“This man after us is bad, Emma,” he gravely told me a few minutes later. “He’s very bad.”

“Who is he?”

“His name is Terry Mulligan and he’s powerful. He ran the streets decades ago before he got locked up for murder when someone on his side sold him out.”

“You’ve never heard of him?”

“The city got run by so many gangs, I didn’t look that far back. There was no reason to. I’ve stayed focused on the present.”

“Why is he back?”

“He got out of prison. He had two step-sons operating on the small side when he was locked up. They made enough to make it by, waiting for their old man to come out. Turns out he has a lot of people on his side that have been waiting for him. Which means he still has a lot of money locked up somewhere.”

I frowned in confusion. “Why is he making himself known like this?”

“The step-sons, they were the brothers I killed for Kate’s murder.”

“Oh, my God,” I whispered.

“He’s trying to fuck with me. Doing the same M.O. the brothers used on me. He wants his revenge. He has a thing for revenge. He wanted the man that screwed him over left untouched so he could personally kill him when he got out, and he did. He hunted him down hours after he got out and plucked him off slowly. He’s got an itch for torture. Takes it slow, stretches it out for weeks until the man is so weak he can barely move, and then he releases them and hunts them down like animals. He likes to play, and that’s a level of fucked up that I’m not even familiar with.”

I felt bile climb up my throat at the images his words induced. “And he wants to do that to us?”

“Don’t think about that, it won’t happen. When it comes down to it, he wants to take my place. If he takes me down, he’ll have my businesses and a whole shitload of unemployed men to buy up. And that won’t happen either. I won’t let him.”

I pulled away and looked up at him, unable to shake my fear. “What are we going to do?”

He sighed, looking back at me with tender eyes. “I’m going to hunt him down, and you’re going to pack your shit and go away until I find him.”

I froze, my mouth dropping open in shock. “What?”

He nodded slowly. “I can’t afford to have you hurt, Emma.”

“I don’t want to be away from you.”

“What else am I meant to do?”

“Keep me around.”

“No.”

I slid away from him, feeling hot angry tears fall down my face. “And where are you going to send me? To those sleazy bikers? They’ll rape me, Borden.”

“They won’t lay a finger on you.”

“I don’t trust them!” I fumed. “If this psycho wants to hunt you down, what do they care? They’ll just have another guy to run their businesses through. I’m not important –”

“You assume this fucker will kill me, and he won’t. I’m a tough cookie, doll. Killing me will take a lot of fucking effort, and I tend to fight back harder. The bikers don’t concern me. I know who is loyal to their word, and Hector won’t let me down.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because Hawke knows it, and you were right about the way I feel for my guys. Graeme and Hawke mean a lot to me too, and I was too proud to admit it. Hawke is like a brother to me, regardless if he fucks you with his eyes. I trust him, therefore I trust his judgment. The bikers won’t do you harm.”

I just shook my head, gutted by this turn of events. I didn’t want to go anywhere. I didn’t want to leave Granny behind. He seemed to read my thoughts. “Your grandmother will be looked after too.”

“What, are you going to send my granny to the bikers too, Borden?”

“No. I’ll arrange something else for that old battle axe. She’ll be fine.”

“She won’t go anywhere if you ask her to.”

“I won’t be asking, and she won’t have a choice.”

“I’m not going,” I defiantly retorted. “You can’t just send me away like a piece of property.”

“In the eyes of everyone else, you are my property,” he replied coolly. “And you’re going.”

Oh, he was infuriating! I didn’t know whether to curse at him or beg him to change his mind. There was no getting through to him when he was dead set on something, and this something was sending me away.

Unable to help my bitter tone, I gritted out, “And when are you going to ship your property off?”

“Soon.”

“How soon?”

“I don’t know yet.”

Fuck his vague answers.  I swallowed my sadness as I demanded, “Will you see me?”

“Yes.”

“How often?”

His lips pulled up in a delicious smile. “Look at you. Unable to be away from me, like I’m your fucking oxygen or something.”

I narrowed my eyes irritably at his sarcasm and uttered almost silently, “You are.”

He let out a long exhale, that smile fading. “I know, doll. I know because you’re like that for me too.”

A tear slid down my cheek, and he swallowed hard as he watched it slide down my face. He gestured to me to move closer, quietly saying, “Come here, beautiful. Let me hold you.”

I crawled back over to him and he wrapped me in his arms, holding me close, telling me that everything was going to be fine. But I didn’t think it would be. I felt something stir inside me, an unsettling feeling that made me sick to my stomach.

This was the calm before the storm.

Eleven

Emma

I woke up the next morning to the feel of soft kisses running up my bare arm. Borden’s hand moved beneath the hem of his oversized shirt – the only piece of clothing I wore to bed last night after I left the bathroom and had to change my clothes from them being soaked sitting on the wet floor. I let out a light breath as his hand roamed my abdomen, tickling my flesh lightly. His kisses moved up my neck, licking a trail to the soft spot behind my ear, and his hand grabbed my breast, squeezing them firmly before rolling my nipple between his fingertips.

I pushed my ass against him, feeling his naked body, his hard muscle, his long length. I smiled. “I see morning sex is on the menu today.”