Page 91 of Near Miss

She trusted him. Even after the way he’d treated her.

“You can’t think you’ll get away with this, Landry. Cut your losses. Let her go, and you can walk out of here.”

Jared’s amused laugh tightened the back of Lachlan’s neck. “I’m holding all the cards, Mackay. I know you SAS operators think you’re the best, but do you think you can shoot me before I put a bullet into sweet Sophia’s brain?”

Jared’s expression hardened. “Weapon on the desk—remove the magazine and clear the chamber first.” He dug his pistol deeper into Sophia’s skin for emphasis.

Bloody Hell.Lachlan had no choice. His gaze trained on Landry, he ejected the magazine from his gun, retracted the slide, and tilted his weapon. The shiny copper and lead projectile bounced off the wood floor and landed at the edge of the rug. He placed the gun and magazine on the desk.

Jared nodded approvingly. “Now, your coat. And your other weapons. Slowly. My trigger finger is itchy.”

Lachlan grimaced. He shrugged out of the leather jacket. It landed with athunknext to his gun.

Jared’s free hand gestured to Lachlan’s mission pants.

He dug into the various pockets and removed his folding knife, multitool, and Maglite. His shoulder holster came off next. He yanked up his right pant leg, unfastened the fixed blade holstered above his boot, and added it to the growing pile. When he finished, he held his arms away from his body.

Jared’s eyes narrowed. “Your other gun.”

Shite.Lachlan hesitated, then withdrew the compact pistol from the small of his back, unloaded it, and tossed it with his other gear.

“Move away from the desk.”

Lachlan sidestepped in the direction of a pedestal displaying a Murano vase. Not close enough to touch it. Not yet. He breathed a shallow sigh of relief as Jared lifted the gun from Sophia’s temple.

Lines bracketed her mouth and forehead, but she remained calm. He diverted his attention from Jared long enough to lock gazes with her. What he saw threw him off balance. It wasn’t fear. It looked like…Love.

He stopped breathing. No matter what happened to him, Sophia would survive.

His focus returned to Jared. “What now? Are you going to shoot me where I stand? I wouldn’t want to mess up your wood floor or that fancy rug you’re standing on.”

“I loved her, you know. We were kindred spirits.”

Lachlan frowned. “Loved who?” The bastard couldn’t mean Sophia, even though he was clearly attracted to her.

“Nadia.” Jared was too calm. His fingers brushed Sophia’s hair. “Beautiful like our Sophia and intelligent.”

Lachlan’s jaw clenched. “You’re not capable of love.”

“Who do you think introduced me to Khan? We weren’t just lovers—we were business partners.” The hand in Sophia’s hair clenched.

She winced.

Lachlan stifled a step forward.

“Until Khan’s son, Sharif, the little prick, ruined everything.” A thread of anger showed in Jared’s voice for the first time.

“She betrayed us.” Lachlan’s rage bubbled up, cold and deadly. “An innocent hostage and five soldiers dead. Lives ruined. All because of her.”

Jared released his grip on Sophia’s hair, waving his hand in a careless gesture. “People die all the time. How many civilians did we kill in Iraq and Afghanistan? You could have taken out Sharif and the others without killing her.”

Lachlan smothered the anger roiling in his gut and softened his tone. Maybe he could appeal to the bastard’s sense of duty—if he had ever had any. “She refused to surrender. Had her gun trained on Ryder. You would have done the same to protect one of your own.”

Jared shrugged. “I would have let Nadia kill my men if it kept her alive.”

The man had gone stark raving mad.

“My business association with Khan resulted in a tidy profit, but I knew it couldn’t go on forever,” Jared continued in the same conversational tone. “I hadn’t planned to kill you. Ruining your reputation and knowing you’d spend twenty years behind bars seemed enough. At first.”

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