chase you with knives. Fucking hell, Rafe. I thought you were ready to act like an adult.”

“I am. I am taking care of this. I’m watching several people at the casino, and I’m going to do everything you asked.”

“I hope to you hell you are. Let me know when you learn something, not X. And try not to get killed.”

“Yes, sir,” I said.

When Remington left, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I did not want to face my brothers, especially not with Zach upstairs. They were right. I was protecting him. I would do whatever was necessary to keep them from tracking him down, even knowing he was a goddamn fed. I’d lost my fucking mind.

He saved your life.

He had, and he hadn’t made me feel like a fool, even though I’d acted like one. He’d helped me through the shock. He’d taken care of my hand. What did all of that mean?

“Start talking,” Lorenzo said. “We want to know everything about this man.”

There was no point in trying to argue that he wasn’t anyone important. Dante already knew I was interested in a man, and Lorenzo had seen right through me. But what was I supposed to say? I couldn’t admit anything, not that I wanted to. It didn’t matter that Lorenzo and Dante had both fallen in love with amazing men. It didn’t matter that their connections had happened instantly. I still didn’t want to talk to them, and I sure as hell wouldn’t reveal anything about how I felt with Zach listening in. “There’s really nothing to tell.”

“Bullshit. And what’s this about you secretly working for Remington?” Dante asked.

I latched onto that. “Remington asked for my help and told me to keep it quiet.” Even though they knew something was up, I still intended to keep things vague. If Lorenzo discovered exactly what I was up to, he’d freak out and insist on doing the job for me.

That wasn’t going to happen. For whatever reason, Remington trusted me, and even though he was mad at me, he hadn’t taken me off the assignment. If I succeeded in finding the infiltrator and helping to track down Ivanov, I’d secure a real place for myself in the family.

“What kind of job?” Lorenzo asked.

“That’s between me and Remington.”

He snarled, looking his most dangerous. “Since when do we have fucking secrets from each other?”