over the years on a billion different ways of how to sing, perform and behave, I was still a poor girl from the Caribbean, and I spoke with my hands when I was agitated. “All of this is a waste if you can’t make your plan happen the way it’s supposed to.” And keep the past buried like he’d promised.
The infuriating man smiled. “I know, love.”
I wanted to hurl my drink at him. “No, you don’t know!” Bringing this back on Ronan was wrong. And after seeing him, it felt a thousand times more wrong. My stomach was in knots, I hadn’t slept since the day before yesterday, and my nerves were eating away at my conscience. I didn’t care what Vance had arranged all those years ago after that ill-fated night or that he’d promised he’d taken care of everything back then. “We shouldn’t have come here.” The past wasn’t buried, and we were playing with fire. At least if we’d stayed in London, then Ronan’s name maybe would’ve stayed out of this.
Vance glanced at Adam. “Give us a moment.”
Adam stood. “I’ll brief Luna.” He walked out of the suite.
Vance waited until the door shut behind him. Then his flirtatious demeanor and accommodating tone disappeared. “Drink the scotch, Sanaa,” he ordered.
The hair on the back of my neck rose. “No.”
“Now.” Undoing his cuffs, he rolled one sleeve up.
“I said no.” Tingles spread across my shoulders and down my arms. I knew what he was doing.
“You sure you want to argue with me on this?” He rolled up the other sleeve.
“You don’t get to tell me what to do.” But he did, just like everyone else in my life. Except I’d discovered three months ago when he’d walked into my dressing room, that Vance Conlon was a very different kind of man. “I’m not doing this now.” The protest futile, my body was already priming itself.
“You’re exactly doing this now.” Undoing his belt, he slid it out of the loops slowly. “The only question is if you’re going to do it sober.”
My hands fisting, my spine straight enough to snap, I did what he’d taught me—what no one else had ever bothered to teach me—I forced my limbs to go slack.
Then I downed the drink and kicked off my shoes. “Do your worst.”
A smile I only ever saw in private spread across his face right before it turned lethally sinister. “Oh, pet, you’ve no idea what you’ve unleashed after that long plane ride.” He snapped his belt. “I’m not even sure who needs this more.” His hand wrapped around my throat, and he dropped his voice. “Ready?”
Neil Christensen and Harm walked into the conference room.
“Good.” Luna stood from where he’d been head down in his laptop. “We’re all here.”
Harm eyed me.
I nodded toward a seat, then glanced around the room.
Neil Christensen, standing silent by the front door, was former Danish Special Forces. Built like a Viking and cunning as hell, Neil didn’t work for Luna. He owned his own construction firm that built luxury high-rises, but he showed anytime Luna needed extra help.
Ty, another L&A employee, leaned back in a chair with his arms and ankles crossed, looking deceptively relaxed, but he was one of the most ruthless men I’d ever met. Huge, intimidating, and merciless, he wasn’t someone you fucked with. Rounding out the group was Harm. A new edition to L&A, he’d been living in the mountains on his own until a couple months ago. He’d cut his hair and trimmed his beard, but he still looked like he slept with a shotgun at the ready.
All of us except Christensen were former Marines, and all of us were lethal.
I didn’t like the fact that Sanaa was being threatened by a bomber, and I didn’t trust Vance any more than I wanted to be on this assignment. But having the men in this room on board significantly put the odds in our favor.
“All right.” Luna typed something on his laptop, and the screen on the wall populated with images. “We’ve got a bomber.”
Tyler, Luna’s right-hand man, rushed into the conference room, shutting the door behind him. “Sorry I’m late, boss. What I’d miss?” He sat next to Harm.
“A piece of shit bomber,” Ty answered before glancing at Luna. “What’s the target?”
“Not what, who.” Luna glanced around the room. “This information stays between us, per request of the client and Adam Trefor.”
“I knew Trefor was in town,” Tyler piped up with his trademark smile. “That sly fucker.” He glanced at