shoulders slumped.
Liam stilled, looking at the weariness on her face.
A woman carrying a heavy weight.
Shit. One voice in his head told him to walk away. To collect everything he knew about her, then hand it over to the police.
But there was another voice in his head as well. Was she in trouble? Was she being forced to do this? She didn’t always act the way a blackmailer should.
He’d just seen Monroe blackmailed into stealing from Zane to save her brother.
Was Penn in a similar predicament?
“Problem?” he asked.
She jerked and straightened away from the wall. Her face smoothed out. “No.”
“You want to tell me how you fell into a life of crime and blackmail?”
Her eye twitched. “No.” She walked past him toward the front doors.
He followed her. “If you’re in trouble, you need to tell me.”
She met his gaze, and gave a quick shake of her head. “You’re persistent as hell.”
“You don’t reach my level of success by being lazy or by giving up.”
They exited and were assailed by sunlight and the cool air. Somewhere nearby, a car horn honked.
“Let’s just get back to the office.” She started down the sidewalk toward the car. “You need to organize for the deed to be signed over for that piece of land, and then your life can go on as normal.”
Liam dodged around some other people on the sidewalk and grabbed her arm. “Penn—”
There was a loud screech of tires. Then more honking horns.
They both looked up.
Time seemed to slow down.
A black sedan sped closer. The back window opened.
For a millisecond, Liam didn’t realize what he was seeing.
It was a gun barrel.
“Everybody get down!” Penn yelled.
There was a roar of gunfire.
A body slammed into Liam’s, driving him to the ground. His back hit the pavement, Penn’s body stretched out on top of his.
“Stay down!” she yelled.
Bullets hit the building behind them.
Glass shattered. People screamed.
“Are you okay?” she asked. “Are you hit?”
“No. I’m fine.”
Before Liam could process more than that, she leaped up.
He saw the sedan screech to a halt in the street. Cars swerved and people slammed on their brakes. Then the sedan started to reverse backward toward them. Gunfire was still spraying from the back seat.
They were sitting ducks.
Suddenly, Penn yanked a black handgun from her bag.
Liam froze. What the hell?
She aimed the gun with two hands, and calmly fired on the car.
He sat up. She held the gun like he’d seen cops do it. Her face was set and focused, no trace of the adrenaline that had to be pounding through her body.
The sedan stopped, then its tires screeched as it shot forward again, racing away.
Penn cursed and lowered the gun to her side.
Liam rose, keeping his gaze locked on her.
Her face was calm, and she scanned the area around them carefully.
“More secrets, Ms. Channing?”
Her gaze flicked to his. Then she reached out and grabbed his arm. “Come on. It isn’t safe.”
Around them, people were screaming and crying. She pulled him down the sidewalk.
“You’d better start telling me what the fuck is going on,” he said.
She opened her mouth.
“No more lies this time.”
Penn scanned around. “Fine. I’ll explain, but for now, get in the car.”
Aspen
The atmosphere inside the car was tense.
As Liam drove, I scanned ahead and behind for the black sedan.
When Doyle had texted me that they were going to give Liam some encouragement, this was not what I’d imagined.
The asshole had almost killed us.
My mind flashed with a picture of Liam’s bullet-riddled body sprawled on the sidewalk, and my belly clenched.
Hell, no. I couldn’t, wouldn’t, let him get hurt.
This felt a lot more personal than just doing my job, but I couldn’t examine that right now.
Maybe I shouldn’t ever examine it.
Liam took a corner fast, but then we hit traffic and slowed. A cab cut in front of us.
Hell, I just wanted Liam safely back in his office.
“So, you aren’t a blackmailer or marketing assistant, I assume.”
I didn’t look at him.
“Who are you?” he demanded.
“We’ll talk at your office. I want you off the street and safe.”
Liam Kensington was smart. He’d already been adding things up, and I could see it all working behind his blue eyes.
Grabbing my phone, I tapped in a message to Erica. Plan’s changed. I need to tell Kensington what’s going on.
Next, I messaged Doyle. WTF? You could’ve killed me and Kensington.
Did Doyle know that I’d returned fire? Would it make him suspicious of me?
I should have maintained my cover, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to die, or let them kill Liam.
My phone