Page 22 of The Vow

“Why? Why are you protecting him?”

Now it was my turn to bark out a laugh. “I’m not protecting him.”Not by a fucking long shot.

“The answer is still no.”Did this woman have a death wish?

She folded her arms, and the baser man in me wasdistracted for a moment by the way the deep neckline of her dress gaped along her breasts, hinting just a little more at the tempting curves underneath.

“Why not?” I growled through my locked teeth.

“It’s not about the money.”

“Bullshit.” Her hand launched up, but I caught it in time, air seething through my lips as I moved until we were almost flush again. “You have no idea the danger you are playing with, Miss Keyes. I’m trying to protect you.”

“I don’t need your protection.”

“You have no goddamn idea what you need,” I said without thinking—without realizing that my body was already interpreting the needs of hers and aching with ways to fulfill them.

“I need to get proof that Magnus Sinclair stole from me—stole my parents’ inheritance from me,” she said, her voice rising like the tide. “It’s not about the money. I need proof that he’s a fraud. That he took my inheritance and used it for God knows what.”

“I can’t give you that, and I can’t let you do something idiotic again like you did tonight. You need to disappear from their lives after tonight. I’ll come up with a story, but you need to stay as far away from Sinclair as possible,” I instructed coldly, though it was the only thing cold about me.

The rest of me burned against her softness. Burned for the feel of her. The taste of her. The feel of all of her fire succumbing rather than fighting mine.

“You said you weren’t his henchman,” Robyn accused, her breathing unsteady.

My gaze dropped to the part of her lips, and for a second, I would’ve risked everything to kiss her one more time.

“I’m not.” My voice eked lower, down to a level below the threshold of my restraint. Below the threshold of self-preservation. Of right and wrong. “I’m his hangman.”

His eyes flitted wide. “What does that mean?”

It meant I’d risked everything to protect her…and even more to tell her the truth.But if it kept her safe…

“It means that I work for the FBI, Robber, and your little stunt tonight almost jeopardized my undercover operation I’ve been running for the last year.”

Now I had her attention. Of course, I did. I just gave myself over on a fucking platter.

“The FBI?” Her smoky eyes widened.

“You think you’re the only one who picked up on his little scheme? And that isn’t even the worst of it.” My thumb traced the skin of her cheek, desire and duty ripping my insides to shreds. “We’ve been watching him for a long time now. There’s a whole task force assigned to tracking down all the little fingers of his operation and following them back to bigger fish.”

“And you…”

“I’m the one hunting him. The only one who managed to get in—to get close. The only one who has a shot at bringing it all down, and tonight, you—” I broke off, afraid even uttering the words would somehow make them come true.

Her expression had the decency to shudder—to shadow with the weight of what she’d almost jeopardized. Her gaze dipped for an instant and then lifted back to mine.

“Why should I believe you?”

“Why would I create a lie that could get me killed?” I inched my head forward. “This is so much bigger—so much worse than you can even fathom, Robber. Take the money and let me handle Sinclair.”Take it before you make me risk a whole hell of a lot more than I ever thought possible.

Her eyes sprung up, looking like she’d just come out of a daze. Whatever I’d said, it was the wrong thing because she backed away from me, leaving my arm to fall by my side.

“When I was sixteen, my parents were killed in a car crash.An accident.” Her tone mocked the word. “On their death, I inherited a trust they’d set aside for me. Everything they’d worked for—everything they’d saved over the years. While I couldn’t access the funds until I was eighteen, my lawyer told me I could invest them. He had a great opportunity in mind, and he said he’d put me in touch with the man in charge of the whole company.”

Her words resonated with Sinclair’s investment scam; it was what alerted us to him in the first place, but that was only the first domino to fall.

“The first time I spoke to Magnus Sinclair, I was seventeen. He told me he had a young daughter, and that if he died tragically, he hoped someone would give her the same option he was giving to me.”

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