mollyI sank back in my chair.“He’s also a CI for the police.”A CI. Confidential informant, and a hit man. “He diversified his street résumé.”The corner of Ashton’s mouth twitched. “We got into his phone, and he received a call four hours earlier from Detective Worthing.”Every muscle in my body snapped to attention. “What?”“I sent my men to pick up the detective so we can have a talk about this man.”Alarm sirens were blaring through my whole body, but also a whole different type of alarm was sounding. “He’s a cop.”“Yes.”“You’re picking up a cop to talk?”“Yes.”I was remembering when they were at Easter Lanes—“Wait. Easter Lanes? Is someone still covering me there?”“We’re paying your cousin to run Easter Lanes while you’re with me.”“He can handle covering for a shift, but not any longer than that. He’ll mess everything up.”But wait again, Detective Worthing. “Worthing called you that day, and you said that he did. I saw the look he gave you and how his partner reacted.” I w

ASHTON“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Detective Worthing growled as soon as I walked into the room.I took note of him before responding. There were some bruises on his face. His jacket was torn in a couple places. Scuff marks on his jeans. His eyes were wild, and he was scowling. He was also zip-tied to a chair in four different places.He had zero chance of escape.“I see my men were thorough.”He growled again, shaking the chair as he jerked around. “I’m going to kill you, Walden. The second I’m free—”I walked to a table set up in the corner. We had all my toys here, but as I scanned them, a zing of disappointment went through me. I wasn’t looking forward to torturing him. Molly was right, what she’d said earlier. I was the one who liked to get my hands dirty. Torturing was my thing, but . . . it wasn’t today.Why wasn’t it today?I stepped to the side and swung my head his way.It was then that Worthing realized his predicament, and who I was. He stilled, the wildness in his gaze

MOLLYIf Ashton Walden actually thought I was going to go and take a nap, he was—well, I was being positive here. The exception was my father. I would always allow myself to be negative with him, but back to what I was currently doing.He was doing Mafia stuff. I was snooping.Ashton or one of his guys must’ve scooped up my purse after the explosion because I found it next to my bed. I’d been elated, grabbing for my phone, only to find no reception.So carrying my purse, my phone in hand, I was tiptoeing around the place.At one point, I was in the east wing. Yes. They literally had a north tower, south tower, west, east, and it looked like there was a whole middle section where the kitchen was set at. The place looked more like a spaceship than a house. Ashton did say it was a compound, so kudos to whoever paid for all of this. It was a bit overkill in my opinion, but then again, I’m not the head of a Mafia empire. And anyways, I was in the east wing when I heard voices, and looking

ASHTONI ripped myself away from Molly, my whole body trembling because holy fuck, the need to tear down her leggings, throw her up against the wall, and sink my dick deep inside of her was tearing through me at a breakneck speed.She tore something down inside of me. Something I needed, the last bit of restraint with her.She didn’t just tear it down. She took a battering ram to it, and I was shaken, taking her in. Only her in. I was ignoring the emotions clawing through me.Only Molly. I could only feel Molly.I was also going to murder Remmi West because I knew who’d just stormed her way in.“What are you doing here?” I had to get ahold of myself, but I half growled at Trace’s sister.She was coming in, hoop earrings. Leather jacket. Her dark hair swept up, piled high, and she was wearing her usual black pants. Trace’s sister liked to dress the Mafia-princess stereotype, but today there was no faux fur jacket.Remmi ignored me, her neck craning so she could see Molly. “Who’s that?”

MOLLYI was such a moron.Throwing myself at him. Doing the whole hand-to-his-chest thing. Being seductive. And it failed! Crash and burn. He rejected me, but man oh man. I felt him. He wanted me. He was into it, but agh. I was so humiliated.Was it me?What was I thinking? Of course it was me.Me. Who else would it have been? Something was wrong with me. I wasn’t pretty enough, or tall enough, or I don’t know. It was just me. Who was I kidding? The universe did not like me, but dammit. No. I refused to go down this path. I’d done too much, endured too much, etched out a damn good life despite my parental seeds. Screw him.I mean, that’s what I’d been trying to do but aghhhh!His loss. Right. Totally his loss. He’d be regretting it, except, and this was hard for me to admit, I didn’t think he was regretting it at all. He was quiet when he got in the vehicle, and despite performing some first aid on his hand, he hadn’t done anything on the whole drive back to the city. Total silence. W