Flawed (The Clans #12) - Elizabeth Knox Page 0,9

to say one more thing. “If you start to get more comfortable in the area and would like your own place, we can arrange that. I don’t expect you to live with an old man like me forever.”

I meant for it to be funny, but instead it came out bitterly.

I go to my own room and lie down, finding myself drifting off to sleep, more tuckered out than I’d thought.

When I wake up, it’s to the sound of a knock on the door.

My hair a little tousled, I quickly pull it up into a ponytail to get it out of the way and run out of the room. When I find Arjana in my living room, Amo trying to calm him down and explain to him that there’s a lady in the house now, my heart rate picks up. This isn’t a typical visit, and I know the news must be bad for him to come all the way here within 24 hours of a raid.

I immediately pull the stressed diamond supervisor into my office, telling him to have a seat before I go to grab him a cup of coffee, then think better of it, going for a scotch instead.

We might both need it.

When I get back into the room, I shut the door and sit down, offering a glass to both of us. “Give it to me.”

“There was a huge government raid on us. The worst I can remember. Some of the men didn’t make it out. I got out as many as I could, but I thought it was more important for me and the assets to run and get out of dodge. But we need to deal with this. I don’t know what impact this is going to have.”

“Fuck.”

I take a moment to cool off, stroking my beard as I think of how to handle this. The show must go on, but we’re going to have to do major damage control.

“The men that made it out, they all have a week off. Tell them to go home to their families, shut their mouths, and pretend like nothing’s happened. They don’t know each other. They don’t work together. You know the drill and what’s at stake.”

Arjana nods. “I will make preparations for a new location in a few days, scout it out.”

Now that we are both calm, the wheels are turning. “I’ll need to move money around. I can’t let anything be traced. New accounts, small amounts. I can handle this. Hopefully, it won’t even matter, that it won’t come to that, but just in case.”

“Better safe than sorry,” Arjana answers.

I let Amo walk Arjana out and immediately get on the phone, though what I’m doing is interrupted by the beautiful blonde who now is only feet away from me 24 hours a day.

“Is everything alright?” she asks, furrowing her brows at me. I doubt she heard what Arjana and I were speaking about, not even the type to listen in on people. I shouldn’t have left the door open while I dealt with the financials.

I smile, putting on my best act, made even harder by the fact that as I look at her, I notice how she’s in a pair of tight jeans, and an even tighter shirt that shows off her cleavage and curves in a way that makes me spring to life in my pants. This is so not the time.

I nearly choke on my own words. “Just getting all the accounts ready for the charity. It’s a lot of hoops to jump through.” I shrug.

I put my cell down and open the drawer to my desk, pulling out two brochures I had gotten specifically for this charity, hoping I wouldn’t need them to walk me through some of the issues the young females have in the area. But knowing if Mariana said I had to, then that’s what I would find a way to do.

“These are for you. This is the major part I need you to handle, though I’d love for you to be a part of the entire process.”

She takes them from me, my hand feeling like it’s been burned where she touched it. My mind keeps flashing back to our time on the plane. I’m sure I’ll be over it in a few days. I mean, I did proclaim myself a grown ass man. And that I am.

Doesn’t mean I don’t notice how appealing she is. She makes my mouth water like a great steak.

I sit down in my chair