Page 7 of Shield

Siena is wearing tight jeans that hug her ass, and the guy she’s talking to can’t stop staring. Every time she gets up, his eyes track her. When she leans over the desk to review paperwork, he pretends to pay attention, but his focus is locked on her tits.

For weeks, I’ve been watching her—watching her work, watching men flirt with her, watching her go home alone every night to heat leftovers for dinner and watch TV. I even watch every keystroke and tap she makes on the phone I had Olivia give her, including delete my fucking number the first time she opened it.

I’ve resisted the urge to put it back remotely—barely. I can’t risk her realizing I’m tracking every Google search, every text,every email.

Franco is still at the Edge, and Aurelio’s men haven’t found her yet. As far as I know, they don’t know where she works or lives, but I’m not taking any chances. I keep my eyes on her constantly, and Grit, my head of security, spends his days and nights following her from a distance.

Siena is keeping her life simple these days: work, home, and lunch with friends. But that won’t last forever, and I still don’t have a solid plan to eliminate Aurelio. I’m so agitated that there’s no end date on this fucking thing, no date that I know for sure that I’ll have her back in my arms, that I can barely focus on anything else.

Fuck! The guy Siena is talking to just touched her. He fucking caught her when she lost her balance trying to reach something on a high shelf.

He’s not letting go. Fuck! He turns her around, plants a hand on the shelf on either side of her, boxing her in. My heart pounds, and I grab my shoes, fixated on the screen. He leans in. He’s fucking trying to kiss her. I can feel myself coming unglued.

There’s a sharp knock on the front door to my penthouse before it opens and Vin strolls in. He jerks a thumb over his shoulder. “Hey! Saw the construction you’re doing. Are you adding steel reinforcements to the floor of the penthouse? Looks like it’s coming along nicely.” When I don’t answer, he notices me putting my shoes on. “You going somewhere?”

I jerk my hand up to silence him and crank up the volume on my phone while tying my shoes.

“I’m sorry,” Siena’s voice is tinny coming out of my phone speaker. “I can’t. I didn’t mean to give you the wrong impression.”

Vin moves behind me, peering over my shoulder.

“I thought you didn’t have a boyfriend,” the guy says, still too close, still blocking her in.

Move, asshole! She told you fucking ‘no!’

Vin exhales sharply. “Jesus. Please tell me this hasn’t been your entire day.”

I growl in response, staring at the screen. It’s not just been my entire day. It’s been my entire day every day for the past twenty-six days.

“I don’t have a boyfriend,” Siena says firmly. “And I don’t want one.” She ducks under his arm and puts her desk between them.

Relief washes over me, but it’s short-lived. The guy leans forward, undeterred. If he touches her one more time, he’s a dead man.

“Maybe I could just take you to dinner. Nothing serious.”

“No, thank you.”

“Just once? C’mon. I know you feel this.” He gestures between them, then grabs her hand. When she recoils, I nearly lose it. “I know I feel it. We can feel a lot more if you come out with me.”

“That’s it.” I’m already up when Vin grabs my arm.

“Hold on,” he says.

On the screen, Siena’s voice turns cold. “Mr. Cruze, your case is being reassigned effective immediately, and this meeting is over. Thank you for coming in.”

“But—”

Amelia steps into view and ushers him out. “Thank you, Mr. Cruze.”

I glare at the screen, fists clenched. “Fuck.”

“She’s got it, bro,” Vin says, releasing my arm. “You’ll onlyfuck everything up by busting in there. You don’t want her to find out you’re watching her. You’ll wreck your whole… whatever this is, I don’t even fucking know.”

I hurl the glass on the coffee table at the wall. It shatters, shards raining down, but it does little to ease the tension coiled inside me. Dropping onto the couch, I grip my hair with both hands. “I can’t fucking keep doing this.”

“No, you can’t,” Vin says drily, sitting beside me. “You look like shit. Do you even sleep?”

“I can’t sleep,” I mumble. “I can’t do shit. I can’t take my eyes off the screen. The last time I took my eyes off her, Aurelio attacked.”

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