He’s larger than I expected.
A second mistake.
I won’t make another.
He’s not the mammoth size of Andrei, but he has a few inches in height and several pounds of muscle on me. And I’m not a small man.
I close the door softly after I’ve entered.
“You’re not her brother. Who the fuck are you?” the man demands, his hand immediately going to his gun at his waistband.
I hold my own up in a surrender posture. “Ronan Sinclair. I mean no harm. I need to speak with Daria. Saying I was her brother seemed the simplest way to go about it.”
Daria’s eyes snap open, a strangled noise emits from her chest as she tries to sit up.
The man growls at me, his gaze darting back and forth between Daria on the bed and me in the doorway. I keep my hands up. “I just need a moment of your time. I know the timing isn’t ideal. I have information on your friend, Quinn.”
That gets both of their attention.
The man looks to Daria for direction. She nods slightly; he resumes his seat next to her bed and motions for me to take a seat on the small couch on the other side of the room.
“Make it fast,” he demands.
Daria whispers something in his direction and he helps her to sit up slightly, positioning pillows behind her and raising the head of the bed. She winces as she moves. I can only imagine the pain she’s in.
Her arm is in a cast and her body appears to be one large bruise, but she looks coherent enough for my purposes. “I need your help.” I start with my main request, figuring we can work our way backward from there.
“What have you done to Quinn?” she croaks.
“She is safe. For now. And I will return her to you after you and your girls help me.”
She rolls her eyes. “I’ll get her back, anyway. I don’t need to help you. And my girls definitely don’t need to be anywhere near you.”
The man growls at me again.
I need a new tactic.
“I don’t believe we’ve formally met.” I stand and amble toward him, staying vigilant, my hand outstretched.
He stands and does the same. “Mack Murphy.” He squeezes my hand unnecessarily hard. I don’t blame him, were our roles reversed, I would do the same.
I remain standing at the end of Daria’s bed and turn to her, my gaze beseeching. “Would it surprise you to know that I am not the one involved in the trafficking of women?”
She makes a noise that sounds a lot like a scoff.
“On my honor, Daria, I am not.” I hold her gaze, and her eyes widen slightly. She looks to Mack, who has been studying me. He nods almost imperceptibly, and she looks back to me, waiting for me to continue.
“I have a rat. He’s been conducting a lot of business in my name without my knowledge. Business I would not ordinarily associate myself with. I’d like your help to exterminate my rat.”
“Why not just do it yourself? Or are you the kind who doesn’t like to get their hands dirty?” Mack all but sneers as he asks.
“Oh, I have no problem taking him out myself. In fact, I’d like Daria’s girls to capture him and then let me take care of the rest. I have a lot of ideas as to how I want to extinguish his life. Slowly.”
“Why not just capture him yourself?” Mack persists.
Daria is still watching me. Whether to see what I’ll do or if I’m telling the truth, I’m not sure.
“Because, as is often the case with a rat, they travel in packs and I have no way of knowing who to trust any longer. I could very well use my men to catch my rat and they could all turn on me. I need someone I can trust.”
