Page 46 of Forbidden Need

Hilarious, she tossed him a scowl as she got out, but he was laughing before the door closed at her back.

When Lach noticed her, he raised an arm and her father turned.

“What is it?” she asked, going over to them. “What’s going on?”

“We’re waiting.”

“For what?” she asked.

Her brother tipped his head toward their father. “Ask Dad.”

“What are you waiting for?”

“This could be a trap.”

“What?”

“We go waltzing into his club, it could be filled with his men, filled with people ready to murder us… just like my father was murdered.”

“Here’s a good clue it’s not,” she said, opening her arms. “I’m here. Use me as your shield if you’re afraid, Dad.”

His back straightened as bluster became stuttering. “I am not afraid. He should be afraid of us. Connel McDade wreaks havoc in this city.”

“And if he wanted you dead, standing on the sidewalk wouldn’t save you,” she said. “Trust me, Conn doesn’t make appointments with potential murder victims. Especially not with a dozen witnesses.”

“Which you would know,” Lachlan said. “If you’ve been party to a murder.”

“What do you want to do? Stand out here and take potshots at each other all day or go inside?”

“Not sure they want us to stroll up and knock without a warrant,” Lachlan said. “Was that Strat driving you?”

“Yeah. Conn trusts him to look after me,” she said, distracted by the group of ten or so others a few feet away. “Who are they?” Some of them she recognized from her apartment. “Are they your staff, Dad? You don’t want to bring them in here.”

“Why not? What’ll happen to them?”

“That wasn’t a threat,” she said, tucking her purse under her arm. “I don’t threaten people. I’m the same person I was yesterday.”

“And yesterday proved you are not the person I thought you were.”

“Okay, you’re disappointed,” she said, fighting to restrain an urge to scream at his hypocrisy. “This is an initial meeting. In an initial meeting, we want to get an idea of everyone’s willingness to cooperate. It’s not about a show of strength. You want Conn bringing a dozen of his guys?” Her father’s lip moved, but he didn’t speak. “If you don’t want him to do it, don’t do it in return.”

“We don’t know him, Ser,” Lachlan said. “Not as anything but a dangerous criminal.”

“And no one’s denying he has power or ability, but this is happening here, now, because of me. He’s doing this for me, tempering himself and his instincts, to accommodate what’s important to me.”

“Is he making you pay for it?”

Even her brother wasn’t being reasonable.

She glared. “Fine,” she said, striding away. “Go. Leave. No one will stop you.”

“Sersha,” Lachlan called. “Stop!”

Pausing, she spun on the spot equidistant between him and Stag’s entrance. “What?”

Something warred within her brother and she got it, this was a shock. To everyone. These people spent their lives fighting against each other. She was asking them to ignore their natures. Ignore the inversion of their beliefs and cooperate with an enemy.

Lachlan exhaled and looked at their father. “We’ve gotta give him a chance.”

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