was no doubt the crown jewel of the neighborhood. The mansion stood fierce and statuesque, expressing the grand state of its existence and hinted at the status of the owner and the people who resided there.
“Is this your house?” I questioned, surprised I had kept my curiosity at bay for as long as I had.
“Family home,” he replied. “It’s my father, the staff, and me. I own my own place, but other than Khane’s house, I believe this is one of the safest places in the city.”
“You don’t think it’s safe for me to go home?” I knew the answer, but I had asked the question anyway because denial about my status wanted to hang out in my head.
“I’d like for you to stay here until we get a lead on the men you encountered today. This house is guarded twenty-four hours a day. I’m confident that no one can locate you here, and if they are lucky enough to succeed, there is a two-thousand-square-foot bunker that they would need all branches of the military to break into.”
Dayem!
I nodded because I was impressed and overwhelmed by the update. If he were telling me this because he assumed I would protest staying with him, he obviously didn’t know me. I was dealing with a group of men hell-bent on snatching me in broad daylight. And there was also a mysterious tattoo etched on my body that I didn’t know the history behind.
If Tywin had decided to take me to my place, I wouldn’t have been crazy enough to stay there. I would’ve taken my ass to Khane and Desiree’s or Arjen and Mecca’s. After today, I would have knocked on somebody’s door and demanded they take in me and my travel bag.
Although I had planted myself in Denver, I also knew how to get lost if I needed to. I had been developing connections for years, getting women and children away from abusive men. I was also making sure I had a way to get myself out of the city, state, and country if my past ever came knocking.
Tywin stopped and waved at two armed guards standing inside of the gate. They were alert and had an unapproachable air about them that let you know they weren’t afraid to take someone out if they had to. They stared intensely while he punched a code into a little black box.
My observing gaze fell over Tywin. He was filthy rich. No, he was wealthy, which was many levels above rich and this place had the feel of old money like his family had always been wealthy. I had met Khane in the middle of a war and Arjen at his and Mecca’s wedding, so the Vallin family’s level of wealth hadn’t been a subject of conversation.
I usually did a decent job of matching people’s personalities to parts of their lives, but there was nothing about Tywin that screamed, rich man. None of what I was currently seeing was embedded in him or in his personality. Confidence, danger, and intrigue were what I had picked up on.
A glance around the inside of his car had me taking into account that we were rolling around in a black Aston Martin DB11. The car had more horses than a well-stocked ranch and it cost about four times what I grossed in a year.
Maybe the intrigue surrounding him and my attraction had distracted me from the details that were just now falling into my head. I recalled the cabin he and Khane had taken Desiree and me to the first night I’d met him. The place was obviously tech-friendly and my shocked senses had kept me from clearly seeing that it had likely been professionally decorated with expensive furnishings. The SUV he had driven me home in that night was a fully loaded Mercedes G-Wagon, and like Arjen and Khane, men were at Tywin’s beck and call.
However, he’d never given me the kind of vibe that he had it made, not like the picture unfolding in front of me now. Why was he choosing to put his life on the line like he had done today in that mall? His disposition was in stark contrast to his well-to-do reality. He could have been shot in the back protecting me.
“Why do you risk your life like you do when it appears you’re wealthy enough to live a comfortable life of leisure and do whatever you want?”
“I risk myself for the same reason that you risk yourself to save