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How’s my daughter? Well, when I last saw her, she looked like she’d been well fucked.
“Alexis is fine. She’s safe for now.”
“No thanks to you.”
I’ve known Will since I was nine or ten, and he’s always treated me well. I’m willing to show him some respect, but I’m not here to be his punching bag. Besides, if he’s going to trust me to protect his daughter, he needs to know I’m up to the job.
I decide to sit. Standing like a scared kid ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble isn’t going to help my cause. After unbuttoning my suit jacket, I take a seat across from him and lean back in the chair, looking more relaxed than I feel.
“Comfy?” he snarls.
Sometimes it’s prudent to soften the target before lowering the boom. This isn’t one of those times.
“I want Alexis under my protection, if she agrees to it.” Or even if she doesn’t agree, but I’m not planning to let it get to that.
Will is deathly calm. The kind of calm that pings frenetically off the walls.
I’m bigger than him. Stronger. A lot younger. And I could probably take him mano a mano. But we’re in his house, and aside from the weapons on his person, I’m sure the guards outside would love to do some real damage. But it had to be said. This isn’t a carnival. No reason to play hide the ball.
“You fucker,” he hisses, sliding off the desk. He doesn’t lunge for me, like I expect. Instead, he moves behind the desk, takes a gun from the top drawer, and lays it in front of him.
My pulse ticks up, not enough so he can notice, but enough to make me hyperaware of the distance between his hand and the gun.
“I suppose under your protection includes warming your bed.”
It’s his daughter. Fair question. Sex has nothing to do with my plan. If anything, it only complicates things. “It does not.”
“I’m supposed to believe that?”
“Believe what you want, but I give you my word that her safety does not hinge on an intimate relationship.” Hinge on me fucking her was on the tip of my tongue, but I’m not that stupid. “Nor would I ever suggest anything like that to her.”
“I can protect my daughter just fine,” he says through gritted teeth. “I’ve been doing it all her life. And until she walked into your club, her safety has never been at issue.”
Bullshit. I’m tired of looking up at him. It’s only making him feel more powerful. I stand and walk over to the window, bracing my back against the casing.
“You’ve protected Alexis from your formidable enemies all her life. I’m not here to argue that point. But with all due respect, sir, she’s a woman now, with a mind of her own, and she doesn’t want your protection.”
While I’m tempted to glance at how close his hand is to the gun, my eyes don’t leave his.
“She doesn’t want to live in a cage,” I continue, “not even a gilded one. So she slips her security and traipses across the Continent, doing whatever the hell she wants—with no protection. She was in danger in Porto, and she came to Sirena because she believed I could keep her safe. And I did.” Although I took a risk by going forward with the operation even after I knew she was part of the group. That still weighs heavily on my conscience.
Long seconds pass, and I’m still alive. But his menacing glower tells me he’s thinking about changing that.
“I don’t need some punk coming in here to tell me about my daughter. I know Alexis. She came out of the womb rebelling. The minute you try to clip her wings, she’ll ditch your security without chipping a nail. And you won’t have a fucking clue how to deal with her.”
Maybe not, but it couldn’t be more dangerous than it is now.
“And you do?”
His fingers inch toward the gun, but I’ve come this far, and I don’t shrink.
“What exactly is your plan?” he barks.
“My plan is to keep her well guarded with soldiers who she doesn’t feel the need to slip, because they’re not a pipeline of information to you.” Foolish, maybe, but again, it had to be said.
“But they will be to you.”
I shake my head. “They will not report to me unless there’s a major problem. She’s an adult and deserves some privacy and a right to make her own decisions. It’s a new world, Will, and Alexis isn’t having any of the old bullshit. You’re going to lose her,” I add softly.
