The Empire (Filthy Trilogy 3)

“Your move, savant,” I say, repeating his now infamous jab. “I am a savant, Isaac, but it doesn’t take that skill to figure this out. Did you really think I wouldn’t know you left the note?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You left the note. You’re in trouble with the mob. I already knew that, but you’re on your own. The only way that note would motivate me is if there wasn’t a layer of protection. But dad is alive. There’s two of you. One or both of you can handle this on your own.”

“You don’t know who we’re dealing with,” he hisses, closing the space between us. “They’ll come for you. They already told me to go to you.”

“I know who you’re dealing with. I do my homework. You fucked with the mob.

Now they’re going to fuck you up. Not my problem, but if you hurt Harper, I will personally punish you, make you suffer and then kill you. Now, I’m going to leave this godforsaken hospital, and spend time with my woman.” I start to walk away from him, but I hesitate. “If you kill dad, you might inherit, but then you have to deal with the mob by yourself. And if you think the mob will just take what you owe them and forgive and forget, you’re wrong. You need dad to deal with this.” I walk around him.

“He thought we needed you. I didn’t do that to him. I didn’t hurt him. They did.”

I pause and consider that possibility. Maybe they did. Maybe they didn’t. This scenario works for Isaac. He’s still trying to get me to protect him.

I take a step and this time I don’t stop. I walk to the room, catch Harper’s hand, and set her in motion toward the elevator, with Savage quickly joining us. “What happened?” Harper asks. “What are we doing?”

“We’re going shopping,” I say. “Then we’re going to dinner. And then we’re going to fuck all night.” I glance at Savage. “You’re not invited.”

He laughs but he isn’t laughing when we arrive at the elevator and I stop him from entering. “I meant it. You’re not invited. We need some time away from this. You need some time to find the guy from the hospital.” Harper steps into the elevator and then I block the doors from closing.

“You don’t want to talk about what just happened and your plans?” he asks.

“Not until I do some thinking. Alone. With Harper. You go get the people with the answers that make sure I act on facts.”

He narrows his eyes on me. “Right. Find the guy who claimed to be an FBI consultant. Beat him. Make him talk. It’s a good mission. I accept.”

I nod, then step into the car and join Harper. He gives Harper a nod. “Take care of him. If you can’t, call me.”

Harper laces her arm with mine. “He’s in good hands.”

The hands, and arms, of an angel. I pull her close, but as I think about her, this woman I want to go get lost in right now, I think about the attack on her life. I think about why Isaac came here and that note. I’m missing something and that’s not acceptable. Not when the price to pay is too high. It’s losing Harper.

The elevator opens and I lead her out of the car, into the hallway, and the minute we’re outside, I cut right onto a side street and then pull her into an alcove by a building. I turn her to face me, my fingers tangling in her hair, my body pressing her backward into the corner.

“Eric?” she says. “I keep asking what happened. You aren’t telling me everything. What—”

I kiss her. Hell, I might fuck her right here. I need her that much, and that doesn’t make her a weakness. It makes her the reason my brother, and anyone coming at us, would be smart to back the fuck off.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Harper

I’m pressed against the wall of that alcove, Eric’s big, hard body pressed to mine, his tongue drugging me with lick after lick, his hands all over my body, and while it’s easy to be lost in him and us, I need to know what is going on in his head.

Somehow, I find the will to push him back, to force him to stop kissing me. “What is going on with you?”

“You. You’re what’s going on with me and that’s what I want. Fuck this damn family.” He inhales and lets it out. “But as much as I want to fuck you right here and now, I’ll wait. We’re going shopping. On the way, we’ll check on your mother. After we shop, we’re going to eat lunch. We’re going to be you and me—us—and forget all of them.”

“Of course that’s what I want,” I say, “but we need this to be over. We need—”

“A break.”

“There’s an assassin running around, Eric. We can’t just take a break.”

“I hope like hell he comes after us. I’ll deal with him, and then he’ll be gone, but my gut says that he’s not coming after us. He came for my father.”

“I was attacked, remember?”