Golden Binds

“My name is Joseph Bjorn,” the one in front said. “These are my brothers, Garret and Sawyer. We’ve come about your sister.”

Bjorn? Why did that name ring a bell? Then it clicked. Surely not. Those guys had to be at least sixty, didn’t they?

“Bjorn? From the castle?”

“Yes.”

His mind spun. “How did you get past my security?”

The one he’d introduced as Sawyer, snorted. “Your security needs work. Your guards are lax. There are holes all over the place. Your sister has been sneaking past them for months.”

He narrowed his gaze. Anger beat at him. Holes? What holes? “And how would you know about my sister?”

“She is ours.” This came from Joseph. He was obviously the leader.

Ours? What the fuck? “She is not. She’s mine.”

Garret snorted. “Not anymore. And if this is the way you take care of her then it’s long past time she came with us.”

He moved around the desk. Two of his men drew closer, two moved to each side of the room to get a different angle on the Bjorn brothers.

“Just what sort of claim do you think you have on my sister?” Remain calm. Information is key.

Joseph gave him a withering look. “That’s none of your business. We’re here because we know she’s been taken by Gio. She left here a few hours ago and was attacked and taken to his compound.”

“And how do you know that?” Carlin’s voice was a soft whisper. His men grew even more tense. They knew he was getting close to striking.

“That’s not any of your business either,” Joseph told him.

“It is if you had something to do with her kidnapping.” And how would they know who had taken her, if they hadn’t been?

“We would never harm Georgina.” Joseph gave him a disgusted look. “She is going to be ours.”

“You keep saying that. But it’s not happening.” Fuck that. All three of them? Not one of them was worthy of her. No one was, of course. But three men? No way.

“We don’t need your approval,” Sawyer told him. “As soon as we rescue her, we’ll take her with us.”

He couldn’t kill them yet. Not until he knew everything they did.

“So, if you know where she is why are you here?”

“We were going to storm Gio’s compound and rescue her,” Joseph told him. “But it occurred to us that there might be an easier way in. We need your mother’s diaries.”

“My mother’s diaries?” That was unexpected.

Joseph looked around at his men. “Lose the goons and we’ll explain.”

Kian sent him a warning look. Yeah, he knew he would be stupid to send them away.

“We’re not going to harm you,” Joseph said impatiently. “If we’d wanted to, we would have done it already.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’re outnumbered, out-gunned, and in my territory.”

Sawyer grinned at him. But there was no humor in his gaze. “We don’t need guns to be dangerous.”

Joseph folded his arms over his chest. If he looked concerned at having four guns aimed his way, he didn’t show it. “We won’t harm you because you’re important to her. Unless, of course, you stall us or get in our way. Each moment you delay means it’s that much longer until we get to her.”

He thought about the video and grimaced. He knew they had to get to her soon. Gio would think nothing of harming her. Of letting his men use her.