Page 24 of Dane

She nodded and obeyed, putting it on speaker without direction. Pride bloomed in my chest. Maybe Brielle thought of us as a team already. “Hello?”

“Hi, Brielle. I know it’s early and I’m sorry, but we need you to be ready in about two hours. Grant Sutton filed a police report first thing this morning, claiming theft of proprietary files and bank data. I’m preparing, but the legal pressure is going to ramp up very quickly now. Ethan and I will be at the compound by ten.” There was a pause. “Is Dane with you?”

The panic in Brielle’s eyes almost made me smile. I took pity on her and answered Lana. “Yeah, Lana. I’m with her.”

“Good.” I had to hide my grin at Brielle’s shocked look. Clearly, she’d expected Lana to react differently. Admittedly, I had too, but I’d heard the woman had a sixth sense about which man to pair with which woman. Whether or not she did it intentionally, Lana had personally introduced more than one of the old ladies to their men. “Dane, stick close to Brielle. I don’t care what threats anyone implies to you about putting you back in prison, Ethan and I can protect you from legal complications. Brielle, don’t talk to anyone you don’t recognize.”

“I’ll make sure Knuckles is aware,” I said. “We tend to keep everyone out, though.”

Brielle looked up at me, fear in her eyes. “What does he know?”

Lana reassured her quickly. “At the moment, only that you’re gone and that the archive was accessed. Things will start to escalate now. Expect private investigators or law enforcement to be poking around. Knight’s helping keep up to date with any investigation, but you still need to be careful. Stay with Dane if you can.”

She shot me a sidelong look. I nodded, reaching over to cup the back of her neck, just so she felt it. “We’ll be there.”

Brielle ended the call and let the phone fall to the bed beside us. She ran her hands through her hair, looking at the floor. “I always thought if I did the right thing, even once, maybe it would be enough. I never thought it would be this hard.”

“People are assholes who get pissed when they aren’t smart enough not to get caught.” I stroked her cheek with my thumb. “I should know. Because I was one of them.”

“I’m so sorry, Dane.”

“Hush,” I whispered sharply. “Never be sorry about what you did to survive. Not to me. Not to anyone else. If I hadn’t been in a situation I knew was wrong from the beginning, everything I went through later never would have happened.” We lay like that for a while. I never wanted to let her go.

“Are you going to tell Knuckles?” she asked softly. “Will he be angry?”

“Knuckles is firmly on your side, sweetheart. He’s not going to be angry with you. But yes.” I reached for my own phone, finding my president’s contact.

He answered before the second ring finished. “You’re up early,” he greeted me.

“Not by choice. The situation with Sutton is escalating,” I said, then relayed everything Lana said. “They want us to lay low.”

“Tell your girl we got her covered.”

“Thanks, brother.”

He grunted, then said, “We’ll have the meeting in Knight’s office.”

“We’ll meet you there.” I hung up, and glanced at Brielle. She still looked shellshocked but her eyes had that glint again, the one that said she wasn’t going to fold, no matter what Sutton threw at her.

“Knuckles has our back. He’s got Knight on board.”

She gave me a shaky smile. “That’s good.”

“Yeah,” I said, and held her tight, because for the first time in my life, I cared more about keeping someone safe than I did about my own ass. I would fight for her, and do whatever it took to keep her safe. Even if it meant killing her tormentor and going back to prison.

Chapter Eleven

Brielle

Six of us occupied Knight’s office at ten that morning. Lana had a legal pad open before she sat down. Ethan leaned against the wall, glancing at his phone while Knuckles stood in the corner of the room out of the way. He’d told Dane he was there as president of Kiss of Death, to know what was happening under his roof so he could provide muscle if needed. Knight sat at his desk fiddling with something on his computer, an intent look on his face. Dane took the chair beside me without being asked, winking at me as he did so. I told myself that didn’t mean anything, but I was a liar. Even in my own head.

Lana set a printed document in the center of the desk. “Grant Sutton filed a police report at seven forty-five this morning saying there was a security breach. He’s alleging theft of proprietary bank data and confidential financial records.” She tapped the top sheet. “He hasn’t listed suspects or anyone he believes might have had reason to breach his security, but it’s only a matter of time before he tells them they’ve done their own investigation and traced the log-in credentials to you. He’s also contacted the OCC and the state banking commission to protect himself.”

“He’s building a paper trail to lead to me? Like without actually having a trail to follow?” I said.

“Yes.” Lana didn’t soften it. “He knows you’re in Nashville. He said as much on the call you took yesterday. What he cannot know is where the files went after you left, because you didn’t tell him and he has no way to trace the drive once it left the building. So, the report is him filling in that gap with a narrative. You stole the files for personal gain, or to sell, or to use as leverage. He doesn’t know which story plays best yet. He’s trying all three.”

Ethan leaned forward. “Which is actually useful to us. He’s casting wide because he’s scared. A man who knows exactly what his exposure is doesn’t spray charges. He picks the one that sticks.” He looked at me.