Page 81 of Untamed Sinner

“Of course, me.” I shrug. “Ashford hired you. He trusts you enough to believe you can get past everyone else and deliver what he wants without making a mess he has to clean up.”

“You’re not what he wants.” The words come out cold enough to frost glass.

“Fine. Who he wants.” I hold his gaze. “Either way, if you tell him you’re ready to deliver, he has to give you somewhere to bring me. A place. A time. Maybe he shows up himself. Maybe he sends someone. But I’m saying we make him move instead of chasing him.”

Mason nods slowly. “Moving creates exposure.”

“Exactly.” I look around the table. “Right now, Ashford has every advantage. We don’t know where he is, if anyone’s protecting him, or how deep this goes. But he doesn’t know we know about Turner. He probably doesn’t know what’s exactly on the memory card. And he sure as hell doesn’t know Hendricks switched sides.”

I turn back to Hendricks. “That’s our advantage. Why would we throw it away?”

“Because the bait is you.”

“Yeah.” I give him a crooked smile. “Lucky for us, I’m fucking irresistible.”

58

HENDRICKS

“She’s right,” Luke says into the silence that’s fallen in the room.

I turn my head slowly toward him.

“Strategically.” He holds his hands up. “I meant strategically.”

Every muscle in my body locks and I struggle to maintain a calm tone instead of roaring like I want to. "No."

Mandy throws her hands up. "Will you fucking listen?"

"I listened.”

“Not close enough, apparently,” she retorts with a narrow look.

Luke clears his throat, but I glare at him and he has the good sense to shut up.

Mandy stands, her hands on her hips. "Think about it tactically."

She’s wearing her usual clothes: tactical pants and a fitted long-sleeved top. I liked her better in my shirt. "I am thinking tactically."

"No, you're thinking about it like the guy sleeping with me."

"This meeting got interesting," Luke mutters.

Harper elbows him.

Mandy plants herself in front of me. "If you show up without me, Ashford knows something's wrong."

"I'll handle it."

"If you disappear, he sends someone else."

The thought of Ashford sending someone else after Mandy makes something cold and lethal settle in my chest. "I won’t disappear, and I'll handle them too."

She arches her brow. "And the next person?"

“Them too.”

Mandy presses her hand to her forehead. “Jesus, Hendricks. You can’t murder your way through Ashford’s entire contact list.”