“Sahara said she’s moving you both to her place. It’s a huge house. Plenty of privacy.”
Leese stared at him, distracted. “How do you know what her house looks like?”
Tugging at his ear, Justice admitted, “I just spent a few days there myself. Got snowed in.”
No way. “You stayed with Sahara?” Huh. Hadn’t seen that one coming. “For days?”
Pointing at him, Justice growled, “Get that thought outta your head right now!”
“What thought?” Leese asked, just to make him squirm.
“Stow the innocent act. You know what you’re thinking, so don’t bother denying it. But it’s not like that. The lady scares me, and besides, there ain’t a single speck of chemistry between us.”
“Amen,” Sahara said as she breezed in.
Justice went comically rigid, his gaze frozen forward.
That didn’t stop Sahara from hugging one of his arms. “Justice was a complete gentleman, his presence made me feel safer and I appreciate him as a valued employee. Period.” Her attention settled on Miles, and she went into assessment mode. “Hello.”
Wearing the smallest of smiles, Miles said, “Hey, yourself.”
Hoping to hurry things along, Leese did introductions. “Miles, meet Sahara Silver, owner of the agency. Sahara, Miles Dartman, a friend.”
“My,” she whispered, her gaze going all over him. “A fighter?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Justice tried to subtly shake her off, but she didn’t let go. He glared down at her. “I don’t want to be a party to your flirting.”
Sahara hugged him again, then said to Leese, “We need to talk. Do you suppose these two could keep Catalina company for just a minute?”
Miles and Justice both agreed, but Leese said an emphatic, “No. She’s not leaving my sight. Not here.”
“Very well.” Sahara turned to the guys. “If you’d both excuse us?”
“I’m waitin’ right out here,” Justice warned, then, while avoiding Sahara’s gaze, he explained, “I’m sort of her protection for now.”
“Interesting.” Miles followed Justice, saying, “Guess I’ll wait with him.”
“So gallant,” Sahara enthused, but the second they were gone, she closed the space to stand very near to Leese. “Those bastards hurt Enoch bad. He has two broken ribs, broken fingers, a concussion and he was nearly strangled to death. His throat is going to need time to heal. He wasn’t able to say much, and writing is difficult, but he did manage this.” She pulled a folded sheet of paper from her pocket and smoothed it out.
Keeping Cat close, Leese read the broken scrawl. They wanted Cat. Would kill to get her.
Cat drew in a deep breath. “I’m so sorry. I thought I was protecting you—”
“By keeping us in the dark?” Leese knew he sounded harsh and didn’t care. The rage continued to simmer. She’d come so close to being hurt, to being taken by the very men who’d brutally savaged Enoch.
She’d risked that, rather than confide in him.
“Yes,” she admitted softly. “By keeping you in the dark.” Eyes pleading, she carefully hugged him. “Sometimes the truth is more dangerous than not knowing.”
His jaw flexed, but he put his arms around her and relished the fact that she was here, with him, unharmed and still relatively safe.
“If we can cease with self-recrimination, please, we have things to discuss.” Sahara kept her voice low. “Tesh stopped Justice and me in the parking lot right before the big storm hit.”
More fed up by the second, Leese waited.
“There’s been no way to tell you everything, but I may have a plan.”
Yeah, Leese had a plan too: go after the people causing all the problems and end it once and for all.
As if she knew his thoughts, Cat said, “Please, Leese. Please don’t do anything crazy.”
Crazy? Loving her was crazy, but no way could he stop. The close call made him realize that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, and he’d do whatever was necessary to ensure her protection.
Her gaze moved over his face, and she sighed. “That’s why I couldn’t tell you. I knew you’d want to confront them, but you can’t.” She hugged him again. “Not for me.”
“It’s no longer just you, is it, honey? The bastards shot at me. They attacked Troy, they strangled Enoch. Odds are they meant for all of us to die.”
“All,” Sahara said, “except for her.”
Because they had something worse than death in store for Cat.
“We can’t get into all that here,” Sahara said in a low voice. “We need to find someplace more private. For now, I’m going to stay with Enoch. I’m arranging for two guards to watch over him throughout the night. Two others will relieve them in the morning.” Her hands curled into fists. “He won’t be left alone.”
Cat visibly shored up her courage. “Before either of you do anything, you need to know. It’s not just my stepfather behind this.”
Because he already knew that, Leese demanded, “Give me a name.”
With a fatalistic nod and a lot of dread, she whispered, “Senator Platt.”
*
LEESE FELT SICK. Cat had one of the most powerful political figures in modern history after her? He wanted to believe she’d misunderstood, but given everything that had happened, he didn’t think so.
Senator Platt had a reputation for being benevolent, kind and caring, one of the few good men left in politics. His constituents adored him. The elderly revered him. He championed the poor and visited the troops and did every fucking thing a politician should do to win over the masses.
All of it a ruse?
He was absolutely wealthy enough, certainly had enough influence to buy silence when needed. Had the aging senator visited Désir Island?
Had the miserable bastard raped and then murdered a young girl?
Both Sahara and Cat had stayed silent while he led them down the hall to the room where his friends waited. Without asking any questions, Justice and Miles kept pace with them. Luckily the fighters were the only ones inside.
Leese stepped in, and before anyone else could speak, he said, “I need a minute of ensured privacy.”
The guys all looked at each other, then at Sahara and Cat, and they stood.
“Three minutes, tops,” Armie Jacobson said as he walked past. “My curiosity won’t hold any longer than that.”
As they exited the room, Cannon, Stack and Denver each had something to say, Cannon with concern, Stack ribbing him about two women, and Denver saying, “’Bout time, man.”
Sahara, still stunned by Cat’s disclosure, stared at the departing fighters with a mix of awe, appreciation and calculation.
Once they were alone with the door closed and barred by fighters, Sahara turned to Leese.
She opened her mouth twice before she managed to get out any words. “We’ll talk about your friends later.”
Leese didn’t want to talk about them at all. “I figure the senator is a priority.”
“Yes.” Hand to her head, Sahara murmured, “I never imagined...but I suppose it makes sense.”