Breaking Her Rules

chapter 3



Iris kept her lights off in her room as she stripped off her dress and shoes. She could move around her house blindfolded if necessary. After securing her weapons and washing her face she fell into bed with just her panties on. It was four o’clock in the morning and she didn’t care about showering or pajamas. Wyatt had liked her to sleep naked but that didn’t come naturally to her. Gah, why was she thinking about him?

Because you want him naked and on top of you, that’s why.

Sighing, she snagged her cell phone from where she’d left it on her nightstand. A month of arguing was enough. They needed to settle things between them like adults. The scorching sex between them had really thrown her for a loop. No, that was an understatement. It had disrupted her entire world like an out-of-control volcano. She’d always been attracted to him, but had never wanted to cross that line. He’d been in her life too long to risk that. So was she a coward for running from him? Absolutely.

Now was time to rectify that. They needed to talk and more than anything he had to see reason and give her a divorce. Then maybe they could build their former relationship back. Okay, she doubted things would ever be the same and that killed her inside, but she couldn’t stay married to him. Not when she’d never be the type of woman he wanted forever. He’d made that clear their last day together… She shook her head, shoving those thoughts from her mind.

She scrolled to his name and pressed send. Cringing, she closed her eyes as the phone started ringing. One ring, two ring, three rings… It was four, but he was normally up at this time and he’d asked her to call but maybe—

“Hello?” A very husky, sexy female voice answered, jarring Iris out of her thoughts.

Her throat seized. What the hell?

“Hello? Is anyone there?” the woman asked again.

Iris cleared her throat and found her voice. “Is Wyatt there?”

“He’s busy right now, may I take a message?” The woman was perfectly polite, but Iris felt jealousy rising inside her like a raging fire, burning away at her reasoning and making her want to strike out at a complete stranger.

Some woman was answering Wyatt’s phone at four in the morning? Yeah, she didn’t like that one bit. She forced her jaw to unclench. “Tell him his wife called.” Unable to say anything else, she hung up and set the phone back on the dresser.

She knew Wyatt had multiple assistants so maybe that was one of them. Maybe. Ugh. Iris hated the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach that threatened to overtake her. She wasn’t a jealous or possessive person by nature, but Wyatt just brought that out in her. Which was another reason she needed to stay away from the man. Control was one of the most important things to her.

Letting out a frustrated groan, Iris turned off her phone so she could sleep uninterrupted and curled up under her soft covers. She hadn’t slept in nearly two days because of work. Worrying about anything else right now was stupid when deep down she knew that Wyatt wouldn’t sleep with someone else while they were still legally bound. It wasn’t the way he was hardwired. And she needed rest in the worst way. When she talked to Wyatt she needed to be on her game. Because if he sensed any weakness, he’d pounce and take full advantage.



* * * * *



Wyatt looked up from his laptop as the door to his office opened. He’d recently bought a home in Miami and was settling into this one more quickly than normal. Probably because the thought of living here on a permanent basis was easier than he’d imagined. Because the sole reason he wanted to stay lived here too. He just needed Iris to talk to him about why she’d disappeared from his hotel one morning a month ago. After a week of non-stop sex he’d assumed things were great. They’d had breakfast, talked about the future, then he’d gone to work for a few hours and when he’d come back, she’d been gone. At first he’d assumed she was lounging by the pool, but then he’d realized all her bags were gone. In their place she’d left him a pathetic note telling him she had to get back to work, but she’d call him as soon as she landed in Miami. She’d never called. Instead he’d received standard divorce papers two days later.

He got pissed even thinking about it. Divorce? It shredded him that she could trivialize their marriage like that. He’d been holding back his feelings for her for what felt like forever. Feeling a dark mood settle over him, he looked up at his new assistant hovering in the doorway. The twenty-four-year-old woman was more than competent and came highly recommended, but she’d answered his bloody phone this morning and hadn’t gotten him in time to talk to Iris. Now Iris’s phone was turned off and he was edgy at being unable to speak to her. “Yeah?”

Ellie’s lips pulled into a thin line. “Don’t growl at me. I’ve already said I’m sorry. I didn’t recognize the number and…” She threw up her hands in exasperation. “We have a problem. One of your security team saw someone leaving the house.”

Annoyance quickly disappearing, he stood. “Leaving? From where? Who saw it?” he asked as he rounded the desk.

Before she could answer, Jay stepped up behind her, his large frame filling out most of the doorway and dwarfing Ellie. As Wyatt’s longest-term employee, Jay did a little bit of everything and was more or less his live-in bodyguard. “One of the temps saw a person wearing all black leaving from the east side of your house. A side window into the kitchen was found unlocked but nothing is disturbed. The individual disappeared through the east side hedges and by the time we followed, they were gone. I don’t even know in which direction.”

“Man or woman?”

“Couldn’t tell. Lean, very fast, individual likely five feet eight, hair and face disguised by a full face mask.”

Wyatt frowned. He’d just arrived in Miami and while he’d had some security concerns in Vegas he hadn’t thought that would follow him here. The security system that had come with the house needed a serious upgrade, but it hadn’t been his top priority since arriving. Now it was. “And nothing was taken?”

“Not that we can tell, but we’re taking inventory and checking for explosives.”

His frown deepened as various scenarios raced through his mind. “Do a full sweep of the kitchen. Check the food, drinks, everything.” He received his fair share of death threats so it wasn’t a completely foreign concept that someone would try to poison him. It had happened a couple of times in the past, always when he was working on a big deal. Competitors got desperate sometimes.

Jay nodded and turned away, not needing further instructions.

“What should I do? Should I call the police?” Ellie’s face had paled a fraction as it dawned on her why he was having Jay check the food.

Wyatt held back a snort. He respected law enforcement but there wasn’t anything they could do other than take a report. Which would just waste his time. “Get Harrison Caldwell’s number for me.”

He might hate that the woman he loved put herself in danger every time she went to work, but Red Stone Security was the best protection agency in the region. And if he had to hire Iris as his personal security to get her to talk to him, he’d do it. He clearly needed the extra protection right now and the thought of Iris protecting him with her body…oh yeah, he could get on board with that. Wyatt knew that under normal circumstances she’d never be allowed to guard him. It would be a conflict of interest. But he’d done a huge favor for Keith Caldwell, Harrison’s father, a few years ago, and the man owed him. It was time to collect.



* * * * *



Sato called her contact on one of her burner phones as she drove down Highway 95. She’d waited until she was completely sure she hadn’t been followed from her quick escape of San Marino Island. Miami wasn’t a place she’d worked before so she was still learning the layout of the different areas. There were a few manmade islands with atrociously priced homes on them in the South Beach area. Of course that’s where her target lived. Harder to access just like the other villas and mansions that were located on the various Venetian Islands, but she would have no problem taking Wyatt Christiansen out. If he wasn’t dead already.

Sato favored poisons, the sort that were undetectable until the target consumed them, but someone had seen her leaving. She’d decided to break into his villa in the early morning hours when most people were sleeping. After finding a couple holes in his security, she’d opted to enter through the kitchen and lay her trap there. But since someone had seen her leaving she had no doubt Christiansen would have the place searched for every possible threat. Bugs, bombs and poisons. It was standard operating procedure for a man in his position.

She’d laced the exclusive, insanely expensive, coffee she knew only he drank. Unlike her previous targets, her file on Christiansen was limited and this job had been last minute.

Too last minute.

Now she was rushing when she preferred to prep for weeks or months if possible. Leaving anything to chance went against her meticulous nature. It was why she was one of the best in the business and highly sought after.

“Is it done?” her contact asked, his voice impatient.

“Possibly, but someone saw me leaving so I’ll likely have to find another way.” Sato’s contact wanted Christiansen killed quietly. Nothing messy or that would hurt anyone else. He was the sole target. Unfortunately that meant she couldn’t use a bomb because of the risk of collateral damage.

“I hired you because you came highly recommended. I didn’t expect sloppiness,” he snapped, heat invading his words.

It hadn’t been sloppy. One of the guards had changed up his routine. It was why she’d been spotted. But she held her tongue. The man had already paid her half her fee and she would finish no matter what. If she didn’t she wouldn’t receive the other half of her money and it would damage her reputation. In her business, reputation was everything. “It will be done in the timeframe you’ve given me.” Three days.

“It better be. Don’t call me again until it’s done.” He disconnected.

Sato took out the battery with one hand and tossed the pieces onto the floorboard of the passenger side. She’d be torching the stolen car as soon as she found a vacant lot and wouldn’t be using that phone again. While she’d worn gloves and had been careful to cover her entire body, she believed in being extra careful. She’d been working as a hired assassin for three years now and loved the income. Some in her field of work enjoyed the rush of power it gave them, but she felt none of that. She just liked to see the number in her bank account rise. If she played her cards right she’d be able to retire in two years. She refused to end up like her mother, poor and dependent on some abusive, sorry excuse for a man to take care of her. She took care of herself and planned to make enough money to last ten lifetimes. And killing Wyatt Christiansen would add a sizeable amount to her growing nest egg.