Big Ben (See No Evil Trilogy #1) - Nana Malone Page 0,5

was pitched low when he said, “How is your friend, Toby?”

And we had lift-off.?In my ear, East said, “Yup, almost there.?Thirty seconds.”

The good news was my reaction wasn’t forced. Everything I felt was real.?Every emotion, the anger, the hatred... I just had to play it up, let it loose.?Unleash it.

“I will fucking kill you,” I ground out.

“Sure you will.” And then he started to move away.?Fuck.?I still needed another few seconds.?Running out of options, I charged ahead and rushed him.?Security was dangerously close, but I landed a satisfying straight jab to his nose.

Blood splattered everywhere, and then I grabbed him by his very expensive Armani jacket.? “You always thought you were too good for us.?You think being a Van Linsted makes you any better than Toby??He was the best of us, and you’re envious because you will never be as good as he was.”

“If you say so. I beg you to kindly take your hands off me.”

And then it was over.?Hands grabbed me from behind.? “Sir, you’ll have to come with us.”

Shit.?Another couple of seconds.

God, I hated Bram.?At that moment, I could’ve killed him.

I had no choice.?I had to struggle.?To my right, my eye caught a shimmer of red, and something made my skin prickle.?It took my attention off Bram for a fucking second.?A swath of red.?A distraction.?My attention was divided, and a crack came out of nowhere.

It was the sting I noticed first, then the sound. And then my head jolted to the right.?I continued to struggle. I needed my arms to defend myself.?Who was I kidding??I needed my arms to kick his arse.

I saw the lady in red, her eyes wide with shock and horror as she rushed forward. Bugger. I didn’t need her next to this.?She was going to get hurt.

East tweeted in my ear.? “We got it. Get out of there.”

The guards were starting to pat me down, restraining my arms.?Oh, this was definitely going to hurt.

Angling my body to the right, I rolled my shoulder up and slid my arm out of the grip of one security guard.?She was getting so close.?Too close.?Could I do this?

She ran up to us.? “Stop it.?Release him instantly.?You’re making a scene.”

Her gaze met mine.?Midnight eyes looked straight into my soul, twisting me up at the most inopportune time.?If they patted me down before they handed me to the police, they were going to find the drive.

Performing the drop wasn’t going to happen. There was too much attention on me, and I needed to hand it off.?Ditch it.?Something.

The woman. She was my only hope. They might not look too closely at her purse. The guard grabbed for my arm again, but not before I elbowed him in the gut and lunged for her.

I had no idea who she was, but she’d be on camera, so we’d be able to get facial recognition and find her later.

The guard reached for me again, and I stumbled forward deliberately. She reached out for me as if she’d known the plan the entire time.?As if we’d orchestrated this synergistic clusterfuck.

In the scuffle, she almost went down.?One of the guards reached for her and tried to help her.?I took hold of her purse and slid the device in and then let myself be taken down. “Fuck. All right, all right, all right. I’m going.”

She glowered at me.? “He’s the prick who broke my pin, but this is overkill.”

I prayed to God that no one had noticed the transfer.?I’d fucked this up.?All of it was completely fucked up.?If we lost our chance to dismantle the Elite, there would be no justice for Toby.?Not now, not ever.

Livy

So much for minding my own business.

I’d gone my whole life following the rules. Playing by them. A year ago, my mother had told me to start living like I was only going to get one take.

Somehow, I didn’t think this was what she meant.

Two grown men fighting... at a political fundraiser??Who the hell would do such a thing??It was asinine.?I had meant to find the Viking and give him a piece of my mind for breaking my pin.

I’d found him all right. Right in front of me.?In an actual fight.

In the span of thirty minutes, I’d broken what was likely a priceless artifact, then hidden in a closet with a man so hot I could still feel his warmth wrapped around me. He’d whispered things to me that I’d only ever imagined someone saying. And then, I’d witnessed that very same man in a fistfight with Bram Van Linsted, firstborn