Page 94 of Hide Little Traitor

“We’re working around the clock to get answers, boss. Are you sure you don’t want me to send a team to guard you?”

“No, that’s not necessary. Between us, we have enough reinforcements to protect the cabin. Any Lombardi movement?”

“No one has left the compound since Damon a few days ago. I can’t see any reason for it, but it looks like they’re on lockdown.”

I glance toward the house with furrowed brows.

Damon isn’t here of his own free will. He’s made that obvious at every single opportunity presented to him, but he has no place else to go. He either makes nice with us or he gets sent back to his father, who will kill him for his betrayal.

But I still can’t quite shake the feeling that he’s up to something. He hasn’t done anything suspicious since he’s been with us, but I haven’t survived as long as I have by ignoring my gut.

“Keep me updated, Corbin. And send me a report of the cases we’ve taken over the last twelve months. I want to check some things.”

“You got it.”

He ends the call, and I take a few minutes to breathe in the fresh morning air.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been forced to slow down, even working straight through having my appendix out last year. It’s not in my nature to relax. I barely know what a weekend is, and the only vacation I’ve ever taken was when Chloe needed me ten years ago.

I’ve spent all these years building a business that can sustain itself without my constant supervision because I wanted to be able to give her my full attention, and now she’s right inside, and I’m out here alone?

Sharing Chloe was never part of the plan. From the moment I carried her out of that gas station, bloody and broken, she was mine, and I did everything in my power to prepare my life for her.

But I didn’t prepare myself for the possibility that she would fall for someone else.

Or multiple someone else’s, I guess.

Stealing her away again will only make her hate me, and even if with time I’m able to win her love, she’ll always miss them.

I want to give her everything, so why wouldn’t I want to give her the love of multiple men? After all she’s lived through, everything she’s survived, she deserves everything in this world, and I refuse to be the one that stands in the way of that.

Shoving my phone back in my pocket, I stride toward the house and step inside, the warmth from the fresh fire a stark contrast from the cold morning outside.

It’s quiet inside the cabin, but it’s not until I glance at the couch that concern washes over me.

Chloe’s on top of Ryker, her eyes closed and brows pinched with pain, while Ronan sits beside them, gently rubbing her back.

But that’s not the most perplexing part of the scene.

It’s Damon sitting in the same armchair I watched from last night with eyes locked on the three of them.

His expression is unreadable, but he doesn’t so much as glance up when the cool breeze fills the living area.

“Is she okay?” I ask, moving toward the couch.

Ronan looks up and nods. “Just a flare. We gave her some acetaminophen, but it doesn’t seem to be helping, and the hot water bottle made her overheat, so we settled with Ryker as a human electric blanket.”

Without hesitating, I move to the couch and crouch beside them, brushing my fingers through her soft hair.

“Not feeling well, Mama?” I murmur.

She shakes her head, tears glistening in her eyes.

“When was the last time you saw your specialist?”

“A while,” she admits, glancing at Ronan. “It wasn’t the same going by myself, and it was just another reminder of everything I lost.”

He sucks in a breath as he presses his eyes closed, but the soft drag of his fingers down her back never falters.