Kingdom Fall

That was true, especially since Bailey had firsthand experience with danger.

“You know if it wasn’t your wedding night, I would give you shit about checking in with the missus,” Griff said, but with a grin.

Kalen glared at his friend. “You’ll see. The two of you aren’t far behind me.”

“No, he doesn’t know a thing about loyalty,” I said to Kalen. To Griffin, I said, “Does Lizzy know about Sara or vice versa?”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Griffin snapped.

“Oh really? The Dubai submissive from the club—I have video of the two of you.”

Griffin’s eyes widened. He probably assumed I wasn’t that hands-on with the security at my club since I contracted it out to his company. “I sent her to you.”

Kalen shifted between us as I said, “And how would you know the daughter of Haddad, the kingpin of Dubai…” My words trailed off as I put it together. “He wouldn’t want his people to know what his daughter was up to. He contracted out her security detail. The guys he brought with him—”

“You were never in any danger,” Griffin said.

It had been his security team. One had tricked Eliza into letting them in.

“Yet you sent her to me. Let me spank her. Let her come all over my lap,” I said, baiting him. “Did she know she was being traded?”

I drew my own conclusions about his gift to me. Had Griffin offered Sara to me so maybe I’d leave Lizzy alone? Sara was a gorgeous woman and more my traditional type, with hips and breasts that didn’t end for days.

“You fucker,” Griffin said, along with a string of Gaelic curse words.

Lucky for him, Kalen had a hold of him as the doors opened. I was spoiling for a fight, but Lizzy’s safety was more important. I unlocked my door and walked in.

They weren’t far behind when I said, “Take off your shoes,” to distract them as I pushed a hidden button on my wall. Textured wallpaper I’d been told was very much in style hid the seams of the opening. There was the faintest of pops as the wall moved.

Griffin lost some of his bluster as he looked inside. His expression changed to one of appreciation. “A safe room.”

“I never knew this was here,” Kalen added.

“You weren’t supposed to,” I said over my shoulder. Because they were looking everywhere but at me, I hit another hidden button that wouldn’t allow the door to close behind us.

“Holy shit,” Griffin muttered.

He only had eyes for my command center, with multiple monitors set horizontally and vertically. I sat and initiated security protocols. First there was a scan of my face through the facial recognition software. Then I put my right ring finger on the scanner. It was only then a log-in screen appeared. I entered a string of alpha-numeric characters that would only make sense to me before I gained access to my system.

“Yer little jobbie,” Griffin said, louder this time.

Kalen had mumbled enough Scottish slang over the last few years for me to translate. Griffin had called me a little shit.

I ignored him as I hacked into New York’s DMV system. What I’d failed to tell the pair behind me was that I’d gotten the license plate number as they sped off. I worked against the clock to get in, grab the information, and get out. Breaking in was the simple part. Leaving without a trail that led back to me was harder.

“Got it,” I said, but didn’t answer the questions hurled at me until I’d covered my digital footprints. I didn’t face them until after I initiated the second part of my plan.

“You didn’t need my security, did you?” Griffin asked.

“The muscle, yes. The cyber part, no.”

Kalen proved he knew me better than I thought when he said, “You didn’t want anyone to know what you were capable of.”

“And I want to keep it that way.”

Part of what I did outside of running the club was information gathering. Over the years, several three-letter government outfits had approached me to help them in that area. But I also used my abilities to keep the sinners of my past within reach. When they stumbled, I would be ready to make the kill, literally or figuratively. It didn’t matter either way, as long as justice was served.

“I should charge you more,” Griffin muttered.

“And I’ll find another firm to assist me.”

“Cut the shite, Griff. Connor, what did you find out?”

A bell chimed on my computer, and I spun my chair to face it again. I pointed at the screen on the right. “The car was a rental.”

The camera I had facing my back so no one could surprise me—displayed in the smaller screen I had discreetly hidden on the bottom left—showed the two of them stepping forward.

“Not surprising,” Griff said.

“Cameras show that vehicle ending up here.” I tapped the screen in the middle, which had a map.