Page 59 of What Doesn't Kill You…

"You did what?" Rodrigo said, his voice low and tense.

They were sitting beside the pool because her mother had been adamant that they should all have lunch together. Violet had tried to get out of it. She’d explained that she wasn’t up to joining everyone for lunch because the ordeal at the warehouse had been too much for her.

Of course, her mother didn’t buy it. She’d patted Violet’s arm and told her she needed a nice, quiet time by the pool to help her calm down. When Violet had insisted on going back to her room alone, her mother had threatened to tell Max the meaning behind the flowers she'd chosen.

And that was how you made a threat.

"I did what I had to," Violet said, speaking softly. Not that you would hear their conversation over the noise her nieces were making in the pool. "The pockets of my shorts were full of dirt from the plant monitors. If I'd shown that to him, he'd have known we’d messed with the estate plants."

As Max watched with concern from the other side of the umbrellaed table, Rodrigo let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah, but there had to have been another way to handle things because now we're stuck waiting to see if this guy goes running to Damien. This whole op could go to hell fast." He gestured to her family, laughing at the table next to them. "Did you think about what could happen to them if this goes sideways?"

Now it wasn't the guard's arm she wanted to break. "Of course, I did," she snapped. "He isn't going to tell Damien anything."

"What makes you so sure." He frowned at her.

She almost laughed. "Years of experience. The male ego generally can't cope with being beaten by a woman my size. Men don't tend to tell people about their experience."

Rodrigo wasn't convinced. "I'd report it if it happened to me."

"That's because you don't have a criminal ego. With those guys it's all about credibility. You don't survive in the game if you let someone smaller and, supposedly, weaker beat you up."

He thought about it for a minute. "I'll give you that, but you still can't guarantee he won't say anything." He rubbed his temples. "Plus, you took the guy's phone and radio. How's he gonna explain that?"

"I don't care. All I care about is that Katrina is ferrying them to Evan as we speak. Hopefully, he can hack them and get some information that'll help us." She glanced at the clock on the screen of her phone. "The listening devices should be live now too. With the footage Evan got of the estate, we won't be working in the dark when we go snooping tonight." She considered that for a second. "I mean communication darkness, not the cover of night. That we want."

She glared at Max. His verbal diarrhea was contagious.

The fool grinned back and Violet's stomach did a little flip. She put it down to hunger.

Over at the pool, Harvey shouted "Geronimo!" and did a cannonball into the water. Her nieces screamed and Jasmine, who'd been sitting on the edge, shouted at him for ruining her hair. All Violet could think was that somebody had better have applied a bucket full of sunscreen to Harvey's blue skin. Otherwise, they'd need a paramedic by dinner time.

Her mother waved from the table beside them in a far from subtle attempt to get Violet's attention. When Violet looked over, she was met with a sweet smile under eyes of steel.

"Don't you feel much better," she called. "I'd say you were well enough to show me your dress now. As soon as we're done here, we're heading to your room for a viewing. Be prepared to model it for us." Before Violet could protest, her mum turned to Max. "You need to be occupied elsewhere. A groom shouldn't see the bride in her dress before the wedding day." She narrowed her eyes. "You haven't already seen her in it, have you?"

"No, Mrs. Lee." Max shook his head fervently. "I know the rules."

A little demon took hold of Violet, and she gleefully threw him under the bus to get her mother's attention off herself.

"That's because he's been married before," Violet said, with all the innocence she could muster.

All Lee family eyes turned to Max and there was a second of heavy silence before the questions started. Violet couldn't help but smile with satisfaction.

"That was evil," Rodrigo said, amused.

"He deserves it. Plus, I've decided his new role in this mission is to keep my family occupied. It's the least he can do."

As she watched him fend off questions, even from the pool where her nieces and brother-in-law were hanging on the side listening in on everything, it occurred to her that there might actually be some benefits to getting married after all. For one, whenever family became too much, she could throw her husband at them like a sacrificial lamb. It was almost enough to make a woman want to walk down the aisle.

"I'm texting Abasi," Rodrigo said, ruining her fun by making her think of work again. "Maybe he's heard whether the guard has gone running to Poole."

"Maybe," Violet said. "But it's pointless because I'm telling you, he won't do it." She knew her victims. This one was far too proud to talk about their encounter.

Their discussion came to a halt as her grandmother wandered over and took the empty seat beside Violet. She was wearing red silk pants and a matching shirt. The outfit flowed as she walked. Meanwhile, her gray hair was in its usual bun, low in the back of her head. While everyone else looked like they were on holiday, Lian looked like she was attending a royal garden party.

She patted Violet's arm with a hand that was deceptively fragile. Her gran was one of the strongest people Violet knew. Anyone who couldn't see past her paper-thin skin, and the lines of age around her eyes, deserved everything they got when they dealt with Lian.

"I like your young man," she said, her eyes on Max.