by Katee Robert
Charlie leaned back against the seat, rotating to face him fully. “You have me alone and at your mercy. Enough circling. What, exactly, do you want from me?”
Heat flared in his eyes, a fierce flame of interest that she’d have to be extremely naive to misinterpret. He banked it almost immediately, the cool mask back in place, but it had been there. She was sure of it.
Aiden looked out the window. “As I said, I need your information, and I need you to be a distraction.”
“A distraction.” What the hell was he talking about?
“Yes.” His mouth tightened. “I need my enemies—our enemies—to underestimate both of us.”
She tensed. “If you need a distraction, then you should have hired someone better suited to the job. I’m not a sideshow circus freak.”
“I’m aware.” He finally looked at her again, and his expression was no less intense, for all that he seemed to be trying to rein himself in. “There is no one else, Charlie. You know the players, and you know what’s at risk if we fail. As a relative unknown in this game, you can move through them without raising suspicions. But you have a brain.” He reached out and touched her temple.
She swatted him away, not liking the fact that she could feel his finger against her skin even after he no longer touched her.
Even as a so-called distraction, it didn’t make sense that he’d need her. But she hadn’t made much progress in her own investigation, though she’d had access to several decades’ worth of police files. Charlie narrowed her eyes. It would be child’s play for Aiden to get a hold of those files. If he didn’t have ins with the NYPD, his family did with the Boston cops. All it would take was a favor asked by one of the cops on his payroll and he’d have all the information she had—more, since there had undoubtedly been new information in the last four years.
It didn’t make any more sense than his supposedly needing her to be a distraction did.
There was something there, something she was missing. She crossed her legs. “Elaborate.” The more she got him talking, the better chance she had of figuring out his true purpose in inviting her into his game.
“Romanov wants my baby sister. The reasons behind it are complicated, but the end result is that if I push back, he will take us to war, and both New York and Boston will bleed as a result. While there are benefits to war, our family has lost more than its fair share in casualties, and I refuse to lose another person.”
It sounded quite noble . . . if she forgot who she was talking to.
Aiden O’Malley and Dmitri Romanov were two sides of the same coin. Aiden wasn’t some white knight charging in to deliver justice to her out of the goodness of his heart. She hadn’t been able to find out much about the O’Malleys, but they had a reputation for being ruthless and they’d ruled one-third of Boston’s underground for a few generations, which was impressive when considering how often power changed hands in other cities. She studied his button-down shirt, taking in the cuff links glinting at his wrists. Cuff links, for God’s sake. “I’m still missing the part where you need me.”
He met her gaze directly. “You’ll be my fiancée.”
“Are you out of your goddamn mind? Getting married is your brilliant plan? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Calm down. I’m not actually marrying you, so you can get that look off your face. The only way you can move freely—relatively speaking—in my world is if you’re mine. A girlfriend won’t cut it—an engagement is required.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down.” She made an effort to smooth out her tone. They’d been talking a grand total of ten minutes, and the fact that he’d had every emotion and reaction locked down only made her feel crazier. “I don’t want to move in your world.”
He didn’t seem too bothered by her shock and denial. “If people think that it’s a whirlwind romance, they’ll believe that I’m thinking with my cock instead of my brain. The frenzy at the beginning of a relationship distracts even the most focused person, and Romanov will know it—and underestimate the situation as a result. You’ll have to be convincing, of course. Not even my family can know your true purpose there.”
It was an effort to pick her jaw up off the floor. She’d known he was desperate—he’d have to be to come to her twice—but she hadn’t reckoned on him being insane. “No one is going to believe for a second that you fell head over heels for a cop—”
“Dirty cop, according to your record, and that’s if anyone digs deeply enough to figure out that you aren’t Charlie Moreaux.”
She ignored that. “Even if they did believe that, there’s still the complete fiction that we’re in love. No. Absolutely not. There has to be another way.” She pinched the bridge of her nose, thinking hard. “Your bodyguard. I can be your bodyguard.”
“Out of the question. My family would be less likely to believe that I replaced Liam than they would be that I fell for a former dirty cop—and Romanov certainly wouldn’t buy it. Not to mention, bringing in outside security is a giant red flag that would have him watching me more closely instead of less.”
“I don’t care. Figure out something else.”
Aiden studied her. “What is it about being my fiancée that bothers you so much?”
She didn’t even know where to start, so she went with the first thing to pop into her head. “How about the fact that I’m not going to sleep with you?”
He barked out a laugh. “You don’t have to sleep with me, Charlie. You just have to pretend.” Just like that, all amusement was gone from his face, the intensity of his eyes leaving her breathless. He reached across the meager distance between them and captured her chin. Her heart tried to beat out of her chest as he leaned forward until his breath ghosted across her lips. “No one would believe for a second that I’d wait for marriage to have you in my bed, and so you’ll be in my bed. But I won’t touch you without permission.”
She licked her lips, her skin too tight, her nipples pebbling until they almost hurt. If he’d looked down, he would have seen them pressing against the thin fabric of her shirt. But Aiden didn’t look down, didn’t drag his gaze away from her lips. His voice dropped to something akin to a growl. “It’s just pretend, Charlie. You can pretend to want me, can’t you?”
She squeezed her thighs together, but the move did nothing to alleviate the ache growing between them. Oh God. She tried counting to ten, but lost her place halfway through. There was only Aiden and his clear mountain scent filling the back of the town car.
He won’t touch me without permission. Do not give him permission. Some things you can’t come back from.
She held perfectly still, a rabbit in a trap, and when she spoke, she was pathetically grateful that she sounded mostly unaffected. “I think I’ll manage.”
“Good.” His lips curved a little. “Then we can begin.”
CHAPTER TWO
The next day, the first order of business was getting Charlie clothed appropriately. Aiden had dispatched Liam to take her shopping, which was a chore on multiple levels. He’d seen the hesitance in her face at the thought of spending his money, but he’d argued that she had to present a particular look if she was going to play in his world. Liam would ensure that she spent enough and didn’t try to take the easy way out. Aiden would have asked for his sister Carrigan’s assistance, but they were barely on speaking terms at this point. He couldn’t quite forgive her for being the reason the family was in this precarious position with Romanov in the first place, even if he was happy she’d found love.
A family of traitors. That’s all we are.
Cillian caught him as he walked through the front door. His youngest brother was dressed in his usual three-piece suit, tattoos peeking out at his neck and wrists. “Where have you been? You were supposed to be back last night—”
“I got caught up.” Aiden nodded to the man at Cillian’s back—Mark Neale, one of their hired men. “Bring Keira to the office immediately.”
Cillian stopped short,
horror suffusing his face. “No. Aiden, you didn’t. Tell me you didn’t.”
It stung that his brother had immediately jumped to the worst-case scenario, even if that was exactly what Aiden wanted him to believe. Always so willing to cast me as a knockoff version of our father. He couldn’t let the opinion of his siblings affect his plans, though. They’d see the truth when the time came—and not a second before.
“Office. Now.” He injected a bit of the forbidding tone their father had always used to get immediate obedience. He’d be damned before he let Cillian contradict him in the middle of the foyer. His brother didn’t mean it as a way of undermining Aiden’s tenuous hold on power, but there were men who worked for them who might interpret it that way. A unified front was the only thing that would see them through this until the threats of Romanov and the Eldridges were removed.
Cillian barely waited for the office door to close before he was in Aiden’s face. “I have done everything you asked of me and more, and never once did we agree on giving Keira to that monster. Christ, Aiden, she’s a kid. He’ll eat her alive.”
He won’t have her.
He couldn’t say it, couldn’t tip his hand in the least. Cillian was as trustworthy as they came, but he was well on his way to being married to Dmitri Romanov’s half sister. Olivia claimed she wanted nothing to do with Dmitri, but she still allowed him access to her two-year-old daughter, Hadley, on a regular basis. Aiden didn’t think his brother or future sister-in-law would betray him … but he couldn’t risk it.
Not with the number of lives at stake.
So he let his face fall into the familiar cold lines, the mask of the new leader of the O’Malley family. “You aren’t the one who makes that decision.”
Cillian fell back a step. “You’re fucking kidding me. What the hell did Dmitri say in that meeting that was tantalizing enough to get you to agree to this? Why now, when you’ve held him off for a goddamn year?”
I got an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up. He couldn’t say it aloud. Every part of this plan depended on a precarious balance that anything could upset. Dmitri needed to believe the lie, so that meant Aiden’s family needed to believe the lie as well. “Keira is an adult. She’s more than capable of meeting the demands of the family.” As if I’d actually ask that of her. Aiden had seen all too clearly the pain and suffering that came from arranged marriages, and he had no intention of subjecting his baby sister to it.
“Sure. Whatever the hell you say—because that’s worked out so well for the rest of our sisters.” Cillian shook his head. “You’re going to lose her, too, Aiden. We’re going to lose her.”
Not if I can help it. He slid his hands into his pockets, the very picture of polite disinterest. “She’ll be here shortly. Can you contain yourself, or do I need to ask you to wait outside?”
The look his brother gave him was filled to the brim with disgust and disappointment, the twin judgments lodging in Aiden’s throat like a blade.
“I’ll keep my mouth shut like a good boy.” Cillian dropped into one of the chairs in front of the desk.
“Good.” It didn’t matter what Cillian thought of him. All that mattered was the end goal. If his remaining family despised him by the time that came around … so be it. At least they’d be alive to hate him.
The door opened, and Keira stumbled in. She looked like shit, dark circles beneath her eyes, her face drawn from losing weight that she couldn’t afford to lose, her hair wild and uncombed. She blinked dilated eyes at him, none of her usual arrogance present. “I take it my time is up.”
“Sit.” He motioned to the empty chair.
Some of the customary fire sparked in her eyes. “I’ll stand.”
There was no delicate way to put this, and she wouldn’t thank him for trying to sugarcoat it. “We’re in talks regarding you marrying Dmitri Romanov. Negotiations will begin shortly for the wedding itself and the living arrangements. I suspect, having waited this long, Romanov will want to expedite things.”
He watched her, fully expecting a meltdown. Keira wasn’t exactly the most even-keeled and obedient of his siblings. It would have been so easy to pull her aside, to tell her that he had no intention of letting Romanov lay his filthy hands on her, but he needed her and everyone else in his family to respond authentically every step of the way. That meant no one could know the truth.
But his baby sister just shrugged, like this was exactly what she’d expected. “Okay.”
He exchanged a look with Cillian, and the fury his brother was directing at him was stifling. Aiden took a deep breath. “Good. You’re under house arrest until this is ironed out.”
That got a response. Her chin jerked up, her shoulders going back. “Fuck that.”
“It’s nonnegotiable. You’re putting yourself in danger every time you go to one of those goddamn parties, and it ends now.” Frankly, he was a little surprised that Romanov hadn’t just taken Keira. He could have last year when he’d delivered her to their front door, a warning no one dared ignore. That he hadn’t taken her indicated he was playing a deeper game than any of them could begin to guess.
After that little incident, Aiden had put Mark on Keira’s detail. They’d never lost her again, and since he always knew where she was, he hadn’t been required to curtail her nighttime wanderings.
Things had changed. “I’ll nail your window shut myself if I have to, but you’re not leaving this house without an escort.”
Something like panic bled into her voice. “Don’t put me on house arrest, Aiden. Please.”
He remembered all too well what she’d threatened to do the last time he’d issued the same command. Aiden crossed to her and put his hands on her shoulders. She felt so terrifyingly frail, like she might shatter into a million pieces if he hugged her too hard. “It’s only for a little while—and only at night. Take an escort and you can go wherever you damn well please during the day. But Keira”—he waited for her to meet his eyes before he continued—“the second you ditch your protection duty, that privilege is gone. This is not a game, and I’m not making idle threats.”
Her hazel eyes filled with tears, making him feel like the biggest asshole in existence. He didn’t let that sway him, though. Her safety was more important than her freedom. Finally, she jerked out of his hold. “I hate you.”
“I know.” He’d do more to deserve that hate before this thing was through.
* * *
Charlie tried very, very hard not to think about the sheer amount of money she’d spent that day. Every time she’d balked, that bastard Liam had all but dragged her into another store and thrown her to the mercy of the salespeople there.
And they’d had none.
She ran her hand down her thigh, a small, stupid part of her thrilled at how soft the fabric of her dress felt. It was a deep purple, a simple sheath that she’d been assured was the height of fashion right now. She didn’t know much about that, but the price tag would have paid her rent for a month. Who the hell had that kind of money to spend on clothes?
Criminals.
Like the one who had her panting after him like some kind of fool. He hadn’t taken advantage of it last night, but that was more about his restraint than her morals. If he’d kissed me …
Her body flushed hot at the thought, and she had to fight not to squirm. This wasn’t her. Sex had a place, and she indulged whenever her hormones got too out of control, but it was always with appropriate men. Safe men.
Aiden O’Malley was many things, but appropriate didn’t begin to enter into the equation, and safe wasn’t even in the same universe. He was dangerous in ways that had nothing to do with the family he was born into, and everything to do what how he frayed her control without even trying. He was a man who inspired the kind of lust that left nothing but ash in its wake.
She had no intention of letting this devil’s bargain put her in the ground.
No, the only reason she was doing this was to see justice done when it came to Dmitri Romanov.<
br />
Justice sounds a whole lot like revenge.
She shoved the thought away. She’d deal with it when she was finally face-to-face with that monster. In the meantime, she had other things to worry about—like the fact that she was about to meet her fake fiancé’s family.
“We’re here.”
She jumped. The town house they’d pulled in front of was a monster. It reeked of money and pretentiousness, the massive front door sending a very clear message to people like her: You are not welcome. She didn’t come from money, but she’d encountered it enough to recognize it on sight.
I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.
Charlie climbed out of the town car, fighting the urge to throw herself into the backseat and demand that Liam take her back to New York. No matter what her former brothers in the NYPD thought of her, she wasn’t a coward. She could walk into this situation and be cool and collected, and not lose her head and do something stupid. She would.
Taking down Dmitri Romanov wouldn’t restore her good name, regain her father’s respect, or give her life back, but it was better than the alternative. Wasting her life away playing poker.
Before she could reconsider, she strode across the sidewalk and up the stairs. She hesitated for half a second, wondering if she should knock, but if she was supposedly Aiden O’Malley’s fiancée, this would be her home. She would rule at his side. Her stomach fluttered, but she wasn’t sure if it was nerves or flat-out fear.
This isn’t for real. I’m playing a part, not diving head-first into the dark side. Dad would—
But she couldn’t think about her father without her chest twisting into knots. There wasn’t a more by-the-book man than John Finch. For her father, there were no shades of gray—there was only black and white, right and wrong. He wouldn’t approve of this plan, and if he found out she was “engaged” to Aiden O’Malley, he might arrest her himself. She didn’t know what he’d charge her with, but her dad could be a genius when it came to the law.
