Page 79 of Untamed Sinner

I shake my head. "We don't know yet."

"We know enough," Mandy says.

I face her. If she thinks I’m going to hand deliver her to that sick fuck, she needs to have her head examined.

She ignores me, focusing on the Blackthorn team. "Turner was keeping tabs on Clara. Turner was connected to Ashford. Ashford hired Hendricks to bring me to him."

Luke's gaze shifts to me, and Jake's follows. Mason goes still. I can practically hear Lily’s name in his head.

Harper leans forward, her palms on the table. "Ashford hired you to deliver Mandy?"

"Yes."

Nobody moves. I know exactly what they're thinking—whether I ever intended to collect.

Mandy tugs me down to sit in the chair next to hers. "Before everyone gets all murdery on my behalf, Hendricks was never going to turn me over to Ashford."

Luke looks at me. "Obviously."

“Which is why I need you guys to help me convince him to do it,” she says.

“No.” I cross my arms and stare at her levelly.

She sighs. “See? He’s being difficult.”

57

MANDY

Hendricks leans back in his chair, arms crossed, jaw set.

I know that look. It's the one that says he's already made his decision and the rest of us are wasting our breath.

Too bad.

"Ashford will know Mandy was inside Turner's operation," Hendricks says, his voice flat and controlled. "He knows she survived it and is hunting his clientele. We have to assume he knows she took the notebook. Regardless, he believes she has something that belongs to him."

Jake nods. "Then she's a liability."

"Yes."

"A big one," Mason adds.

I’m tempted to throw a donut at my almost-brother-in-law’s head.

Hendricks's jaw tightens—just a fraction, but I catch it. I've spent enough time watching him to recognize when he's fighting to stay in control.

I slide my hand onto his thigh under the table.

His muscle goes rigid beneath my palm. The tension radiates through him, the barely restrained violence coiled beneath his skin. He's not thinking tactically right now. He's thinking about what Ashford would do to me if he got the chance.

I understand it. If anyone hurt him, I’d go on a rampage. But we don't have the luxury of letting fear make our decisions. I sit up to say⁠—

"No," Hendricks interrupts.

Five heads turn toward him.

I hold my palms up. "I haven't said anything yet."