Lexi

I stared at Lucian like he'd grown a second head.

"Security detail? Are you insane?"

He wasn't looking at me anymore. His eyes were fixed on his phone, his jaw was clenched so tight I worried his teeth might crack. Whatever message he'd just received had turned him into a statue made of rage and ice.

"Pack your things," he said. "You're not going home tonight."

"Excuse me?" My eyes widened.

Now he looked at me. Those dark eyes were harder than I'd ever seen them. "Victor Kane isn't someone who makes empty threats. If he says you're in danger, you're in danger."

My heart started beating faster. "What kind of danger?"

Lucian moved to his desk and pressed a button on his phone. "Marcus, I need you up here. Now."

"Lucian, you're scaring me." I whispered. What have I gotten myself into? I wondered.

I should have known someone with this high status will have enemies.

He looked up at that. For just a second, his expression softened. "Good. You should be scared."

The elevator doors opened and a man stepped out. He was huge, at least six and a half feet tall with shoulders that could probably block out the sun. His dark skin was marked with scars, and his eyes swept the room like he was looking for threats.

"Marcus," Lucian said. "This is Lexi Carter. She's going to need protection."

Marcus nodded once. "What's the threat level?"

"High. Victor Kane." Lucian replied.

Something flickered across Marcus's face. "Understood."

I held up my hands. "Wait just a minute. Nobody asked me if I wanted protection. I'm not some helpless little girl who needs a bodyguard."

Both men looked at me like I was adorable but stupid.

"Miss Carter," Marcus said, his voice surprisingly gentle for someone who looked like he could bench press a car. "Victor Kane has killed people for less than what you represent to Mr. Cross."

My mouth went dry. "Killed people?"

Lucian ran a hand through his hair. "My grandfather kept files on everyone. Politicians, judges, CEOs. He documented their crimes, their affairs, their dirty deals. When he died, those files became my inheritance and my curse."

"Why haven't you just destroyed them?" She asked, her voice already trembling.

"Because they're the only thing keeping me alive." He started pacing again. "Mutually assured destruction. As long as everyone knows I have dirt on them, they leave me alone."

"But Victor Kane doesn't care?"

"Victor Kane wants to be king of the mountain. He thinks if he gets those files, he can control everyone instead of me."

I sank into one of the leather chairs. This was insane. "So why not just give them to him?"

The look Lucian gave me could have melted steel. "Because he'd use them to destroy innocent people. And because the moment I give him what he wants, we're both dead."

My stomach dropped. "Both?"

"You know too much now," Marcus said matter-of-factly. "You're a loose end."

"I don't know anything! I'm just here to write a stupid article!"

"You know about the files," Lucian said quietly. "You know about Victor. You know about my father's real business."

I stood up on shaky legs. "Then let me leave. I'll go back to my apartment, pack my things, and disappear. You'll never see me again."

"It's too late for that."

"Why?"

Lucian looked at his phone again, then showed me the screen. It was a photo of me walking into the building this morning. Someone had drawn a red target over my face.

I felt like I might throw up.

"He's been watching you," Lucian said. "Probably since the day you started working here."

"Oh God." I sat back down before my legs gave out. "This is because of the article, isn't it? Because I'm getting too close to the truth about you."

"No," Lucian said, and something in his voice made me look up. "It's because he thinks you matter to me."

The air in the room suddenly felt too thick. "Do I?"

He stared at me for a long moment. "You're under my protection now. That's all you need to know."

It wasn't an answer, but it also kind of was.

Marcus cleared his throat. "We should move her to the safe house."

"Safe house?" My voice came out squeaky.

"I have a place," Lucian said. "Somewhere Victor doesn't know about."

"And you expect me to just go along with this? To disappear from my life because some man I've never met wants to hurt me?"

"Yes."

The simple, flat way he said it made me angry. "What about my job? My friends? My life?"

"Your life won't matter if you're dead."

I wanted to argue more, but the truth was settling in. Someone wanted to kill me. Someone I'd never even met wanted me dead because I'd gotten tangled up in Lucian Cross's world.

"How long?" I asked.

"Until I can neutralize the threat."

"What does that mean?"

Lucian and Marcus exchanged a look that made my blood run cold.

"It means," Lucian said slowly, "that I'm going to remind Victor Kane why my grandfather chose me as his heir."

The way he said it made me shiver. This was the dangerous man everyone whispered about. This was the predator I'd sensed hiding behind his expensive suits and cold smiles.

"I need to call my editor," I said. "Tell him I'm taking some time off."

"No phone calls. Victor might be monitoring your communications."

"Then how…"

"I'll handle it."

Of course he would. Lucian Cross could handle anything with enough money and the right threats.

"What about my apartment? My things?"

"Marcus will send a team to pack what you need."

"A team?" I stood up again. "Strangers are going through my underwear drawer?"

For the first time since this nightmare started, Lucian's mouth almost twitched into a smile. "I'll make sure they're professionals."

"This is insane," I muttered.

"Yes," he agreed. "It is."

Marcus stepped forward. "Ma'am, we should go. The longer we stay in one place, the more dangerous it becomes."

I looked around Lucian's office one more time. An hour ago, my biggest worry was whether I was developing feelings for my subject. Now I was running for my life.

"Are you coming with us?" I asked Lucian.

He shook his head. "I have things to handle here."

"What things?"

"The kind of things you don't want to know about." He replied coldly.

That scared me more than anything else he'd said.

Marcus was already heading toward the elevator. "Miss Carter?"

I started to follow him, then stopped. "Lucian?"

He looked up from his desk, where he was already pulling out files.

"Don't do anything stupid."

This time he did smile, but it wasn't a nice smile. "Sweetheart, stupid is the last thing you need to worry about."

The elevator doors closed between us, and a feeling that I was missing something washed over me.

Mia?!