Page 27 of Merciless King

Jude tried to intervene. “We were bringing him in.”

Connor shook his head, eyes hard, still on me. “Yeah, well, I need the guy in one piece, or at least conscious for questioning.”

My fingers curled and uncurled at my sides. I wanted the fucker behind this door in a bad way, and I sure as hell wanted to be the one to question him. I wanted my pound of flesh.

“I think you’ve got a personal stake in this, Van,” Connor said. “Nothing good can come from you going in there. Not one damn thing.”

I held his hard stare. “You telling me you don’t?”

Connor’s lips curled up on one side, and he didn’t even bother to deny it.

The guy wanted London. I’d picked up on it two years ago, and honestly, I thought he’d make his move after she recovered.

Connor waved the uniformed officers forward, then his stare came back to me. “Stand back.”

I did, reluctantly, still not one hundred percent sure I wouldn’t beat the asshole in the apartment in front of us anyway when he was dragged out.

The boys in blue knocked then Connor all but took down the door.

Ferida was in the bedroom, and they cuffed him and led him out of the apartment. I watched him move toward me, looking outraged.

“What the hell is this all about?” Ferida said, red-faced and struggling against his cuffs.

I wanted to tear his head from his shoulders.

Zeke’s hand locked on my shoulder. I’d stepped toward the sick fucker and hadn’t even noticed. It would be so easy to pull my gun and blow the motherfucker’s head off. So damn easy.

We followed them down and watched as they loaded Ferida into a car and took him away.

With nothing left for us to do, Zeke and Jude went home to their women and kids a short time later, and I headed for my place, where London would be waiting since Ruby had given her a ride after work.

I should stay the hell away.

That thought was still bouncing around my skull as I parked my car in the underground parking garage and strode to the elevator. The bad guy was behind bars. London was safe. Which meant I had her in my place, in my bed, for one last night. No, nothing could or would happen, but I wanted to be near her for the time we had left.

* * *

London

Ruby—who I’d learned was engaged to a guy named Neco, a PI and a friend of Van’s who also worked at the King Agency—sat on the couch beside me. She was laughing at something Lulu had said. Lulu manned the reception desk at the agency and was married to Hunter, Van’s brother, and I’d briefly met her already. Sunny was Zeke’s wife, and she was bouncing their baby, Hope, on her knee while Josh, Lulu and Hunter’s son, lay on the floor, coloring. Opposite me sat Willa, Jude’s fiancée, and her niece, Tilly, who she was raising, sat beside her, sharing a bowl of chips with a heavily pregnant Steph. Steph was a friend of them all, but her husband Tomas didn’t work at the agency and I hadn’t quite worked out where he fitted in.

These women were Ruby’s friends—wives, girlfriends, fiancées of the men at King Agency. I’d felt so out of my depth when they first arrived I wasn’t sure I’d said more than two words for the first hour. My anxiety had been intense, and I felt flustered, flushed, and awkward.

I was sure they were judging me, sizing me up, that they’d find me wanting.

But I was wrong.

When Ruby drove me home, I’d assumed she’d leave. Instead, she’d organized an impromptu girls’ night. I’d never been to a girls’ night. I’d avoided anything that resembled a girls’ night. Not that I’d had much opportunity to take part in one before now.

But they’d been so nice. They hadn’t overly focused on me, like they knew this wasn’t something I was used to. They asked questions, but nothing intrusive. They’d kept it light and easy, and before I knew what I was doing I was enjoying myself.

How was that possible with everything going on in my life?

I didn’t know, but I was happy for the break from all the fear and the unknown.

“So, London,” Ruby said over the chatter. “What’s the deal with you and Van?”

My hands went clammy immediately and I felt my face heat. I knew I had to be tomato red. “T-there’s nothing…I mean, I slept in his bed a few times because I was freaking out, but we’re not, we haven’t…”