The Dare Collection April 2019. Nicola Marsh

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       CHAPTER THIRTEEN

       Ajax

      ‘AJAX?’ LEON’S VOICE sounded sharp on the voicemail message. ‘What the fuck is going on? There are rumours going around that you’ve done something with William White’s daughter. If so, you owe me a goddamn explanation.’ There was some muffled cursing in the background and I could hear Xander murmuring something. ‘Yes, I know that,’ Leon said curtly, obviously to Xander. ‘Call me, you bastard,’ he added to me, then cut the message abruptly.

      I flung the phone down onto the coffee table in front of me, fighting irritation.

      I’d let them know I was going to be out of commission for the next week and that I wasn’t to be disturbed, and yet here they were, disturbing me.

      Did they really think I was going to call them up and explain myself? I never had before and I wasn’t going to start now, especially when I knew the pair of them would disagree with my methods.

      What they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them and the responsibility would remain with me, the way it always had.

      Protecting them was what I did. After all, my brothers were the reason I’d taken my father down in the first place.

       And they got hurt. You let them get hurt.

      I’d had to. I hadn’t been able to go to Leon’s rescue when he’d been kidnapped and tortured, or tell Xander the financial games he was playing were real. I’d had to let all that shit happen, because I’d have blown my cover and taking Dad down had been more important and I’d known it would save more lives in the end.

       Yeah, sure. Nothing to do with the fact that maybe you’re a monster just like him and always have been.

      Ice twisted in my veins but I ignored it.

      What if I was like Dad? What did it matter? My city was safe and so were my brothers. That was worth any price, wasn’t it?

      My phone vibrated on the table where I’d flung it, announcing another voicemail from White about when to bring Imogen to see him. My silence on the subject was obviously annoying the shit out of him.

      Good. He could stay annoyed a little longer. Considering Imogen’s response to the thought of meeting him, I wasn’t in any hurry to set it up quite yet.

      At some point I would have to, though. I wanted him gone and with the least amount of fuss, which meant getting this proof of life nonsense out of the way.

      I could have denied him his request to see Imogen, but then he’d make leaving Sydney a problem and I didn’t have either the time or the patience for pissing around with problems. In the kind of mood I was in, I’d likely do something I’d regret later, which wasn’t a good idea either.

      Music drifted from outside, a driving, thumping beat.

      Imogen must be in the pool again.

      It had been a couple of days since I’d left her in my bed and since then I’d busied myself with monitoring the situation with her father and his various cronies, organising the fake doctor’s certificates that would confirm her virginity, checking with my contacts about White’s movements, and reviewing the security surrounding my brothers and their wives, not to mention keeping tabs on what was happening with King Enterprises.

      I hadn’t had time to see her, but I’d made an effort to ensure she had plenty to do, instructing my housekeeper to organise a laptop for her so she could use the Net since apparently a home cinema, a gym and a library weren’t enough.

      Though it seemed that what Imogen liked best to do was swim.

      I turned automatically to the windows, the side of the pool visible from the lounge area where I stood.

      She was standing on the diving board in a green bikini that she must have found in those clothes I’d got my housekeeper to leave for her.

      Her pale skin gleamed like a pearl in the sunlight, her hair a gilded skein of silk down her back.

      She was poised on the edge of the board like a dancer or a bird about to take СКАЧАТЬ