Chapter 7
After he’d dressed—and had texted his brothers what was going on—Cormac found one of Julian’s men in Daniela’s kitchen.
He didn’t recognize the man from years ago when he’d been on the periphery of her family, so he could be new.
Cormac ignored him as he pulled out an insulated mug from the cabinet above her coffeemaker. It wasn’t like he wanted to leave with Julian, not with so little intel at the moment, but there was no other choice.
“What the fuck, man? Julian is waiting out front. Come on,” the man snapped.
Cormac glanced at the guy as he poured the coffee. “I’m making this for Daniela. You can wait.” His words were hard, with no give.
The man didn’t respond, just stepped back and out of the room.
Good.
He finished making her coffee the way she liked it, then walked out with the dark-haired man.
He’d brought one of his cell phones with him, knowing it would likely be taken.
Didn’t matter, Micah was going to use it as a listening device no matter where they put it.
His brothers would be following from a safe distance as well, using the tracker on the phone.
As he reached the driveway there was another man waiting—Logan, the guy from last night, the one who was dangerous—his expression dark. “Phone,” he bit out, holding out his hand.
Oh, he really wanted to hurt Cormac and was barely restraining himself. This guy was a bigger problem than he’d imagined. Just looking at him now, his rage right under the surface… Logan Brown had just moved up to the number one problem in Dani’s life.
Cormac handed the cell to him without a word, but just as Logan stepped forward as if he would pat him down, the SUV window rolled down.
Julian was in the passenger seat on his phone. “Leave him alone. Let him in the back seat,” he said without looking up.
Logan didn’t like that either, given the way his expression darkened even more, but Cormac didn’t give a shit. He hadn’t been about to let that other man touch him and things might have gotten ugly.
He slid in the back seat next to Daniela, whose expression was unreadable.
She’d changed into a sweater dress, had on dark boots and her hair was down around her shoulders in big waves.
She smelled amazing, and while she looked mostly unconcerned, he knew she had to be worried about this drop-in from her brother.
He handed her the mug. “Made it the way you like. Added a little cinnamon and whipped cream.”
Surprise flickered across her face for a moment, but she quickly replaced it with an appreciative smile. It was fake as hell, but only to people who really knew her.
And he doubted anyone but him in this vehicle knew the real Daniela. Dani. She’d been putting on a mask for her family for years, carrying a neutral expression to cover her pain.
She’d once told him that the first time she’d seen her father kill someone, she’d only been twelve.
It was no wonder she was handling everything from yesterday so well.
At least outwardly. The woman had been carrying way too much for too long, and it was time for someone else to step up and protect her.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
The other men got in a second SUV waiting by the curb so it was just the driver, Julian, Daniela and Cormac in their vehicle. Cormac was a little surprised that Julian hadn’t let Logan pat him down, so he guessed they had a signal jammer of sorts in the vehicle.
As they pulled out of the driveway, Julian spoke into the quiet. “When were you going to tell me you killed Dima Lebedev?” he asked, his tone clipped.
Cormac slid his fingers through Daniela’s, hoping that his hold grounded her. He didn’t want her to feel alone. Never again.
To his surprise, she squeezed his hand, held on as she responded. “Today. That’s why I texted you last night.”
Julian was silent for a long moment. Then he turned around, his eyes as hard as his voice. “You should have called me immediately. When you went to the police station, you should have had representation.”
“I was the victim,” she snapped. “Why would I need a lawyer? It was self-defense.”
Julian sighed. “I know you were a victim. But to cops that doesn’t matter. To them you’re just another Hill.”
She gave a derisive snort. “I’m a Ruiz.”
Julian closed his eyes for a long moment as if his patience was running thin, and Cormac had a feeling this was a conversation they’d had more than once. “Nevertheless, you should have called. You know how we do things in this family.”
“Fine. Sorry I didn’t call.” Yeah, she reeally didn’t sound it.
Cormac smothered a smile and glanced out the window.
“Where the hell were you when all this happened?” Julian snarled at him, his tone a lot harder.
He looked back at her angry brother.
Before he could respond, Daniela interjected. “Oh no. You don’t get to do that with him. He’s not with me 24/7 because that’s crazy. What happened was a bizarre fluke—and I handled it.” Ice coated her words, her protective mask firmly in place as she faced off with her brother.
“It wasn’t a fluke. You were clearly targeted.” His gaze snapped back to Cormac’s. “Anything you want to add?”
“Lebedev is lucky he’s dead,” he murmured. “I wouldn’t have let him off so easy.”
Julian must have liked whatever he saw in his expression, because he simply nodded and shifted his gaze back to his sister. His expression softened just a fraction. “Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”
“I’m fine. And no, he was just being disgusting. Telling me he was going to use me to hurt my family, that kind of stuff.” She squeezed Cormac’s hand again, but her expression was dismissive as she lied through her teeth.
Cormac’s blood chilled as he thought of her facing off with Lebedev alone. He’d been trying not think about what would have happened if she hadn’t been armed. If things had been even slightly different.
“The police report said he was waiting for you.”
Julian had access to the report already? That was interesting. Cormac made a note of it. He needed to talk to his sister, find out if she trusted the lead detective on the case.
“He was. From what I found out later, he’d shoved everyone in the walk-in freezer and told them not to make a sound or he’d kill them all.”
“So he knew you were going to be there? At this little diner?”
“I mean, I guess he knew. Obviously he must have. I go there once a week. The pie is amazing,” she added with an unconcerned shrug.
“You’ll need to start mixing up your schedule. Not that it will matter for the near future.”
“What does that mean?”
“After this brazen display it’s likely we’re going to war with the Popov family.” He turned around, dismissing any more questions.
“I won’t live like a prisoner,” she snapped, clearly understanding what he meant.
Cormac didn’t respond, but he squeezed her hand again. He didn’t want her antagonizing her brother, didn’t want to risk him putting her on lockdown before Cormac could build out her escape plan.
To his surprise, Julian turned around again. “You will if you want to be safe.”
“Connor can keep me safe.” She didn’t look at him as she spoke, but the conviction in her voice was real enough that her brother heard it.
Julian eyed him. “You’ve been gone a long time.”
Cormac didn’t respond. Mostly because Julian hadn’t asked a question, but more often than not, staying quiet was the best option.
He knew Julian would already have someone looking into him, digging deep.
He’d been surprised to see Cormac at his sister’s house—he’d have someone running his information now.
They’d be looking into Connor Robertson, of course. And thanks to Micah, they’d find what they were supposed to. A wealthy weapons dealer who flew under the radar and mostly stayed off the grid.
“Some might think you’re trying to move in on my territory,” Julian said mildly.
Cormac simply snorted because it was clear Julian didn’t think that. But he was toeing a thin line right now where he couldn’t piss off Daniela’s brother too much. He also couldn’t be someone Julian didn’t respect. “You have nothing I need. Respectfully,” he added.
“I have a meeting in an hour,” Daniela said into the taut silence. “So unless you think someone is going to attack me at the gallery, I can’t miss it. Connor can come with me, keep an eye on things.”
Julian faced forward, motioned to his driver. “Fine. But I’ll have two people sitting on your house and gallery at all times.”
“Fine. Just make sure it’s not Logan. He’s been weird lately. Showing up at my place unannounced.” She said it dismissively, but Cormac heard the waver in her voice, wondered if it was intentional or not.
Julian went very still but didn’t respond, simply answered an incoming call on his cell with a clipped tone, dismissing both of them.
“Did you get enough for breakfast?” Cormac murmured, lifting her hand to his mouth, gently kissing her knuckles. He wished what they were sharing was real, had imagined doing this so many times with her just as they had years ago.
If she was startled by the gesture, she didn’t show it. She nodded and took a sip of her coffee. “I did, thank you. And I should have asked. Are you okay watching me today?”
“Of course.” His gaze fell to her full lips, and even though he wanted to kiss her, he didn’t have that right.
He wouldn’t use this situation to take something from her that wasn’t his.
Gently brushing his lips over her hand was part of his cover—or at least that was what he was telling himself.
But kissing her mouth, taking that. No… Not until she welcomed him.
If she ever did.
“I’ll do whatever you need me to,” he added. “You’re my priority.” He meant it. Would risk everything to protect her.
Her dark eyes flicked to his lips and her cheeks flushed pink before she looked away, took another sip of her coffee.
Goddamn, she was adorable. He wasn’t sure how he’d lived without her for the last couple years.
Easy—he hadn’t been living. Not really. No, he’d simply been existing, floating around without an anchor. Without Dani.
As the SUV turned, he realized that Julian’s driver was taking them back to Daniela’s place.
Julian really was letting her go to work.
When they arrived, Cormac placed his hand on the small of her back and led her up the drive.
Logan stepped out of the other vehicle to slam the confiscated phone into his palm.
Cormac didn’t miss the jealous anger in the man’s eyes as he glared at Daniela. She didn’t even look at him, simply walked back to her house, head held high.
But Cormac gave him a hard stare. It wouldn’t do anything to get this guy to back off, at least not for long. Logan was pissed that Daniela wasn’t his. Not only that, Cormac was sure he was livid that she was with another man. And he would want to punish her for it.
Men like him were disgusting and sadly all too common.
Someone was going to have to take care of that problem. Might be Julian, but if he didn’t rein his man in, Cormac would take care of Logan. For good. No one would ever find the guy’s body either.
Once they were in her house, Daniela opened her mouth to speak, but he held up a finger and pointed to his phone. He wasn’t sure if they’d done something to it, but his brother would be able to tell him. He also wanted to know if Micah had overheard anything via the mic on it.
She nodded and made her way to the kitchen as he jogged upstairs.
Instead of calling, he texted Micah with his real phone to tell him what had happened and asked for details.
If they were going to extract Daniela from her family, they had to do it now, while her brother went to war with the Popov family.
But they had to do it correctly. He knew she wanted to take her family down with the evidence she’d been building against them, but once she turned on them, they would never let her live.
Even WITSEC wouldn’t save her if that happened.
So Cormac had to help her get free by faking her death.